Categories Classroom Management, Distance Learning, Organization

Virtual Classroom Setup

Our district will be starting the 2020-2021 school year virtually. We are allowed to teach from our classrooms so that is what I will be doing. I feel like this will make the learning more authentic for the students, it will help build the community because it’s still OUR classroom even if we can’t be in the space right now and it helps me feel more comfortable teaching.

The setup that you see in these pictures is for VIRTUAL TEACHING ONLY. We HAVE NOT received any official guidance from our district on the setup rules for in-person learning. When we receive those guidelines we will modify the setup and we will share what that looks like. But here is our 2020 virtual teaching classroom!

Virtual Teaching Classroom Setup

These pictures give you a great overview of the classroom. The layout is very similar to last year’s layout (again, we don’t know about in-person rules, so for now, there are no tables and desks as has been the case for 8 years. This could change…but I hope not!).

Virtual Teaching Setup

We are required to do 2 hours of live instruction (which is recorded and posted for families who can’t be on the live feed), we have office hours and will do 1 on 1 and small group work. The live instruction will happen in this area:

I will be teaching as much of my normal material and lessons as possible. We will do ABC BOOTCAMP and make a circle chart, we will do Read It Up and make our graphic organizers. We will do Research Projects and make our graphic organizers. That will all happen here. I will use my laptop and document camera as my camera feeds. I will utilize our smartboard and easel/writing chart. The students will be interacting because it will be live instruction.

Also notice, I’ve already added the kids names to the names chart. Pictures will be added soon. (These are the kids who have enrolled as of now, this will grow!) This is a MUST because it gives them ownership in this space! It shows that they belong here!

Here are the details on the furniture and tools I’m using:

large shelf-National Business Furniture (CODE: ED10 to save 10%)
Small Cart-Alive Studios
Easel-National Business Furniture (CODE: ED10 to save 10%)
Laptop Stand-Amazon
Tripod-Amazon

This is the laptop stand I will use. I choose it because it raises the laptop up so the camera is at eye level and it rotates easily so I can move my camera easily.

Small-Group Area

We will have office hours for 1 on 1 instruction and we will be doing small group instruction so the small group area will be utilized for that instruction. You can click the link at the end of this post for a very detailed post on our small group area.

Classroom Library

The classroom library is still part of the classroom because I will be utilizing read alouds every day of distance learning. Again, we have recieved no guidance on in-person learning setup but when we do we will change as needed. The library is here for my use during virtual teaching.

Classroom Tour Video

Here is a video tour of the classroom with me explaining the setup and what we have planned:

Additional Information

Here is some additional information about our virtual teaching plans:

We are using Schoology and Microsoft Teams. Teams will be our live feed platform and Schoology is our learning management software. This is where students can access lessons, etc. We are using the Florida Virtual School curriculum and that will be done on student’s own time and pace and will be linked in Schoology.

However, our Director Of schools, our Director Of Instruction, and our school-based admin and coaches have said repeatedly that we are expected to TEACH! We can and should supplement to meet the needs of students. This is why I’ll be doing our “normal” lessons during the live instruction. That will be our supplement. Students will then complete the online material at their own pace.

Do you want details on how we’re doing this? I promise to share every step of the way. You will see videos of my lessons in action. I will share what works and what doesn’t. I can’t give any more details about HOW right now because we don’t know. We start Tuesday, August 4th and I’ll let you know more then!