Resources for Teachers and Educators During COVID-19 School Disruption

Teachers and educators are facing new and growing challenges as schools close or shift to online learning platforms. Below is a list of resources for teachers and educators that covers student anxiety, undocumented students, educational equity, health education, distance learning, and general educator resources.

Have you seen a particularly helpful resource? Send us a note at [email protected], and we’ll continue adding to this list.

Student Anxiety

• This resource from Common Sense Media outlines ways to reduce student anxiety with tips on news literacy, media balance, and healthy communication.

Undocumented Students

• If you work with undocumented students, this list of multi-lingual resources from the California Immigrant Youth Justice Alliance (CIYJA) is especially helpful. We also want to highlight this note, “we want to remind undocumented people that they still qualify for emergency Medi-Cal. This means that should a loved one (specifically immunodeficient individuals such as our elders or loved ones with diabetes) is experiencing flu-like symptoms, you should not hesitate to get them to get medical assistance in California!”

Educational Equity

• Ed Trust–NY highlights six steps schools can take to address educational equity due to coronavirus closure.

Health Education

• Ms. Hall, a health teacher at Balboa High School in San Francisco Unified School District, created a website with health information, classroom activities, optional activities, and SF-specific links.

Digital Divide

• The digital divide for students is making things even more challenging during this time. This Brookings Institution blog post explains more about the digital divide and offered a few suggestions to reduce this issue.

General Educator Resources

• Transcend has a lengthy list of resources that include Remote Teaching and Learning, District and Admin Planning, Online Teaching Pedagogy, Selected Teaching Tools, Selected Content Resources, Student and Family Well-Being, and Information and Stories from Schools.
• Edutopia compiled feedback from educators on the mental approach you need to stay grounded in this difficult time.
• The National Network of State Teachers of the Year (NNSTOY) is crowdsourcing a Google Document with Resources, articles, strategies, and more. While the document is difficult to navigate, there are many great resources.
• There is a LENGTHY list of “Education Companies Offering Free Subscriptions due to School Closings” that is continually being updated. If you haven’t seen it already, check it out.
• Facing History is hosting webinars to help support teachers during the COVID-19 outbreak.
• This resource from the San Diego School District includes links to Online Learning Platforms and Instructional Technology Classes.
• Greater Good Magazine put together a list of resources for stress and anxiety, fostering connection, for parents, for educators, and more.

Distance Learning

• KQED has a list of online learning resources.
• We are Teachers shares a list of virtual author readings and activities for children and young adults. The list is organized by age group with middle school, high-school-aged, and young adult listings further down the page.
• PBS Learning Media created a resource list by grade and subject area. Find videos, lesson plans, and activities that support learning at home. Create a free account to save and organize content.
• The New York Times offers a dozen new writing prompts each week, all based on Times articles, photographs, illustrations, videos, and graphs, about a wide array of issues, including internet memes, climate change, the #MeToo movement, racism, the 2020 election, and healthy habits. All of these activities are completely free for everyone.
• Commonsense compiled a list of Tools for Virtual and Distance Learning.
• Joquetta Johnson, a former HS Library Media Specialist, put together a padlet of Distance Learning Resources. The list was created to help support Online Learning.
• TED-Ed is TED’s youth and education initiative. There are links and resources for students, educators, and parents.

Bay Area-specific

• The Freedom Community Clinic has organized a living document with resources in the Bay Area during the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s informative and well-organized.