Teachers: teaching writing to students with no internet

amother

Wed, Mar 18 2020, 11:19 pm

I teach in a chassidish school that cannot ask students to email or download anything, nor use zoom or other video technology. I'm looking for suggestions how to maintain a quality writing program with nothing more than phone conference lines.

Use snail mail for handouts and grading?

Suggestions?

amother

Chocolate

Wed, Mar 18 2020, 11:21 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

My girls brought home all their workbooks and the teacher tells them what to do on phone school. They will also be getting work in the mail.
You don't need to grade now, you just have to make sure with the parents that the kids are doing their work properly.

amother

Burgundy

Wed, Mar 18 2020, 11:22 pm

Can you do a conference phone call? Read aloud a mentor text, discuss some aspects of the writing, assign a piece that will have them apply whatever you discussed (I.e. a hook at the beginning or strong action words or whatever) then on the next call have some share their writing to get feedback.

amother

Wed, Mar 18 2020, 11:28 pm

amother [ Chocolate ] wrote:

I should have mentioned that it's high school. I can't expect parents to help.

They don't have workbooks, but I can send the worksheets.

You're right about grading, but I've always taught with lots of scaffolding and conferencing, which requires interaction and seeing their work in progress. For example, I need to see their thesis statement and outline before they begin drafting their essay.

Obviously I will need to make adjustments, so I'm asking if anyone has come up with an idea how to make this work, especially regarding ongoing guidance and accountability.

amother

Jade

Wed, Mar 18 2020, 11:30 pm

My daughter has a pen pal setup. They have to write to 2 girls first week and respond to mail received.

This is older elementary.
They are getting snail mail.

amother

Apricot

Wed, Mar 18 2020, 11:33 pm

Set up a Google voice number and have the girls call and leave a message reciting what they wrote.
Use the in class time to teach actual concepts and take questions and have the work "handed in" via leaving a message. Every days lesson can be broken into the main lesson and then some time for you to give feedback to each girl. The final paper can be mailed back and forth.

amother

Wed, Mar 18 2020, 11:36 pm

amother [ Burgundy ] wrote:

I will probably be asked to do conference calls.

I like your suggestion. It won't be easy to get them to share their work, though. I'm thinking that perhaps a voicemail system could work for me to track their progress. Then I can choose work (to use anonymously) to model good work or to give feedback.

amother

Wed, Mar 18 2020, 11:38 pm

amother [ Apricot ] wrote:

Great minds think alike Smile

How to give each girl feedback in a way that won't make them uncomfortable... that is still something I need to figure out.

trixx

Wed, Mar 18 2020, 11:39 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

I don't mean to be snarky.
But your school and others like it are either going to have to adapt to 2020 or give up on this. It's just not possible.

amother

Wed, Mar 18 2020, 11:41 pm

trixx wrote:

I don't mean to be snarky.
But your school and others like it are either going to have to adapt to 2020 or give up on this. It's just not possible.

Believe me this isn't my choice.

I keep wondering if this will be the evidence my community needs to see tech isn't evil in and of itself. It can be used for so much good, and especially in extraordinary times like now.

I am just trying to do my job within the parameters set for me.

amother

Burgundy

Wed, Mar 18 2020, 11:42 pm

Yeah, I didn't realize this was older grades. You really can't do big research reports over the phone. And I hope and pray the post office stays open, but I wouldn't rely on snail mail. For one thing, the turn around is gonna be super slow.

trixx

Wed, Mar 18 2020, 11:44 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

I would argue it isn't possible and neither you nor students would benefit from twisting yourself into pretzels to pretend it is.

Even with a Google voice number - spelling, grammar, sentence structure...?
Unless you just call it a poetry unit. But then how can you play for them good poetry readings?

amother

Apricot

Wed, Mar 18 2020, 11:48 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Great minds think alike Smile

How to give each girl feedback in a way that won't make them uncomfortable... that is still something I need to figure out.

Do you have a way to send texts to the girls? That would be really helpful right now. Even to text the parent to show the girls. Otherwise you'll spend hours calling each girl.
What you could also do (not great educationally but might be the only choice) is write down all the feedback you have, divide it into 3-4 general issues and address those in the next class as topics.

trixx

Thu, Mar 19 2020, 12:08 am

Honestly - just encourage them to journal. These are momentous times. They should be required to capture daily - not even weekly, it changes too rapidly - what they hear, feel, do etc. A calendar like layout be awesome - teach them to distill their info into key words and write on the template- important note taking skill. And in your calls you can give new prompts or encourage girls to share theirs.
Skip the feedback and grading, if they do it and can show evidence of a daily entry, its enough to pass the class.

Amarante

Thu, Mar 19 2020, 11:00 am

There are numbers which provide free conference calls. You get the number and the Code and then everyone calls in at a certain time. The service is free - you just need to google free conference calls to find one of the providers.

It would solve certain logistic problems since the teacher wouldn't need to have individual telephone calls with each student for stuff that the group would all need to hear anyway. There would also be interaction between the students.

I have held business telephone conferences this way on several occasions and they work pretty well when people need to meet but can't be physically together.