Goal 2: Keep your school community connected
Connection and community are crucial at all times within a school, but even more so in the midst of transitions and changes as dramatic as moving from a face-to-face classroom to a remote learning environment. As mentioned previously, structure, ritual, and a semblance of normalcy helps tremendously in calming students' nerves. Connection is a human need. Seeing their friends and you, even if it is on a screen, warms hearts and keeps the connection between classmates strong.
Ways to foster connection with your students include:
- Teams calls. You and your students can meet synchronously to discuss content, share experiences from the day, and discuss how everyone is adapting to the transition to remote learning.
- Virtual office hours. If you plan to record lessons for students to watch when they have time, you can schedule virtual office hours where students can join a call to check in, ask questions, share insights/ideas, etc.
- Flip. Flip allows you and your students to record and share short videos. It's a wonderful way to encourage and continue connection asynchronously. Students can post their video whenever they have time. Peers can view the videos, respond to the videos, and post their own.
- Conversations in Teams. Throughout the day and week, students can chat with their classmates and you in the Posts tab in Teams.
As mentioned earlier, in addition to class meetings, it's important to find ways for students to connect with counselors and others who can support them. Additionally, if your school has regular events that have special significance for your students, or simply provide ritual and routine for them, explore ways to incorporate those into your remote learning experience. You may not be able to do them as regularly as you usually do, but it's important to find a time to incorporate them periodically. The longer your remote learning experience goes on, the greater need you have to find ways to include those events into your school week.