Teaching Remotely with ClassTag

This article will give you a deeper dive into the best practices for using ClassTag for teaching students remotely.

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Written by Jason Olim
Updated over a week ago

Remote learning within ClassTag can be an exciting adventure for both you and your students! With a couple clicks, your virtual classroom will be set up for success within ClassTag!

Watch this quick ClassTag for remote learning demo or follow step by step below.

Scheduling

One of the most challenging parts of teaching virtually is time management! Below are a few simple ways you can use ClassTag for all your virtual classroom scheduling needs.

Share Weekly Schedule

Perhaps one of the best ways to inform your students about what to expect is to share the schedule for the week. You can save it as a PDF and upload into an Announcement. Pro Tip: You can always pin important announcements and stories to the top of your feed.

Set up Office Hours


The versatility of Parent Teacher Conferences is perfect for giving families and students that quality one on one help they might need to adjust to the virtual learning. Within the available time slots, you can provide helpful information, like your phone number or video conferencing link.

Another easy to use ClassTag feature that pairs perfectly with virtual learning is Events.  Setting up office hours or live lessons is a great way to connect with a group of students and families, all at once.  Simply create an Event, select the times you’re available and include your video conferencing link!

Create Assignment

Create a 'To-Do' as a a way to schedule assignments for parents and students!  You can assign a due date and add information about what the student will need to complete.  Pro Tip: use the location field for a link to a resource. Add any necessary files, set a start and end date and you’re set!

Classroom Management

Just like a traditional classroom, your virtual classroom will require some routines and procedures.  

Connect All Family Members

Getting parents connected on ClassTag is straightforward. Click on the Directory, upload or manually add your student and parent information, click save and you’re set!  You are now able to  start connecting with parents, even if they don’t have the app! 

Welcome calls

Welcome calls are a great way to personally connect with each family and can be scheduled using Parent Teacher Conference time slots.

Rules and procedures are very important for your virtual classroom and here announcements can come again to the rescue. Save them as a PDF or docs and upload into an Announcement. Pro Tip: You can edit each announcement without sending it again at any time, but reflecting the changes inside ClassTag. 

Take Attendance


A fun way to take attendance can easily be done through creating a Events. Click to add the event, and request the number of volunteers to be the number of students in your class.  You can do this for the entire week under one Event.  Not only will this remind parents to check in, it also will create a weekly summary of their attendance. 

Parents will simply have to log in and click “Sign up as Volunteer” to mark themselves present. 

Building Relationships

Virtual learning might be confusing and overwhelming for students and families, so this is a great time to create a sense of community within your classroom!

Celebrate Success

One of the fun features of ClassTag is the ability to show off some amazing stories of what is happening in your classroom and celebrate success together.  Sharing a Story is easy and is conveniently located at the top of the home page.  Connect with families by sharing a photo, video or exemplary assignment.  Stories can be shared with all parents (see celebrating success video) or with only one family (see personalized message video).

Personal Touch


Sharing a Story is also a great way to create a special connection with a student and their family with a personalized message. A fun way to do so is to take a picture of a written letter and attach it as a picture to an individual story. 

1-1 and Group Messages 


With the ability to translate into 50+ languages, you can use our popular Messaging feature to talk to families in real time.  Being able to understand the needs of each family is helpful in getting everyone adjusted to a new way of learning. 

When teaching virtually, feedback is paramount! Polls are a great way to engage families and make sure everyone is heard. This short video shows how to quickly and easily make it happen. 

Learning Tools in ClassTag

ClassTag is set-up for ease of use and is a user friendly way to transition into online learning.

Embedding videos

Interactive lessons are a breeze with the ability to embed videos! Embedding videos is simple: grab the link to the video you’re using and put it in the description area of a Story.  Families can watch the video within ClassTag which makes for a perfect way to get students engaged within a lesson.  Pro Tip: Embedding videos also works in announcements, events, and even in messaging.  Give it a try!  

File Sharing


File sharing can be brought to another level within your ClassTag virtual classroom. PDFs, Google Drive links, pictures and even videos can be uploaded in Events, Stories, To-dos and more!  Pro Tip: A popular way to use the file sharing feature has been taking video of a daily read-aloud and uploading it into a story. 

Additional Resources:

In Closing

Moving to the virtual world might feel like a big change, but we’re here to support our community of teachers! Join us and other teachers around the nation on our Facebook Educator’s Lounge!

Did you find this guide helpful? Share with your colleagues if so. And do let us know how we can best support you by reaching support@classtag.com, our Twitter or Facebook page. We are working around the clock to be here for you!

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