Shutdown Food for Thought: Where to Start

As of my writing this, we are still waiting for some sort of official word letting us know what Distance Learning looks like. This drives us nuts as educators because we have been ingrained from Day 1 that our Lesson Plans need to be done and done well. Believe me, I share your anxiety, concerns, worries, stresses, etc., and that's coming from someone whose first job was teaching at an Online Charter School. I also very much share everyone's concerns for our students who do not have access to technology and internet service. This is one of the problems with this type of education. I think I mentioned Liz Kolb a few emails ago and her comments on how virtual schools tend to widen the achievement gap between our socio-economic groups.
With that being said, my recommendation for you as you start thinking about what your class might look like going forward is to consider the way you teach in your classroom. I'm guessing that you deliver instruction and activities that meet the needs of MOST of your students first. It's the "MOST" of your students who determine how you plan and deliver your lessons. After that planning is done, you go back and look for ways to differentiate that instruction for students who aren't in that "MOST" group. You add supports, alternatives, and accommodations for students who need them because what you have isn't accessible to them. You add extensions for students who need more than what the "MOST" get because you don't want to hold them back from soaring like they can.
We are in the process of trying to assess the level of access our students and families have to digital content. We don't have that finalized yet, but if I was a betting man, I would be willing to bet that MOST of our students will have access to digital content. Not all of them, but they are now our "MOST" group. If you are struggling with the unknown and can't handle not thinking about some sort of plan for how this whole thing will work (first of all, you're not alone), come at it like you would for any lesson. Plan for teaching the MOST of your students first, then we can circle back and differentiate.
I so wish I could just give everyone a checklist, but I'm with you in the unknown group. However, I'm confident that wherever we land, we'll do everything we can to provide the best education possible to each of our students because that's what we do, and we won't settle for less than that.