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Simply Special Ed

Resource Downloads & Teaching Advice

Blog Middle School Remote Learning

5 Remote Learning Reinforcers for Middle School

Header for blog post: 5 Remote Learning Reinforcers for Middle School

Are your students struggling to maintain momentum during remote learning? Tactful use of reinforcers can help keep students on track! Read all about my students’ top five remote learning reinforcers in this blog post!

Picture showing virtual field trip to an aquarium

1. Virtual Field Trip

My students ABSOLUTE LOVED field trips when in-person learning was available. Unfortunately, the era of COVID-19 means in-person field trips are unavailable. Luckily for us, technology makes virtual field trips available. Here are some popular virtual field trip destination among my students:

  • Zoos: Some zoos have live camera feed from their animal enclosures linked on their websites. Students can choose which animals they want to visit.
  • Aquariums: Similarly, some aquariums also have live camera feed from their tanks available for 24/7 viewing.
  • 360 Cities: 360 Cities has an enormous collection of 360° panoramas. You can visit virtually any city in the world (pun intended)!
  • Access Mars: Access Mars allows you to explore the surface of Mars with your students!
Picture showing using yoga as reinforcer during remote learning.

2. Yoga

Students are spending more time sitting and being on their electronic devices than ever these days. As such, any chance to move, stretch, and exercise their bodies are highly desirable for them.

I am a certified yoga instructor, so I like to personally lead yoga in my classroom. YouTube™, however, has a lot of good videos for students to follow along as well!

Picture showing myself and my pup, Bucky, during show-and-tell.
Shout out to my pup, Bucky, for letting me showcase him to the class all the time!

3. Show-and-Tell

Students crave social interactions during these times of isolation. They are specifically interested in sharing their beloved objects, pets, and family members. In order to keep the class on track, I like to use show-and-tells as a reinforcer. To do so, my students have to work together and keep each other accountable for completing synchronous and asynchronous school work.

Picture showing student having a lunchtime hangout with teacher.

4. Lunchtime Hangout

Lunchtime hangouts are another popular social interaction option for my students. It was a routine that we have established during in-person learning: students can earn to have lunch and hang out with me by completing school- and homework. During remote learning, I continue to use the lunchtime hangouts as reinforcers to encourage students to participate in synchronous remote classes and complete asynchronous school work.

Image with link to another Simply Special Ed blog post titled "5 Zoom Games for Remote Learning."

5. Zoom Games

Zoom games can be effective brain breaks during remote learning. Click here to read another Simply Special Ed blog post on five of my students’ favorite Zoom games!

Will you try any of these reinforcers with your students? What are some of your tried and true remote learning reinforcers? Let me know if the comments!

SSE Blogger, Tiffany, Signature
5 Remote Learning Reinforcers for Middle School pin

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Comments

  1. Amber says

    January 17, 2021 at 9:52 am

    This is so perfect. I will definitely try these. The virtual field trip seems like a no-brainer, why didn’t I think of that?! lol

    • Tiffany Ng says

      January 20, 2021 at 11:47 pm

      Hi Amber! Thank you for your feedback! I hope you and your students enjoy these reinforcers!! 🙂

      — Tiffany @ SSE Blogger Team

Hi amazing teachers!
I'm Alyssa Shanahan -- a former Elementary Special Ed & Life Skills teacher. My classroom focus was always to keep things simple, increase communication, and build independence. Simply Special Ed's goal is to help teachers and students reach their full potential in and out of the classroom!

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