How to not adjust for Distance Learning

Wow, what a crazy school year.  We can all agree that navigating distance learning, hybrid learning, in person learning, and the ever looming threat of changing models on a dime has caused stress and anxiety.  Not only for teachers and students, but also for our families.  Now more than ever is the importance of developing relationships important and presents a challenge we haven't seen broadly in the field of education.

So they didn't teach you how to build relationships over the internet in teacher prep school?  What now?  Tried and true relationship building is the answer. 

If you can get students talking and learning about the social aspect of each other's lives, you are doing just that, developing relationships with students.  Those that do this best develop strong relationships over time.  Here are a few easy ways to succeed in developing strong relationships in a digital world.

Be consistent.  Don't reserve relationship building activities for the first week or two of a course.  Asking your students how their day is going, how their weekend was, or a question of the day not only lets you learn more about them, it gets them comfortable talking in class and comfortable with each other.  Students will come to class excited to share once this becomes a routine.

Be interested.  Don't be lackadaisical in asking how students are doing.  Students will catch on if you are not interested.  Being interested in students means you are asking how they are doing with the intention of listening and responding.  You may even learn something from the collective group that causes a change in your plans for the day or week.  After all, flexibility is our life in a virtual learning environment.  Why not be intentional in our flexibility?

Recognize students outside of your scheduled class.  Giving a quick call home or sending a postcard home to a student or parent just to check in means so much more than it does during class.  Students and families recognize the extra effort, which pays big dividends in relationship building.  Students will show up excited to see you and know that you are willing to go the extra mile for them.  Often this means they are willing to go the extra mile for you.

Relationships are the key most successful teachers hang their hat on.  Developing the skill to be intentional in this area is a transferable skill that works no matter what model you are learning under.  Just because we are learning something new, does not mean we need to leave conventional wisdom behind.  Think about what you have done best in the traditional schoolhouse and then adjust to make it applicable in your new classroom.  This will also make your transition back much more manageable.  Happy Teaching!