I have been using the fun Rubber Ducky check in and many of the others generously shared by Jenn Giffen on a regular basis and I have to tell you, while many students are doing ok, many of them are feeling like they are drowning! We are seeing students who wanted to be in school, face to face realize that being in rows without any contact with peers is not necessarily what they were anticipating.
I have informally asked my peers and they are feeling it as well. I am struggling too. I am really worried about the health and well being of many of us. But it’s not just educators. We need to acknowledge that while we have been back at work for a short while now, others (like both my sisters) have continued to work since March and still others are looking for work. I add this to say that during a global pandemic, very few people are doing ok.
How are you doing? Check-In
At the beginning of the school year, we make time for icebreakers and get to know you activities but as the year progresses, we often don’t have time to continue to check in. Although the daily visual check in like the Rubber Duck one is quick and can be a daily bellringer, a Google Form will allow you to get more extensive feedback and will also give you a sense of what is working well for your students and what they need you to do differently. This involves an element of risk, but if students see that you care about their voice and implement some of the feedback, it will in turn strengthen your relationship. I created this template to share with my teachers which you are welcome to modify for your own class or context. If you are a school leader or a District leader, how might you check in with your staff to see how they are doing? You may also want to use conditional formatting to visually see problem areas. Video tutorial here.
Stories from the Pandemic
Empathy comes from understanding the journey of others. We know that writing can be a form of release and catharsis. Pam Moran shared a site called, Stories from the Pandemic. Perhaps our students will benefit from reading some of the stories written by teens or writing a story (I personally would give them the choice to make it fictional in case writing a real story is too painful). Students should share these with one another (I would suggest anonymously). You can create one document which links to all the stories, use a class blog for feedback, or any other way you can think of to ensure that these stories aren’t just read by the teacher. They can choose to submit it or the class can nominate a few of the submissions to the Stories from the Pandemic site.
Stories from the pandemic – real teens writing about their lives — see this from @MaryAnnReilly https://t.co/CQdl6TF3Vf and the site https://t.co/shTJ0zW26W I think this can adapt to middle school
— pammoran (@pammoran) September 27, 2020
Meditation and Mindfulness
My friend Jessica is so good with taking time for students to meditate regularly and especially before an assessment. Many students would never have had the experience of meditation or of recognizing triggers in themselves for when they need additional support. Here is a body scan meditation she created for our grade 9 Orientation.
Music and Mics, Hellos and Goodbyes
One of my buddy teachers, Lisa Craveiro, has students take turns sharing a song to welcome students into the space and to say goodbye. It is such a great way to build in student voice and positivity; even for just a few moments. The other thing I insist on is saying hello and goodbye. Greeting your students by name is proven to be of great benefit. I would argue that greeting students by name in virtual settings is equally important. “Welcome, I am happy you are here” can work for students entering late in person and offline. Just as I say goodbye to students who physically leave a classroom, I also insist that everyone unmute their microphone to say goodbye to me and to one another. It is kind of mayhem and I love it. These are simple strategies to continue to strengthen the in-person ties because I know we are all missing it and we also know that relationships are everything.
Stay safe. Stay well.
