Teaching Fences effectively depends heavily on discussion, close reading modeled aloud, and the kind of spontaneous back and forth that comes naturally in a physical classroom but requires more deliberate design in a remote or hybrid setting. Many of the core teaching strategies for this play still work in a virtual environment, but they need specific adjustments to remain effective when students are not sharing the same physical space. This guide focuses on practical adjustments teachers can make to preserve the depth of a strong Fences unit even when some or all instruction happens remotely.

Discussion, normally one of the strongest tools for building toward strong essay writing on this play, requires more structure in a virtual setting to avoid becoming either silent or chaotic. Using a chat based discussion alongside verbal discussion allows students who are less comfortable speaking aloud on camera to still contribute meaningfully, and it creates a written record of student thinking that can be revisited later during the drafting process. Structured breakout rooms with a specific, focused question and a clear time limit tend to produce more productive small group discussion online than open ended verbal discussion in the main virtual room.

Close reading, which benefits enormously from a teacher modeling annotation live and visibly for students, can be replicated virtually through screen sharing a document and thinking aloud while annotating a passage in real time. This technique works particularly well for teaching students how to analyze Troy's extended monologues, since students can watch the teacher's annotation process step by step and then attempt a similar process independently on a different passage. Recording these modeled annotation sessions also allows students to revisit the demonstration later, which is not possible in the same way during a live, in person lesson.

Adapting Group Work for Remote Settings

Group work on essay prompts or discussion questions can still function effectively in a remote setting using shared digital documents, where students collaboratively build a list of evidence or arguments in real time while a teacher circulates virtually between breakout rooms. This approach preserves much of the collaborative thinking benefit of in person group work, while also creating a permanent, reviewable record of what each group discussed, which teachers can use afterward to assess understanding and plan follow up instruction.

• Use chat based discussion alongside verbal discussion to include quieter students
• Model close reading and annotation live through screen sharing and thinking aloud
• Record modeled lessons so students can revisit them independently later
• Use shared digital documents for group work to create a reviewable record
• Build in more frequent, lower stakes check ins to catch confusion earlier

Keeping Students Engaged With the Text Itself

One risk of remote instruction is that students can more easily disengage from the actual text, relying on summaries or secondary sources rather than genuinely reading the play closely. Building in frequent, low stakes checks for understanding, such as a short response to a specific passage due before each class session, helps ensure students are engaging directly with the text rather than only with class discussion about it. These checks do not need to be heavily graded, but they should be consistent enough that students understand direct engagement with the play is expected and monitored throughout the unit.

Audio recordings or professional performance clips of key scenes, when available and appropriately licensed for classroom use, can also help remote students engage more fully with the play's dramatic, spoken language, which can otherwise get lost when students only encounter the text silently on a screen. Hearing Troy's monologues performed aloud, even briefly, often deepens students' understanding of the rhythm and emotional weight of Wilson's dialogue in a way that silent reading alone does not always achieve, particularly for students who are less confident readers.

Managing Essay Drafting and Feedback Remotely

The drafting and feedback process for Fences essays can actually become more efficient in a remote setting, since digital documents allow for real time or asynchronous commenting directly within a student's draft, rather than requiring physical papers to be collected and returned. Teachers can leave specific, targeted comments directly next to the relevant sentence or paragraph, which tends to be clearer for students than a general comment at the end of a physical paper referring back to an earlier section of the essay.

Virtual office hours or brief one on one video check ins during the drafting process can also replicate some of the individualized support that happens naturally during in person drafting days, when a teacher circulates the room and briefly checks in with individual students. Scheduling short, five minute check ins with students who seem to be struggling, based on early drafts or discussion participation, helps catch misunderstandings before they shape an entire essay, even without the informal, in person circulation a physical classroom allows.

Maintaining Rigor in a Hybrid Environment

Teachers managing a hybrid classroom, with some students present in person and others joining remotely, face the additional challenge of ensuring both groups receive equally rigorous instruction rather than the remote group receiving a diminished version of the lesson. Designing activities that work identically well for both groups, such as the shared digital document group work described earlier, helps prevent this common hybrid teaching pitfall, since both in person and remote students interact with the same shared resource simultaneously rather than through two separate, unequal experiences.

Regardless of the specific remote or hybrid format, the underlying instructional goals for teaching Fences remain the same: building close reading skills, generating rich discussion, and guiding students toward strong, evidence based essay writing. The format requires real adjustment, but the core teaching moves that make this play work so well in a physical classroom can, with some deliberate redesign, translate successfully into a remote or hybrid environment without significantly compromising the depth of student learning.