Though I miss my travel around the region-no longer visiting schools and seeing student learning first-hand, I’m having more opportunity than ever to connect with educators. You might wonder, how is this possible now that school buildings are not open?  What I’m seeing is that educators in our region are working harder than ever, putting in long hours and doing whatever it takes to connect with students and families, and on top of the work they are doing, their appetites for learning and connecting with other educators are more voracious than ever!

Every day, I have the chance to learn something new from educators in our region about engaging students and families through distance learning.  Many of the ideas that are shared and quickly become “just how we do business” are innovative, supportive, and equity-focused. Though there are often teary moments in my conversations with educators (brought on by exhaustion and missing being close to students every day), they also serve as inspiration and excitement about this opportunity to connect with families and become more intentional about providing choice and flexibility in how students meet intentional learning goals.

Culturally responsive teaching tells us that learning is “sticky” for students when it happens within the context of strong relationships and connections, it engages students’ background knowledge, and it is authentic and fun.  To provide these kinds of experiences in an emergency distance learning environment, educators around the state, the country, and the world are grappling with big questions like: What are the most important things for my students to learn and practice during emergency distance learning?  How can I ensure that all of my students and families are meaningfully engaged in this learning? and How can I connect what students are learning and practicing to their current learning environments and the abundant funds of knowledge (cultures, experiences, languages, skills, etc.) in their homes?

The folks at the NWESD are working hard to support educators navigating new technologies, pedagogies, communications approaches, and schedules to address some of these big questions.  Curriculum Directors, Federal Programs Directors, and Building Leaders from around the region are connecting every other week in learning communities to share ideas and learn about new ways to support teaching and learning during long-term school closures.   For teachers, there are more opportunities than ever before to participate in real-time (synchronous) and on-their-own time (asynchronous) professional learning opportunities from ESDs around the state.

If you’re interested in learning more about these opportunities, you can find more information at pdenroller.org.  Classes are being added all the time!

In addition, our amazing ESD Coordinators are offering support for teachers every week in an office hours format:

  • Thursdays @ 3 with NWESD Every Thursday (until June 30, 2020) from 3:00 pm-4:00 pm you have the opportunity to connect with the Math, Science, and ELA Coordinators to ask questions and share ideas.
  • Tech Tools Office Hours pop in any Wednesday from 11:00 am-12:00 pm to ask tech questions, brainstorm, and collaborate with The NWESD Content Coordinators for ELA, Math, and Science!

A friendly reminder when hosting online classes, creating online resources, videos, and teaching materials

Now, more than ever, it’s important to follow your school district’s branding and style guidelines, adhere to FERPA laws, and ADA accessibility -University of Washington Resources (for example, did you know that all videos must be closed captioned?). It’s also a good idea to check in with your friendly communications staff before publishing online or emailing to your class. If you don’t have a communications person at your district, you can contact the NWESD with questions communications@nwesd.org

Here’s to the commitment and stamina of the innovative educators in our region!  We appreciate you!!!