Essential Dos and Don’ts for Online Teaching Kids

Teaching young learners online, whether in English, science, math, or any other subject, can be both enjoyable and fulfilling. Yet, regardless of your level of experience, managing younger students can be challenging due to the numerous distractions present in their home environments.

In this guide, you’ll discover effective online teaching strategies and avoid common pitfalls. We’ll provide valuable tips to enhance your classes and help you create a more engaging learning experience.

How to teach kids online

Here are five things you should be doing to teach kids online successfully.  

Do

1. Have clear guidelines

Teachers are eager to discover effective strategies for engaging young learners in an online environment. Much like a traditional classroom, clear rules and boundaries are essential for maintaining structure. To foster a positive learning experience, it’s important to share a well-defined set of guidelines with both students and their parents, ensuring everyone understands your expectations.

Collaborating on a code of conduct is a valuable step for fostering a positive online classroom environment. This joint effort helps students grasp the reasoning behind acceptable and unacceptable behaviors, promoting a respectful and engaging learning space.

Your guidelines should cover essential details for each lesson, such as the materials students will need, instructions for using cameras and microphones, safety protocols, homework assignments, and any other tips that will enhance the classroom experience.

2. Involve parents

Parents can play a vital role in enhancing online learning experiences. However, many may not know the most effective ways to support their children in this environment. It’s important to first determine the level of involvement you would like from parents:

• Would you like them to be present during the lesson?
• Do you want them to be nearby and accessible when needed? 
• How will you communicate with them about their child’s progress? 

Before the first lesson, take the time to make essential decisions and establish effective communication channels. Additionally, consider offering parents practical suggestions to enhance their child’s learning experience and maximize the benefits of the lessons.

For instance, parents can ensure that their child is fully equipped and prepared to begin the lesson punctually.

3. Be prepared

Before diving into your lesson, take a moment to gather all necessary materials. Organize your digital resources in a dedicated folder labeled with that day’s date. If you’re utilizing online tools, be sure to include a document that lists all relevant links. This preparation will ensure you can access everything you need swiftly and efficiently.

To enhance your screen sharing experience during a presentation, make sure to open your slides in a new window before the lesson begins. This simple step allows for quick access, enabling you to effortlessly share the window with your students when it’s time to present.

It’s wise to prepare for backup activities, particularly if you intend to use external tools. Whenever feasible, create an offline copy of your materials to share with students or their parents, ensuring accessibility for those facing connectivity issues. Additionally, keeping a small whiteboard handy at your desk can be a lifesaver if screen sharing fails—allowing you to continue engaging your students seamlessly!

4. Make lessons engaging

Older learners often have the ability to concentrate for longer periods on a single activity or discussion. However, when teaching younger students, it’s essential to incorporate a mix of engaging activities. To keep their attention, plan for dynamic transitions throughout the lesson, including fun elements like songs and Total Physical Response (TPR) games to enhance their learning experience.

When students start to feel restless, motivate them to rise from their seats by assigning a fun physical task. You could have them dance to a lively song, search for a specific item in their room, or engage in a quick brain break with activities like star jumps. This not only boosts their energy but also enhances focus!

In addition to exciting activities, it’s crucial to incorporate some ‘quiet time’ for students to concentrate and reflect. Engaging in calmer tasks, like drawing, can significantly enhance their ability to absorb a new language. When teaching children online, consider integrating activities such as drawing dictations or encouraging them to create their own picture dictionaries and mini-flashcards. These approaches not only foster creativity but also reinforce language learning in a fun and effective way.

5. Use visuals and props

To boost engagement, incorporate captivating visuals and props into your lessons. By presenting real objects, intriguing images, or even using puppets, you can effectively capture and maintain your students’ attention.

Many students may find it challenging to grasp their tasks in an online classroom, particularly when instructions are given verbally. To enhance clarity, create slides that present simple, step-by-step instructions, revealing only one step at a time. Additionally, collaborate on an example using the annotation tool in your online classroom software to reinforce understanding.

To enhance student engagement, reveal answer keys one at a time as you review their responses. This approach allows students to verify their answers in real time, promoting a more interactive learning experience. Now that we’ve outlined effective teaching strategies, let’s explore five common pitfalls to avoid when teaching kids online.

Don’t

1. Make too many changes

To help children feel secure in the online classroom, it’s essential to establish consistent routines and clear rules. A frequent misstep in teaching is changing procedures daily, which can create confusion. Additionally, introducing too many new activities at once can overwhelm younger students, making it harder for them to engage and learn effectively.

To enhance your lessons, start and conclude with engaging routines tailored to your students’ age. This could involve incorporating a fun song, posing questions about their lives, or playing a quick game to refresh their memory on previously covered topics. These simple activities can help create a more dynamic and interactive learning environment.

The same principle applies to technology tools. While there are countless amazing resources available, it’s best to keep the number you use with young learners to a minimum. Make sure every student is comfortable with how a tool operates before they use it independently. Additionally, if you’re assigning an activity for homework, be sure to give parents a user guide or troubleshooting tips to support their children.

2. Talk too much!

In the online classroom, it’s common for teachers to dominate Teacher Talking Time (TTT), often feeling the urge to fill every pause with their voice. However, this approach can overwhelm students and lead to disengagement. Striking a balance is key; allowing moments of silence can encourage student participation and enhance their learning experience.

Encourage active communication among students by creating ample opportunities for them to speak and collaborate. For instance, organizing pair work or group activities can significantly enhance their interaction and engagement with one another.

In one-on-one classes, it’s essential to allow your student ample thinking time before expecting a response. Resist the urge to fill the silence with another question or prompt. If you find this challenging, consider using a timer on your phone—just remember to silence it! Set it for up to ten seconds, giving your student the space they need to formulate their thoughts before you step in.

3. Plan time-consuming activities

In today’s digital world, our attention spans often shrink even further than in traditional classrooms. To keep students engaged, design brief, interactive activities that actively involve them. Incorporate diverse media formats—such as audio, video, text, and images—to cater to different learning styles and maintain interest.

Split up the stages of the lesson so that students will do different types of activities. For example:

• Students watch a short video about a topic that interests them.
• Afterwards, they complete a Kahoot quiz about it.
• Then they make a collaborative list of questions using Google Jamboard. 
• Students engage in breakout groups to discuss questions, or in one-on-one sessions, collaborate on researching the topic together.

To encourage students to engage with lengthy texts, consider dividing the material into manageable sections. Present each part on a separate slide and enhance understanding with relevant images and diagrams that highlight key concepts. Display the slides one at a time, and incorporate comprehension-checking questions to ensure students grasp the content as you progress.

4. Limit yourself to old ways

Embracing online teaching opens up a world of innovative instructional methods—so why limit yourself to conventional techniques? Consider assessments, for example. There are numerous creative ways to gauge and evaluate student progress in a virtual classroom setting.

Leverage the fantastic variety of digital tools like Kahoot and Flipgrid to enhance your ongoing formative assessment. These engaging platforms can help you gather real-time feedback and foster interactive learning experiences.

Students can demonstrate their learning in many ways, including audio and video formats as well as doing written work.

5. Forget that students are human

Maintaining a personal connection with students can be challenging when interacting through a screen. When we’re limited to viewing just a face in a small box, it’s often difficult to appreciate the full complexity of each child.

It’s important to recognize that students often face numerous distractions during lessons that can impact their behavior and learning progress. While reminding both students and their parents about the benefits of a quiet study environment is valuable, we must also show empathy towards their unique circumstances.

Make it a point to connect with each student throughout the lesson, reassuring them that you are available and eager to assist with any challenges they may face.

Find out more about teaching kids online

Teaching children can be a delightful adventure filled with energy and excitement! Enhance your online teaching experience with our valuable tips designed specifically for engaging younger learners.

By offering stimulating activities that match their skill levels, clearly communicating your expectations to both students and parents, and fostering a supportive online classroom environment, you set your students up for success.

For more tips and tricks on teaching children remotely, read our article: 8 Tips for teaching English to kids online.