Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic teachers faced a challenge to become good educators without face-to-face contact with their students. The main objective of this study was to explore the most effective teachers’ work methods looking on technological resources and applied teaching methods used during the COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2020 in Latvia. We looked for differences in pedagogic approaches and methods to identify the best distance teaching practices. Methods: A self-assessment questionnaire was developed to assess six sub-domains of teachers’ success in distance education: digital skills and attitudes towards acquiring and using new technologies in classroom; perceptions and attitudes towards distance teaching; necessary individual and institutional support; student engagement and communication; opinions on success factors in distance teaching; and teaching forms used in distance education. Teachers’ answers were collected during May-June 2020 (N=1543). In addition, teachers were asked to evaluate their digital skills before and after distance teaching. Results: Most of the respondents (60.8%) evaluated their own work in distance teaching as “very good/excellent” or “almost good/good” (30.4%). The number of teachers that evaluated their digital skills as “very good/excellent” increased from 506 to 763 after the first experience in distance teaching. We observed statistically significant relationships of this parameter with better digital skills (p <0.01). From different methods that can be used in distance education, the most successful teachers frequently used students’ individual work and interactive methods of teaching. Conclusion: Training in use of technologies and in basic principles of digital pedagogy is essential for positive attitude towards distance teaching.