ATL skills during COVID-19

I'm cheerful to work at PYP school in which all support me to explore new strategies to help our students in those days of the pandemic. We reflect on how to keep working on ATL skills online sessions and create effective lesson plans for the new requirements to the benefit of our students and the community. First, as an educator, we focus on developing self-management skills. For example, we set up a daily routine format. Helps our students to build organization and state of mind skills. Every day, learners complete the following statements: 

- Writing daily gratitude.

- Creating activities to do every day.

- Designing some exercises to do on the screen breaks.

We encouraged them to share their daily routine with the entire class, and at the same time, they had the chance to change some habits to enhance managing time and bring tasks on time. They designed effective strategies, such as schedules with different colours to remind them of their functions, checklists, keep a master calendar, set a designed study space. It helped them to feel comfortable in the development of all learning experiences. Also, they analyzed their advances in different tasks in which they showed organization and time management skills. Below two questions to encourage them:

But as a teacher, I also think we need to focus on state of mind skills. For that reason, I was aware of the importance to monitor each of our students in online sessions. Students need to be motivated to express their feelings, and our responsibility is to support each one. We provided them with different learning experiences to enhance their ATL skills. Because one of the essential points in our students is to establish proper emotional management and self-motivation. How have we contributed to these skills? Demonstrating life has unique moments, and we have to cope with a positive attitude all of them. We included some learning experiences to be aware of the importance of these aspects in our online sessions:

- Showing gratefulness to their family and teachers.

- Answering questions related to self-management skills.

- Designing creative tasks.

- Workshops focus on positive relationships with peers.

- Telling stories about their family and friends. 

I've also suggested building confidence in the students by listening attentively to them, monitoring all the time, praising their goals, being patient and showing enthusiasm with all their comments. In some cases, we need to communicate with our students individually for knowing the reason they are absent in the dynamic of the classes. Effective communication is essential to engage our students in the development of self-management skills. Finally, teaching in a virtual environment has been fantastic for me, because I have explored some useful resources to keep updated. At the same time, I have supported my students in the development of skills. During the process, they demonstrate how they have enhanced their routine, habits, building rapport with peers.

What self-management skills do you consider that online students need to develop? 

Photo credit: original answer from one student.