MAKING IT WORK - Back to School, Ready or Not

This Florida teacher’s school let families choose distance learning or in-person classes.

- EMMA PATCH

PROFILE

WHO: Philip Sabado, 29

OCCUPATION: Social studies teacher

WHERE: Ponte Vedra High School, St. John’s County, Fla.

How did you adapt last March when you began to do full-on distance learning?

Some teachers recorded lectures and had them posted for students to watch on their own time, but I felt that I needed to do something more interactive. So I would invite everyone to online conferences, where I would walk through my slides, mark them up and then have students ask me questions, either in a chat or on a mike. Two days a week, I did a lecture or tried to do a writing activity—which is really hard to do online.

How did the students respond to this sort of learning?