This past school year was a challenging time for teachers, parents, and students all around the country. Teachers were forced to quickly adapt to unfamiliar technologies and learning environments, all while ensuring each student’s safety and academic success. Many wonder what the future has in store for the classroom as we look to a post-COVID world, but still, there’s a lot to learn from this unique school year.

Here’s a lineup of just a few emerging education trends and teaching strategies from the 2020-2021 school year:

1. Blended Learning

This teaching strategy combines classroom instruction with online lessons that allow students to learn at their own pace. Since there’s no telling what the school year will look like in the fall, it may be in your best interest to keep this tool under your belt.

2. Self-care

It’s been a challenging year for students as they’ve adjusted to being away from their peers and teachers. Integrating lessons on self-care and healthy coping mechanisms into your lesson plans is an excellent way to teach your students the importance of prioritizing their mental health.

3. Culturally Responsive Learning

Having a diverse classroom of students is a fantastic opportunity to teach new content and make it enjoyable and relatable. Get to know your students and find ways to relate the information in your lessons to different cultures and backgrounds.

4. Media Literacy

The 24-hour news cycle has become the lay of the land, and it’s vital to teach students how to recognize bias in the news. Media literacy will help sharpen students’ critical thinking skills.

5. Gamification

Using games and fun incentives to get your kids excited about learning goes over well every time. Gamification is a great learning strategy to help your students become more engaged.

What teaching strategies did you be incorporate in your classroom this school year?