How to Adapt Children to the Remote Classroom

The original version of the Covid pandemic drove mass school closures and the adoption of remote learning methods in the US and abroad. The spread of new virus variants, especially the Omicron variant, has school systems debating new closures or enforcing them. With the potential for a mass return to online education for students everywhere, many parents and teachers are wondering how to adapt children to the remote classroom. Keep reading for some key tips to help with that adaptation.

Schedules

Kids and adults alike generally do better with a predictable schedule. In this case, the school’s schedule will define part of the day for you, but not all of it. As much as is reasonable, keep your kids getting up, doing homework, and getting to bed around the same times each day. If your kids do these things on a predictable schedule, it will become habitual. That will let you ease off of the supervision a little over time.

Set Up a Productive Environment

Granted, you probably can’t set up a dedicated office space for everyone in the home who needs to work or attend school remotely. What you can do is limit distractions. Don’t set up their workspace right in front of the TV. It’s a distraction, especially if it’s turned on during the day. Create a space where they can spread out a little, such as an empty table. If it’s practical for your budget, consider getting a comfortable chair for them to sit in as they work. After all, they’ll spend hours in that chair every day.

Watch for Barriers

Many parents see slipping grades and assume it’s a lack of effort. It might well be, but it’s not necessarily the issue. Sometimes, kids don’t understand part of the material. Maybe, there is an environmental factor like noise that disrupts the child’s focus. It’s on both parents and teachers to pinpoint what is holding the child back. It’s also on both to look for remedies to those problems within their respective areas of influence.

Leverage Technology

Yes, the school with likely employ some kind of online learning platform, such as Google Classroom. Yet, these kinds of systems often break information up so that your child must go to multiple areas simply to find all of their assignments and due dates. Look for a technological solution that helps consolidate all of that information into one, user-friendly interface.

If your school uses Google Classroom, a tool like Digital Backpack serves that function. It drops information from across the related Google applications onto a single page that your child can reference. It’s also helpful for distributing open educational resources K-12 to the classroom.

Monitor Communication

No, you don’t need to eavesdrop on your 4th grader’s text messages. In this case, it just means that you should double-check for things like emails or messages from teachers on the learning platform. Yes, your child should do those things, but seeing you do it reinforces the behavior. You’re modeling the responsible activity for your kids. It also helps ensure you know what work your child must do.

Show Your Kids How to Get Organized Digitally

Most kids are not well-organized at the best of times. That’s as true on a computer as it is in their bedrooms. While most adults take creating, labeling, and dumping files into folders for granted, it’s not something a child will automatically think to do. Walk your child through creating a folder for each class.

Then, show them how to move files into or save files to that folder, assuming they’re old enough to understand that process. Periodically check the folders to make sure their assignments or class documents make it into the folder. For older students, show them how they can use file hosting services to sync documents across devices. It’ll make their life easier if they can access their work from desktops, laptops, tablets, and even smartphones.

Helping Kids Adapt

There is no single catch-all technique for helping kids adapt to a remote classroom situation. Some of it is about planning, such as sticking with schedules, setting up a productive workspace for them, and monitoring communication. Some of it is technical, such as teaching them about folders and finding good tools. Some of it is personal, like looking for barriers to your child’s understanding and performance. If you embrace these disparate tactics, though, you can help your child adapt.

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