Many school districts are choosing to go with the hybrid teaching system this fall: half in-classroom learning and half remote learning. Depending on how things go, there is a possibility of going back to permanent remote teaching. Regardless of how much remote teaching your district will be doing, it’s still a good idea to try to explore different ways to connect with your students through the computer screen.
Here are some ways to accomplish just that during this next school-year:
- Provide your students with “office hours” where they can contact you over phone or Zoom call to get help.
- Craft a gift that you can give to your students to symbolize being together (example: painting rocks, sewing dolls, etc).
- Use programs like Flipgrid for reading responses or personal videos.
- Think of ways to allow your students to connect to each other. (Flipgrid is great for this).
- Send your students a physical letter or card.
- Have a slumber party night on Zoom where you read bedtime stories.
- Have a backyard science project day.
- Mail them a book, or personally drop it off in their mailboxes. Then you can have a virtual book club about the book.
- Create a surprise yard sign and put it in their yards. (Birthdays would be a great time for this).
- Showcase students’ birthday.
- Have a Dress Up Day, or Spirit Week during online class sessions.
- Go on a virtual field trip.
- Ask your students to give virtual house tours to showcase their favorite parts of their house.
- Use Google Forms for daily check-ins.
- Share strategies on how you’re being organized and taking care of yourself mentally.
- Plan a way to eat lunch with your students every once in a while.
- Maintain some of their favorite routines from being in the classroom.
If you’re looking for a program to help you with creating lessons in Social-Emotional Learning, our program Onspire C3 can help with that. With this program, you can ask your students to complete the lessons on their own, have staff lead C3 lessons, or blend the program with staff instruction and self-directed learning. We would love to help you bring Onspire into your curriculum, so if you are interested, contact us to schedule a free demo for you and your team.