If you don’t have genuine relationships built with your students, it will make your year a lot harder. Building genuine relationships through e-Learning will be KEY.
Going from our classroom to e-learning was a true adjustment. How was I going to continue to work on those relationships? How would I keep my students engaged and interested virtually? Would I still be able to create a learning environment where they felt valued and loved? It is a little easier establishing genuine relationships with our students in person. With just a little work, those same relationships that you build in the classroom can also be built virtually.
4 Virtual Learning Ideas
Here are 3 virtual learning techniques that I used as a bridge in continuing to form those relationships. I plan to continue to use
- Set Up Daily Morning Announcements
- Hold One on One Virtual Conferences
- Hold Whole Class Google Meet or ZOOM Meetings
- Read ALoud Competition
Set Up Daily Morning Announcements
When we were in our regular classroom setting, each morning we would start with a morning meeting. Being virtual made is so hard to make sure all students were in attendance for our virtual morning meetings. To solve this issue, each night I would make a pre-recorded Morning Announcements video. I would let students know what to look forward to for that day, how they can work smarter and not harder, and would share other bits of information. I also included “Did You Know” facts and gave birthday shout outs!
The kids absolutely LOVED the morning announcements! Each morning I would push it out through Google Classroom at 8am. Whenever the kids popped on, they would start their day
Hold One-On-One Conferences
Whenever I felt my kids begin to get frustrated or seem to begin falling behind, I would offer one-on-one conference time to them. I also let my students know that whenever they needed me, I would be available for a conference. Several students too me up on the offer a few times a week, and I was able to get them regrouped and back on track.
These one one one conferences were also used to hold HELP classes. Towards the end of e-learning the students in our district were learning new concepts. Because we were learning new concepts, some of them needed extra help (with the math especially). I gladly jumped on for a conference and was able to guide them through it!
Hold Whole Class Google Meet or ZOOM Meetings
In one way or another I ended up meeting with my students every single day. I held our whole class Google Meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This time was used purely as time for the students to catch up with one another.
I added one fun “theme” to the meeting every other week. We did scavenger hunts and played how well do you know your teacher (HILARIOUS!). We also had a show-and-tell / talent show (SO FUN!). One student showed us his chicken (Mother-Clucker). Another student played the drums, and another sang.
I held our Google Meets this way because i didn’t want my students to be stressed out. We had all been together just weeks before and here we are staring at each other through a screen. For my students sanity, our sessions needed to be less “schoolish” and more like a hangout. Before we would end our meetings, I would make sure no one needed help on an assignment for that day and if they did I would explain it whole group)
Read ALoud Competition
One of the things that I absolutely loved when we were in the classroom was our read alouds. My students LOVE all things Andrew Clements and we just so happened to have finished NO TALKING right before schools shut down. When I packed up my things to take home with me, I grabbed another book of his Extra Credit and thought that I would offer a read aloud to them if time permitted.
Once I got a grasp on how to manage myself and my kiddos during eLearning, I asked them if they would like an optional read aloud competition. For the most part all of them wanted to participate and so it began.
I would read a chapter of Extra Credit and would ask 3-4 questions at the end of the chapter. The first student to get their answers in to me, and get them in correct would get a point. The goal was to be the first student with the most points. The winner would get a $5 Amazon Gift card! I thought this was great but after a while I noticed that one student in particular would always answer first and would have the correct answer.
Raising The Bar
In not wanting others to get discouraged and quit, I raised the bar. There was now going to be a first place, second place, and third place winner!
- First Place Winner- $15.00
- Second Place Winner- $10.00
- Third Place Winner- $5.00
Now under normal circumstances I would not have offered nearly $30.00 to my students for simply listening to a story and answering questions. However, because of the new environment we all found ourselves to be in, I knew I needed to keep them engaged.
Once they heard about the new first, second, and third place prizes, I had students pouring in from all over! It was so fun seeing them wait for the story come out and racing to be one of the top three!
The Possibilities Are Endless
There are so many ways that we can continue to build genuine relationships with our students virtually. The possibilities really are endless, we just have to really reach, and think outside the box.
As we begin to prepare for the new school year ahead remember the most important thing you can do is to establish those genuine relationships with students.
Get to know what they like and dislike. Ask them what their hobbies are or what the enjoy doing when they are not learning virtually. This will be the singular most important thing that you can do!
