Written by Alan Uher

Stressing over distance learning? Is the imminence of a pivot to distance learning getting you down? Struggling with meeting the needs of students who are not present while others are? A team of MLC educators presented ideas for online learning in June 2020 to encourage WELS teachers to embrace distance learning, unmask its blessings, and utilize existing technology resources to serve students who cannot be in our classrooms.

Having had the privilege of visiting nearly 100 MLC teacher candidates in over five dozen WELS elementary classrooms, I have gleaned ideas and current web resources, teaching tools, and assessment strategies that may assist you in delivering quality instruction in less-than-quality circumstances.

In preparation for the June 2020 webinar, I polled a panoply of combined classroom and multi-grade teachers to learn what strategies and resources they embraced to complete the previous school year. I am delighted to offer once again those resources to you in a replay of my webinar, which was geared for K-8 multi-grade settings. Resources—with annotations and contact information for the teachers who recommended them—include Classkick, Flipgrid, Seesaw, Digital Choice Boards, Digital Journaling, Meaningful Movement Experiences, DocsTeach, and Amazingeducationalresources.

While the resources do not represent the final say on distance learning, they are meant to provide guidance and develop awareness of available blessings, some at minimal or no cost, to share the love of Jesus, provide a means for content delivery, and communicate feedback with your particular pack of learners. My resources include opportunities for you to communicate God’s grace and goodness, to select effective educational approaches, to build and maintain meaningful home-school relationships, to achieve clear learning objectives, to improve interpersonal skills, and to foster inquiry and a love for learning in your students.

If Jesus blesses you with one good idea or resource as a result of your considering this webinar, then watching it will be worth your while.

I would be glad to visit with you by email (uherae@mlc-wels.edu) to clarify ideas I have shared and to connect you with the classroom teachers who have had direct experience with these products and platforms. Please contact me at your convenience.

I will pray that you succeed in meeting student needs and that Jesus blesses you with joy as you serve him and your students.

CLICK HERE to watch Prof. Uher’s presentation.

Alan Uher (DMLC ’87) serves as an education professor and field experiences supervisor at Martin Luther College.