REMOTE LEARNING AT AISB

GUIDELINES FOR AISB PARENTS

The guidelines provided below are intended to help parents/guardians think about what they can do to help their children find success in a distance learning environment.

1-Well-being Always Comes First

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The first priority for all of us is the health and wellbeing of our children (physical, mental, emotional).  We believe academic learning is important, but not  at the expense of our children’s welfare.

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2- Define a supportive physical space for learning

We encourage families to establish a space/location where their children will learn most of the time. This should be a public/family space, not in a child’s bedroom. It should be a place that can be quiet at times and have a strong wireless internet signal, if possible. Above all, it should be a space where parents/guardians are present to support their children’s learning.

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3- Plan the Work and Work the Plan

Much stress can be relieved when children have a planned routine. Students and families should develop a schedule for the day and the week to help students prioritize goals, tasks and deadlines. In the schedule, include regular times to exercise/move and periodic breaks. It is important that parents set these expectations with their children as soon as distance learning is implemented.

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Parents are encouraged to start and finish each day with a simple check-in. In the morning, ask what is your child learning today? What are their learning targets or goals? How will they spend their time? What resources do they require? What support do they need? This brief grounding conversation matters. It allows children to process the instructions they have received from their teachers. It helps them organize themselves and set priorities. Older students may not want to have these check-ins with parents (that’s normal!), but they should nevertheless.

Parents should establish these check-ins as regular parts of each day. Not all students thrive in a distance learning environment; some struggle with too much independence or lack of structure. These check-in routines need to be established early, before students fall behind or begin to struggle.

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4- Keep a Healthy Balance with Technology

Be intentional about scheduling time for children to move, exercise, explore and rest.  Build healthy limits into the daily routine. Monitor how much time your child is spending online. Distance learning does not happen solely online but mixes online, offline and blended learning opportunities so our intention is not to have children on the screen all day long.

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5- Stay in the Loop and keep in touch

AISB teachers will keep communication with parents and students as concise as possible.  Read the information they are sending. Teachers will communicate with parents through email SeeSaw and Google tools when and as necessary. The frequency and detail of these communications will be determined by children’s ages, maturity, and their degree of independence. AISB wants parents to contact their children’s teachers. However, we ask parents to remember that teachers will be communicating with many other families, and that communications should be essential, succinct, and self-aware.

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6- Maintain social interactions

Help your children maintain contact with friends and see them in person when circumstances permit. Please also monitor your children’s social media use, especially during an extended school closure. Older students will rely more on social media to communicate with friends.

Social media apps such as Instagram, WhatsApp, or Facebook are not official, school-sanctioned channels of communication. All of them have age restrictions and therefore require parental consent.

Remind your children to be polite, respectful, and appropriate in their communications and to represent your family’s values in their interactions with others.

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7-Model being a non-anxious presence

It is understandable that we all are stressed during a school closure, we know from research that when we are stressed, we cannot learn.

One of the ways to help our children relax is to model a non-anxious presence for them by*:

• Make enjoying your child your priority

• Don’t fear the future

• Commit to your own stress management

• Make peace with your worst fears

• Adopt a non-judgmental acceptance

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The good news is that calm is contagious, and it is one of the best ways to help our children avoid high levels of anxiety is to effectively manage our own.

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8—Take an active role in helping your children process and own their learning

Your child will continue to engage with other students or adults through distance learning. These social interactions and opportunities for mediation include turning to a peer to exchange a thought or idea, participating in small or large group discussions, asking questions for clarification, collaborating on group projects, and countless other moments. While some of these social interactions will be re-created on virtual platforms, others will not. Human beings learn best when they have opportunities to process their learning with others.

Beyond the check-ins recommended at the start and end of each day, parents should regularly circle back and engage with their children about what they are learning. However, it is important that you child owns their work; don’t complete assignments for them, even when they are struggling.

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Reference:

The Self-Driven Child: The Science and Sense of Giving Your Kids More Control Over Their Lives, Ned Johnson and William Stixru, Penguin, 2019