Be present in the moment. If the pandemic and stay-at-home orders have taught us all one lesson, being present has to be it. My family remains on high alert to protect my son, who was born with Cystic Fibrosis. As a result, we will be one of the last families to return to normal. While to some people, our choices may seem overly cautious - I remind people that my son was hospitalized because of a stomach bug and put on antibiotics because of a cold. The few times he has been sick in his life have necessitated immediate medical attention. To avoid an unscheduled trek to Lutheran General Hospital, being six feet apart and avoiding large crowds have become standard practice during the flu season. This season of illness, which started in February of last year, has just been a little longer than most.
Despite our necessary and logical reasons for being cautious, we have not been antisocial. Team Sukow spent this summer baking cookies and leaving gifts for friends and family we love. My family found ways to express our love and gratitude for the people in our lives who understand why we have stayed away and supported us through some tough decisions. Globally, we are all still enduring the effects of this pandemic, and while our experiences have similarities, we are facing unique battles.
As the calendar has turned to September and school is back in session, I am reminded that being present in the moment remains as essential as ever. While school may not look like what we considered normal for several months to come, what our students need from us the most is for us to be present. They need our attention, our guidance, and our love - especially while they, too, are attempting to navigate a world of uncertainties and no guarantees.
We are tasked with the challenge of creating digital spaces for our students to navigate and establish a sense of normalcy in them. While some teachers have taken to the technology more naturally than others, we can all work to create a digital presence that gives our students the social and emotional support they need to achieve academic success during this season. Establishing a strong and welcoming online presence brings consistency, comfort, and increases accessibility for our students.
Keep the organization as clear as possible.
The best place to start when establishing an online presence is to consider the organization. When students are remote, it is easy for them to become lost or feel uncertain about accessing school through digital means. We cannot stand over their shoulder to guide them, and their classmates are not a desk away to subtly show them where to click during a class activity. As such, consider creating a single and clear pathway to get to the course learning. Rechunking and redesigning material may be necessary to support students who may be afraid to ask for support during in-person learning and now have the added barrier of the mute button on Zoom.
To help students even further, breaking material down by week and by date can add clarity and direction for any student. Using announcements, calendars, and frequent communication to support students can also provide additional support and make the course easier to navigate. Once navigation and layout have been established, keep that consistent organization to create routines.
Be yourself.
Once the organizational design has been created, we cannot forget to find ways to interject ourselves into the course. Practicing self-disclosure allows us to foster relationships. Those relationships lead to more substantial participation and student engagement. Whether it be as subtle as creating a color scheme for buttons and tiles on a learning management system homepage or including a personalized video message, interjecting personal quips, sayings, and ideas encourages students to keep coming back to class. It invites them to begin to share more about themselves in the process, too. Find a way to communicate who you are to your students, whether it be through jokes shared during synchronous sessions or Bitmojis dancing in banners. Be yourself.
Learn together.
When we attended college teacher preparation courses a decade ago or even as many as three decades ago, we were not taught to build online platforms. We were trained in love and logic, classroom management strategies, and in-person questioning styles. Currently, we are all navigating a relatively new frontier. While there have been online schools and programs for the last decade, these programs are not the norm for K-12 education.
If a teacher is not traditionally a tech wizard, it is okay. Try to find small ways to learn with the students. Do not be afraid to fail. As teachers, I know we want to be perfectly put together and have everything figured out before class begins. But as Jessica Lahey states in her book, The Gift of Failure: How the Best Parents Learn to Let Go So Their Children Can Succeed, "Perfection is not what holds [a classroom] family together. Bond forged through shared struggle is what endures over the long haul." We know that students learn from their mistakes; we can learn this way, too. Our mistakes can teach us far more than being perfectly put together every moment ever could.
Use Video
No matter how one has approached the last six months of the year, human interaction and contact has been limited. We are all craving connection. The best way to create a sense of connection is to capture yourself on film. Use programs like Screencastify, WeVideo, or even recordings on your phone to talk to your students. Modeling digital communication will only invite them into the online classroom more and encourage them to reciprocate. During quarantine in the spring, I stopped worrying about looking perfect and wearing makeup in every video. I was at my house, and I was wearing running clothes and spirit wear most of the time. Being myself and showing how I was balancing motherhood, teaching, and a pandemic was just another way to self-disclose and be vulnerable with my students. Sharing my voice allowed them to be vulnerable with me, too.
Have them respond back.
Whether it be through Google Forms surveys, personal reflection, or private Flipgrid videos, students need to use their voice, and students need to feel heard. Challenge students to respond back and find ways to allow them to share what is working in the course and what can be improved upon. Collecting student feedback and providing opportunities for them to communicate with you how they are doing creates a sense of trust and can allow teachers to enhance the online learning environment. Again, when students feel connected to the classroom and have a rapport with their teachers, they are far more likely to engage, and they will feel so much more comfortable seeking help. Students need an outlet; even though they would not have admitted it in the fall of 2019, school is a safe place where they want to be.
While this school year's future will remain uncertain, we know that we can still be present for our students. We are all fighting different battles and facing healthy and normal fears for our health, safety, and future. Remember that being present for our students in the here and now provides a great sense of normalcy for them. We can still be their safe space; we need to adjust, adapt, and embrace our vulnerabilities.
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