Meghan Ryan
September 16, 2020
Back to school is an exciting time of year for your kiddos, but this year is a little different. A lot of schools are doing fully online or hybrid classrooms, and parents are taking on a much bigger role in their kids’ learning than before. Here are back to school tips for parents to support their home learners and get the best possible outcome.
1. Use instructional videos to anchor the learning
There will be a lot of school content coming through in the form of instructional videos. These are videos that contain lesson content and where teachers can explain key facts to the class. They’re an important part of your children’s flipped classroom or hybrid education, so make sure they watch them.
Many teachers are using Prezi Video to create high-quality instructional videos quickly and easily. Prezi Video is the video presentation tool that puts visual content like text and images right alongside the presenter on screen – sort of like a teacher standing next to the whiteboard in a real classroom. Teachers love this functionality because they don’t lose that face-to-face connection with the class even when they’re lecturing online.
For a great example of an instructional video made with Prezi Video, watch Ellison Cook’s lesson about maps and why they’re useful:
2. Establish learning routines that fit your family’s schedule
Most parents are dealing with more than their children’s home learning, and a fixed schedule that follows a traditional school structure just isn’t going to work with every family’s lifestyle. Alternatively, there’s a more flexible option in “learning routines,” which are ways for you to signal to your kids that it’s time to start learning. Good learning routines are things like putting away phones, having a designated place in the home for learning, and kicking things off with a fun song or question. Doing these actions consistently will help get your kids in the right mindset for schoolwork.
3. Create a relationship with your school and teacher
Take the time to get to know your kids’ teachers and their school. This can be as easy as watching some of the instructional videos the teachers are sharing and reading emails from the school. Taking the time to respond will help you create a relationship with the teacher and the school. This establishes a foundation for communicating questions and concerns as the year progresses, and also helps maintain relationships that keep your child at the center of the conversation.
For more back-to-school tips during remote education, check out this Prezi video by 2010’s National Teacher of the Year, Sarah Brown Wessling, on parents supporting a home learner:
4. Play your role as lead learner
In a similar video, Sarah Brown Wessling discusses the roles and responsibilities that parents and children share in virtual and home learning. Many parents are feeling the sudden need to be the expert on a lot of different areas, but that’s not actually necessary for an effective home learning environment.
“Asking a good question is always better than having the right answer because it’s actually going to teach your child how to learn,” Sarah says. It’s super helpful for parents to play the part of lead learner and show their kids what good learning looks like.
Watch her video about roles for parents and children in home learning for a deeper exploration of each age group:
Prezi Video has been an important tool for teachers making the transition to online learning. With professionally designed templates, an easy-to-use editor, and the ability to connect to the top video conferencing platforms, Prezi Video helps teachers create engaging virtual lessons that they can easily share with students.
If you’re interested in checking out more Prezi videos made by teachers in the community, head on over to the Teacher Gallery. Or, get started today and make your first video on Prezi Video.
