Digital Promise Signature Workspace
K.D.'s: At-Home Learning Environment
This workspace was created by K.D. Meucci, a member of the Learner Variability Project's Practitioner Advisory Board. It is designed for parents who want to set up an at-home learning center for their children and tie in academic, physical and social & emotional needs.
Transcript
hey there my name is Katie Meucci and
I'm a fourth grade teacher in Bethel
Park Pennsylvania and I'm here today to
share with you a workspace that I've
created in the learner variability
navigator through digital promise that
has strategies to help you set up an
at-home learning environment for your
children
/ students in the event of distance
learning so there are many factors that
teachers consider when they're setting
up their own classrooms
and it's important for parents to
recognize that these are factors that
can definitely influence your child's
learning so if you look at if you're new
to the Navigator what's great about this
is I can add factors and strategies and
when you click on one you can see that
there's further information and videos
and guidance to implement this strategy
in your own classroom or edger at your
house for example temperature is
something that we might not really
consider but it can definitely be a
factor in your student's ability to
focus and learn also an uncluttered
environment think about it if there's an
environment that has lots of stimuli and
things for your kids to look at and
focus on and be distracted by that can
be challenging for some students the
structure is huge for most people you
know students included so being able to
know that at this time on this day we're
gonna do math or we're gonna start with
reading and then we have lunch at this
time you know following that's--that's
schedule is really powerful make
students feel comfortable and safe and
when they can know what's coming they
feel like they have some sort of
ownership over their day that leads me
right into another strategy student
choice letting your children decide
which subject they're going to learn
first or do they want to eat breakfast
and then do their reading or do they
want to do their reading first and get
out of the way you know giving them a
little bit of that choice really helps
them buy into their learning in their
day something else to consider is sound
level in my classroom my students all
have headphones and they can use their
headphones either to listen to focus
music which is just
some instrumental music I've selected
that I have on my class website they
also could use it just as noise
councilman noise-canceling um I
personally don't do well with background
noise I can't listen to music and fully
attend to what I'm trying to do I get
caught up and dancing or singing so the
silence is better for me when you're all
at home it can sometimes be hard to
create a quiet atmosphere so providing
your child with some headphones either
so they can listen to focus music or
they can have a habit to cancel out
other sounds in the house um is
important I'd like to jump up here to
encourage students self-advocacy have
students being able to speak up for
themselves is not something that comes
natural to most children so for example
at home being able to come downstairs
and say to the rest of the family hey
guys it's really loud and I'm having a
hard time focusing could you turn the tv
down that's advocating for themselves
and speaking up and telling people what
they need encouraging that so I love the
way that you told me what you needed
that's so great
um and that leads to positive self-talk
you know you're doing a great job I love
the way that you blah blah blah blah
blah or it was so smart how you blah
blah blah blah blah you know giving and
then having students be able to say I'm
proud of the way that I I'm happy with
the way that I or you know just positive
to talk about themselves
let's see setting timers can help
students I know in my room I have a
visual timer and they it actually has a
section that gets smaller and smaller
and smaller as the time the time
dwindles down so students can actually
see oh I know I need to work a little
bit faster I need to stay on pace
sometimes timers that I will caution you
can give some children anxiety so be
careful on timers it's a tool you might
try you might say hey you have 20
minutes to get this amount of work done
obviously being reasonable and I'm gonna
come back in 20 minutes and I want to
report on what you were able to get done
in those 20 minutes movement breaks I
use these in my classroom all the time I
even personally need a movement break I
get up I walk a lapper on the kitchen
which is that's where I'm at right now I
you know check my phone I
I look outside I personally love
gonoodle in my own classroom and here at
home I have a three and a five year old
at home and we do gonoodle at home
gonoodle has two or three minute videos
they are they can remove videos where
you can dance where you can just move
you can be silly and they also have
mindfulness breaks to where you can you
know do yoga or calm those are those can
also be used as a motivator for students
when you finish this then you get to do
this so I've used them in several
different ways but I firmly believe that
all children need some sort of break
then you stand up think of something
else for even if it's just a few moments
before getting right back to their work
it encourages longer focus i'm
predictability environment and structure
this is important that students know
your children know hey I'm gonna go into
my room and I'm gonna have my space and
I know that it's there so if you look
around right now I'm actually in my
kitchen don't mind the mess and I know
that my stuff is all right here oh it's
a disaster I can't even show to you it's
a disaster my stuff is all right here I
know that it's gonna be there when I
come to work tomorrow I know exactly
where everything is no one touches my
things here it's my office which is
actually my kitchen but that's
predictable for me my environment is
predictable I know where everything is
that's important for students that you
don't go and you don't tidy it up for
them maybe you could do it with them if
it starts to get out of hand and you
know that goes along with individual
space they need to have a space that's
their own that they even if it's just at
your dining room table maybe you can't
use your dining room table for the next
two months while we're still doing
distance learning if it's you know maybe
it's a space in their room or a space in
the basement finding a space for that
for your child is important that it's
their own space I even have my own cup
of pencils here in my kitchen counter
discussing emotions you know asking your
child how do you feel I like to use
mental health check-ins I actually do
them every Monday I have my students
fill out a sticky note and they put it
on and they rank what how they're
feeling sometimes they say I need a
check-in sometimes they say they're
great and everywhere in between
just that little
how are you doing helps students to know
that they can trust you it's a safe
environment and teaching them how to
talk about their emotions is really
important and powerful too so anyway I
hope you found this helpful these are
just some strategies I think you could
implement in your home and ways to help
your child be more focused
My strategies
Literacy 4-6
Teaching students how to label, identify, and manage emotions helps them learn Inhibition & Self-Regulation skills.
Literacy 4-6
Actively and authentically encouraging all students to seek support, ask questions, and advocate for what they believe in creates a safe space for risk-taking and skill development and supports a Sense of Belonging.
Literacy 4-6
Family engagement happens when educators and schools collaborate with families to collectively support their child's learning in meaningful ways, both at school and at home.
Literacy 4-6
Having spaces where students can go supports self-regulation and individual deliberate practice.
Literacy 4-6
Brain breaks that include movement allow learners to refresh their thinking and focus on learning new information.
Literacy 4-6
When students reframe negative thoughts and tell themselves kind self-statements, they practice positive self-talk.
Literacy 4-6
Maintaining consistent classroom routines and schedules ensures that students are able to trust and predict what will happen next.
Literacy 4-6
Providing ways for students to adjust sound level supports individual auditory needs.
Literacy 4-6
Providing students a voice in their learning is critical for making learning meaningful.
Literacy 4-6
Providing ways for students to meet their individual temperature needs supports Attention and Inhibition & Self-Regulation.
Literacy 4-6
Spaces that are structured, organized, and clean provide increased room for collaboration and active learning.