You may be one of the millions of parents who now finds themselves playing the role of substitute teacher. So Newsy did some homework and asked the experts: How do I keep my child engaged and on task?
“I break things into bite-sized lessons," said Jennifer Jessie, a tutor in Virginia. "And I make sure that I'm focusing on one thing at a time. And so if I'm doing fractions, I'm not going to do common denominators or the least common multiple. I'm just going to focus on fractions, and then I keep that lesson as short as possible.”
“Having a routine is essential," said Diego Román, assistant professor at The University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Education. "Like, when I used to teach middle school, my students knew how to behave immediately after entering into my classroom. So they knew what to do, they knew what to expect. Having kind of these clear expectations and planned routines is actually a really good idea for this time as well.”
“I think when students are just sitting staring at a screen, it is really challenging for them because most students are not used to doing that at school," said Michigan fourth grade teacher Kim Huls. "I very rarely have my kids sitting in front of a screen for more than maybe 20 minutes, and even then, it's when we're taking a test or something. I think it's important to encourage your children to break up their day, and also to do some other things, and maybe connect with siblings or play outside or whatever that looks like for you.”
