On Thursday, April 8, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf announced the unprecedented closure of K-12 schools for the remainder of the year due to the outbreak of COVID-19. In lieu of brick and mortar classes, the Philadelphia School District will offer students online classes and a Digital Learning Plan. In order to make this program succeed, the school district is distributing laptops to all students without computer access, while Comcast is granting free or low-cost internet access during this pandemic. For a complete description of this Digital Learning Plan, how it works, who it affects, and how to obtain free resources and learning guides, visit the Philadelphia School District's FAQ.

This crash course in online learning presents a formidable challenge to both students and teachers. Teachers with little to no experience teaching online classes will soon teach students who are equally inexperienced with online learning. Even worse, teachers and students will transition to remote learning mid-semester. Luckily, there are a plethora of online resources to help guide teachers in preparing their courses. To begin with, should PreK-12 teachers create synchronous or asynchronous online classes? And what does that even mean?
 

• Global Online Academy has an informative data-driven discussion on the topic of synchronous vs. asynchronous teaching by grade level.
   
• For general preparatory advice, this PBS article geared towards Pre-K to Elementary school teachers suggests ways in which to capture the attention of young students.
   
• Middle school and high school teachers may benefit by reading "So You Want to Temporarily Teach Online", written by Stephanie Moore and Charles B. Hodges for Inside Higher Ed. and Flower Darby's advice guide on "How to Be a Better Online Teacher", for the Chronicle of Higher Education.
   
• Google is offering trainings and tutorials for all teachers on how to use its products from Chromebooks to Google Hangouts.
   
• Anyone using Zoom will benefit by reading this Zoom Best Practices guide before meeting with students.
   
• And Let's not forget the Census! Teachers looking for online lesson plans, games, and interactive games about Census 2020 can visit and view information on the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's website.

The Free Library is temporarily closed during this pandemic, but its digital resources remain available 24/7 for all to use. While there are many databases available, here is a short introduction to a handful of select databases by grade level. Those interested can learn more about the library's primary sources and primary source literacy. Finally, Traveling Treasures, which has traveled to many schools and institutions, allowing participants of all ages to touch and hold artifacts, can also be enjoyed remotely.

COVID-19 has certainly changed how teachers teach students. But the Free Library, with all of its resources is here to support Philadelphia's teachers as we enter uncharted territory together.

To obtain additional information, please contact Joe Shemtov at shemtovj @ freelibrary . org