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A source for reflection with your learning teams.

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Creating Moments of Genuine Connection Online

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Creating Moments of Genuine Connection Online

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Podcast ~ Building Relationships+Trust

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Sponsored by Pear Deck and UL Xplorlabs

If you're reading this in August of 2020, you're most likely in the midst of juggling a hundred different things right now. You're managing all the messy details of starting a new school year under constantly changing circumstances. You're scrambling for resources. You're debating the pros and cons of various reopening scenarios. You're wondering how any of this can possibly be accomplished, and deep inside you're pretty sure it can't.

As all of this swirls around us, it can help if we stop, get very quiet, and focus on one thing, arguably the most important thing we need to accomplish as we move forward into the school year: building relationships with our students. While this goal is important during any school year, in 2020 it's crucial. This virus has robbed us all of the human connections that help us to grow, support us through hard times, and make life on this planet so rich. For students whose home lives are not always safe, lockdowns have introduced trauma that regular school attendance may have prevented. We're all still hurting. And we're still not out of the woods.

If you're one of many teachers who will be starting the school year online, or if you end up returning to online instruction at some point during the year, making those connections will be more challenging than in a face-to-face classroom.

To help you navigate this change, I invited Dave Stuart Jr. to share one of his most effective strategies for connecting with students. Stuart is a high school English teacher who helps teachers do their work better through his website, books, and online courses for teachers on student motivation, time management, and classroom management. His newest offering is a free mini-course, 10 Tips for Staying Motivated When Teaching in Times of Uncertainty. You can find all of his courses at cultofpedagogy.com/dave. (I am an affiliate for all of Stuart's courses, so if you enroll in any of his paid courses through my link, I receive a small commission.)

Dave Stuart Jr.

I have been a fan of Stuart's work for years now. Not only is he a really likable guy, but he goes pretty deep with his work, making sure he understands the research behind the principles he encourages in the classroom.

We're going to focus on one specific strategy Stuart uses for building relationships with his students. He calls it making Moments of Genuine Connection (MGCs), which are just one small part of his overall approach to building trust in his classroom. First we'll look at the strategy in general, and then we'll explore some ways to make these moments happen in remote teaching situations.

What are Moments of Genuine Connection?

Stuart developed this approach out of necessity. He knew how important relationship building was, but the time it took to do it well was overwhelming.

"The first three years of my career," he says, "I would spend 10, 15 hours per week solely focused on building relationships with students...before school, after school, during lunch. Massive amounts of time, time that I could not invest into feedback on student work or planning lessons."

Needing a more efficient approach, he started experimenting with shorter interactions, limiting them to just 1 to 3 minutes, and tried to see how many students he could realistically and genuinely connect with in a day. It ended up working really well, allowing him to make many more students "feel valued, known, respected, and safe."

Now, years later, Stuart has established clearer protocols for MGCs. To work best, your MGCs should fit these criteria:

MOMENTS. In other words, brief. No more than 3 minutes each.

GENUINE. You have to mean what you say. "We as teachers work hard in our hearts to actually want to connect with our students, to actually like them," Stuart says. "Not every personality fits nicely with every other personality. MGCs call upon the teacher to do some inside work, some self-examination when negative feelings crop up with students."

CONNECTION. "What you're after in these encounters is that set of feelings: valued, known, respected," Stuart says. "So we call out specific things that we notice about the child, specific things that we know about them from information that they've given us."

EMBEDDED, NOT EXTRA. The moments are embedded inside the work you're already doing as a teacher. "So they're before class, right after class, during independent work."

TRACKED. Stuart keeps track of the MGCs using a class roster on a clipboard-jotting a few brief notes about the encounter-and doesn't allow himself to start a fresh sheet until he has attempted an MGC with each student. Notice the word attempted: Stuart doesn't insist on a successful connection every time and knows they may sometimes be awkward; he just holds himself accountable for trying. "We can't control the emotions of a child," he says. "We can just try to influence them in a direction that's going to help them and us."

PERSONAL AND ACADEMIC. Attempt connections about both personal and academic topics.

Ways to Create MGCs Online

Waiting Rooms

Zoom offers a feature called Waiting Rooms, which allow a moderator to hold all participants in one space and only admit them into the conference one at a time. If you conduct synchronous class meetings, you can use this feature to have quick chats with a few students as they enter the larger space (this may work especially well with those who arrive early) or use the private chat feature to welcome them and add an MGC while you're at it.

If you're using another videoconferencing tool, look for a feature similar to this or brainstorm with your colleagues how you might creatively make something like this happen within your current platform.

Brief Office Hours

Consider requiring students to attend office hours via videoconferencing a few times per semester. If you schedule students in small batches, maybe alphabetically by last name, you can meet with each student for just a few minutes at a time and make those meaningful connections that way.

Embedded in Feedback

When you give students feedback on their work, many digital tools will allow you to attach audio or video clips to that feedback, and audio feedback in particular has been found to have a much more powerful impact on student work than its written equivalent.

So instead of setting aside extra time for an MGC, just add it on to the feedback you're already giving to students. "Give audio feedback on student work," Stuart says, "and go ahead and tag at the front or the back of that, Hey, I really appreciate the growth that I'm seeing in your writing, and I've noticed it. "

Personal Videos

Stuart picked up this idea from community college instructors who have years of online teaching under their belts. It's built on the idea of "video postcards" teachers send to all students at once. "It's you in a place outside of school, going about your life where you just say, Hey, I'm thinking about all of you guys."

These videos could be done occasionally for individual students. Although Stuart admits this would be more work than other methods, it may be worth the effort every once in a while, and creative, tech-savvy teachers may be able to find ways to make it more efficient.

Phone Calls

For students who do not have reliable internet connections, or with whom other attempts have not been successful, your best bet may be to pick up the phone and call.

"They don't need to be long at all," Stuart says. "They can simply be a Hey, I'm checking in. Is anything getting in the way of your learning right now? And then, I just want you to know that I was thinking about this thing that we talked about previously. Or, I think you're really going to like what's coming up due to the interests that you shared on your survey."

If you're struggling to wrap your head around the upcoming school year, check out Dave's free mini-course, 10 Tips for Staying Motivated When Teaching in Times of Uncertainty. You can learn more about all of Dave's online courses at cultofpedagogy.com/dave (affiliate link).

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Creating Moments of Genuine Connection Online

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Making each student feel known and respected is always important. So how do you do it when teaching online?

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Bright morning blog on practices to center the work of leaders during the pandemic.

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Building Relationships in a Virtual Classroom

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Building Relationships in a Virtual Classroom

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Geared toward 3-12

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As an educator, you are a community builder. From day one, you getting to know your students on a relational level. It's often in the little things, like sending an email the first time they miss a virtual class session. It's what happens when you give them opportunities to pursue their interests and chase their curiosity. As the community builder, you also set the tone for the class culture by facilitating the creation of classroom norms and procedures. On a daily level, you set the tone with your approach to classroom management and in subtle things like language and tone and the sense of humor you bring to the community. You also help teams solve problems and resolve conflict during collaborative work. You find creative ways to develop trust and create a sense of presence even when students are working remotely.

This last spring, as we shifted into quarantine, teachers did an amazing job building community at the collective level and engaging relationally with students on the individual level. I've seen so many examples of teachers making phone calls to families, having class video conferencing meetings to just do a pulse check on each child, and going out of their way to make sure kids know that there's an adult out there who cares. I've seen third grade teachers doing read alouds and last spring, I noticed all the high school teachers writing positive notes to seniors knowing all the things they will miss out on.

At the university level, I am watching professors eagerly learning how to use video conferencing technology to make sure they continue to connect with their students. Professors all around me are making phone calls to students see how students are doing mentally and emotionally. They're checking in with them before the start of the school year. Certain professors are connecting with local agencies for students who have are experiencing trauma. It is a bold reminder that in higher education, professors might be experts in a specific field or domain but they are also deeply dedicated to the classroom community.

This sudden shift toward emergency pandemic teaching has been a reminder that teaching is inherently relational and educators at every level care deeply about those they serve.

However, this year feels different. In the spring, many teachers had already built community in a face-to-face way. But what does it mean to build community and get to know your students in hybrid and virtual environments? In the next few weeks, we'll be exploring this topic in-depth. Next week, we'll explore ways to set up virtual check-ins. Later, I'll share strategies for how you can empower your classroom community as a whole in virtual and distance learning environments.

Listen to the Podcast

If you enjoy this blog but you'd like to listen to it on the go, just click on the audio below or subscribe via Apple Podcasts (ideal for iOS users) on Stitcher (ideal for Android users), on Amazon Podcasts, or on Spotify.

https://spencerauthor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Get-to-Know-Students.mp3

Ways to get to know your students

When I taught middle school, I used to begin the first week of school with a History of Me project. I wanted my students to feel known and it seemed like a personal narrative was a great starting place. However, after the second year of teaching, I began to realize that my lesson wasn't trauma sensitive.

Not every student feels safe sharing their story. Starting with a personal biography can create situations where students must re-live trauma or even experience PTSD. In addition, some students are processing shame connected to their past. While vulnerability is important, it can take months to develop trust as a community. Furthermore, some students don't feel safe sharing aspects of their identity. This is especially true for certain members of the LGTBT+ community.

However, as teachers, we want to get to know our students. We want them to feel known and respected. This first week can be an opportunity to honor their agency as learners. So, where do we start? One idea is to focus on geeky interests. Everyone has geeky interests and sharing geeky interests allow students to share something personal without centering it on their story or their identity. You can also honor their agency by empowering students to own the creative process. Here, you affirm their creative voice from day one. Similarly, when they own the inquiry process, you are affirming their natural curiosity. The following are a few activities and mini-projects that build on these ideas.

1. Survey

There are so many different options for student surveys. You might do an interest inventory, where they rate their interest in certain topics you will cover in class. They might share ideas of topics they like, novels they've read, t.v. shows they watch, video games they play, or music they listen to. You might ask students about communication preferences. How often do they want you to email them and do a check-in? Do they prefer videos or text-based instructions? In some cases, you might ask questions about their workspace or technology to help provide additional resources.

While the survey is a one-on-one form of communication, you can create spaces where students share their interests with their peers. The following is a prompt I use:

Each student shares their anthem, a song that feels nostalgic, and a song that people would be surprised that they enjoy. You can then create a Spotify playlist that students can access if they want to explore new music.

2. Show and Tell

When the quarantine first began, I want to create a situation where students could share their geeky interests while also processing healthy ways of dealing with social isolation. I began our class video conference with the following prompt:

I then gave students 90 seconds to find an item of their choosing. When that was done, I called on each student using a randomizer and asked students to explain their object. I timed each student for one minute and all twenty-five students had a chance to share their item.

At first, I was nervous about this. After all, these were graduate students in their final course. However, it was awesome. One student grabbed a guitar and played a few riffs for us. Another student grabbed a giant mixer (she probably could have moved her laptop instead) and then explained what it was like to rekindle her love of baking by doing recipes alongside her grandmother using FaceTime. Still, another described getting into painting for the first time ever.

This was a healthy opportunity for students to open up about their experiences and their emotions. Some chose to stick to the function of their item but others used it as a way to share a core part of their identity. Each time a student shared an item, it felt like a gift to the entire community. A variation on this activity is to have students select their item and create a one-minute pre-recorded video that they post to the class LMS. Students can then comment on their classmates' videos.

3. Hands-On Maker Project

While we often think of remote learning as being virtual and online, we need to recognize that students need to engage in the physical world as well. We don't want to see students sitting down in front of a screen for eight hours a day. For this reason, it helps to design learning experiences that take students away from their screens. Working remotely should include physical, hands-on learning. It should incorporate movement and allow for observations in the physical world.

You might do this with a full-day maker project:
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But you can also do this with a quick divergent thinking challenge. Here's how it works:

Step One: In a video conference, provide students with a divergent thinking prompt. The slide below is an example of this.

During this phase, students are gathering items from around their homes in a scavenger hunt. This brainstorming phase is often hands-on. Students might work individually or in a breakout room in the video chat.

Step Two: Students analyze their ideas, combine any that seem similar, and scratch out any that you want to abandon. They might also mash-up any unrelated ideas that might work well together.

Step Three: Students choose one main idea from the list and make a product with it. You might provide a specific time constraint to push their divergent thinking even more.

Step Four: Students go through multiple iterations until their product is done.

Step Five: Students create a video demonstrating how their product works and an explanation of their ideal audience.

4. Geek Out Blogs

Geek Out Blogs are another version of a Genius Hour Project.Based on Google concept of 20% Time, the goal of Genius Hour is to provide students with 20% of their class time to learn what they want. They choose the content while also mastering skills and hitting the academic standards.

With Genius Hour, students own the entire journey. They choose the topics based upon their own geeky interests. It doesn't have to be a traditionally academic area. They might like fashion or food or sports or Legos or Minecraft or deep sea creatures. They can then match these topics with topic-neutral standards. Students ask the questions and engage in their own research to find the answers. Along the way, they design their own plan of instruction. They decide on the resources and activities. Each student sets goals and engages in self-assessment. They work at their own pace and set their own deadlines. Students decide on the grouping. Some work alone. Others work in pairs or small groups. In the end, students figure out what they will make and how they will share their learning with the world.
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Geek Out Blogs begin with these questions:

1. What do you really care about? Why?

2. What is something that you're passionate about?

3. What is something you know inside and out?

4. What are some things you believe deeply in? What are some convictions you have about life?

5. What are your hobbies? What do you enjoy doing?

6. If you could create a class from scratch, what would it be?

I explained that geekiness is a passion, interest, enjoyment and often convictions about a particular topic. I then gave them stems they could use:

Seven Reasons Why __________

Seven Ways to _________

Seven Things to Know About ___________

Seven Best _____________

The Seven (Adjective) _________ in ____________

They were all over the place. A girl chose Korean pop music while the girl next to her delved into issues of immigration. A boy across the room chose Minecraft while the kid next to him gave seven amazing reasons why zombies would make great pets. A few kids wrote about their lives, their families or their cultures.

We ended up getting into digital citizenship and digital ethics. We started our blogs and added multimedia elements. We got into visual design and the do's and don'ts of slideshows (yes, I have them create Keynotes even if that's considered uncool these days). They learned about copyright and Creative Commons and developed a set of digital ethics in the process.

5. Curiositycast

Students can own their curiosity when we embrace a philosophy of inquiry-based learning.
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One way is through a Wonder Day Project.
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Another way is through a Curiositycast. Here's how it works.

Step 1: Students begin with a topic. It might be connected to a particular theme or unit of study. However, it might simply be a random topic they choose. In a history class, students might ask questions about the Mayan civilization or they might choose a random topic in history, such as the history of skateboarding or the history of trap music. In science, they might choose a subtopic about weather or they might simply ask any big science questions. Individually, students generate the topic on their own and add it to a shared document. When duplicate topics emerge, students then have the opportunity to work in pairs or small groups (no larger than four). Ultimately, they get to decide on the grouping and on the topic.

Step 2: Students generate a set of research questions connected to their topic. As a teacher, you can provide them with research sentence frames. You might include this on a slideshow or in a shared document that they can copy and paste.

Step 3: Students provide feedback on one another's questions. Students are looking for the following:

This question is specific

This question is on-topic

This question will allow you to find facts rather than just opinions

The method of feedback can vary depending on the technology and the grouping. If it's a blended classroom, they might provide feedback in-person. If they're working remotely, they can choose between leaving feedback as comments asynchronously on a shared document, recorded video feedback, or in an email. They can also give feedback synchronously with a phone call, a walkie-talkie app, or a video conference.

Step 4: Students engage in online research. The beautiful part of working remotely is students can read at their own pace and they're not tied to a tight class schedule. However, this also means you might have to create some accountability, so you might ask students to find at least 5 facts or answer at least two of their questions.

In this research phase, students can organize their information in whatever style works best for them. They might use a spreadsheet, a table, a set of note cards, or create a sketchnote.

Step 5: Students share their information with a partner or small group. This works well as a video conference, with teachers clarifying expectations and then asking students to move into breakout rooms. However, a quicker option might be a simple email update or a comment on the class LMS. If students are working individually, this is an opportunity to share their findings with someone who has had no background knowledge. It often, leads to better research in the second day. If students are working in teams, it's an opportunity to share their findings and expand their knowledge as a group.

Step 6: Students go in-depth in research for a second or even third day. The goal is to develop a rich understanding of the topic. You might ask students to create concept maps, which they can do by hand or using an online app.

Step 7: Students share their work in a podcast. They can use a dedicated remote podcasting app (such as Zencastr) or create a video recording and then take the audio out afterward using an audio editor (such as Audacity). If the technology process seems too complicated, you might simply make it a vodcast and have students record their video chat.

If students are in a small group, they can stick to a single topic. If students worked individually, they can share their findings with a partner.

Sample outline: Individual option

Partner A and B both introduce their topic and explain why they chose them

Partner A introduces the questions and shares the research process

Partner B asks any clarifying questions that might guide the story

Partner A shares the answers as well as any fascinating facts

Partner A and B can have an open discussion about the findings, facts, and other questions they might have

Partner B introduces the questions and shares the research process

Partner A asks any clarifying questions that might guide the story

Partner B shares the answers as well as any fascinating facts

Partner B and A can have an open discussion about the findings, facts, and other questions they might have

Although this is a general outline, partners should feel the flexibility to modify this. Fourth or fifth grade students might need to stick to the outline more closely while college students or high level high school students might choose to create their own outline and move in a more free-flowing way.

Sample outline: Small group

The group shares their questions and each member talks about why they chose the topic

Each group shares what questions they asked and what answers they found

As they share their facts, other groups members can add additional facts or explanations. It should feel like a conversation

Each member shares one fascinating fact that surprised them

They end with each member either sharing a new question they have or why they think their findings matter

Again, the outline is meant to be flexible. If groups do subsequent Curiositycasts, it becomes an easier process.

These are just a few ideas. There are many different options that allow students to chase their curiosity and pursue their creativity. In the process, we can honor student agency and begin to build a classroom community despite the physical distance.

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5 Ways to Get to Know Your Students in Virtual and Hybrid Environments

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As an educator, you are a community builder. From day one, you getting to know your students on a relational level. It's often in the little things, like sending an email the first time they miss a virtual class session. It's what happens when you give them opportunities to pursue their interests and chase their curiosity.

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Article on relational trust. See table with "no-risk", "invite-risk", and "encourage risk" trust builders for staff.

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3-minute personal story about the meaning of trust

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The Lesson Brené Brown's Daughter Learned About Trust | SuperSoul Sessions | Oprah Winfrey Network

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Podcast with Brené Brown

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A reflection from Elena Aguilar.

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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Teaching in the Time of Coronavirus: Meet the Teachers

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Teaching in the Time of Coronavirus: Meet the Teachers

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"Brave over perfect."

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Teaching in the Time of Coronavirus: Meet the Teachers

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A trust culture

The purpose of schools is to develop a place where all students learn at high levels. In order to achieve this, we must establish meaningful relationships. As a former principal, one of my main responsibilities was to help facilitate these relationships. And an essential component of meaningful relationships is trust. Trust is safety. Trust is comfort. Trust is feeling that someone has your back. Trust is an environment where individuals can be their best selves.

Building trust is a process. And it's not just about trust between teachers and students, but between teachers and other teachers, and support staff too. The end goal is the moment we can collectively have honest dialogue about our students, our practices and our impact. The perpetual question to be answered is this: is learning happening here or not? Teachers need to be able to talk to their colleagues, discuss how to improve, learn from what is working and observe other classes.

At our school, relying on trust allowed us to better deal with school accountability. As a principal, my teachers were steeped in data analysis. We would do it regularly and publicly. We used the information to change our practices, to see what was working and what wasn't. It gave us a gauge, so teachers could look at the information and compare class-to-class, and school-to-school. We then had a real way to ground the conversation in multiple pieces of authentic evidence.

The principal as a trust-builder

As principal, I wanted teachers to experience what a culture of trust looked like in my school. One of the first things I wanted new staff members to do is see the other classrooms. I paired new teachers with mentors. I observed them. Mentors teachers observed them. We videotaped and watched the tapes together and debriefed what was happening.

I wanted to instill the mindset that we're not perfect but we're all going to get better and we're all going to help each other to get better. Without trust this is very difficult to achieve. I kept saying to myself, "man, what a great place we are at now that teachers can videotape each other and watch clips at a staff meeting!" I felt we came a long way.

And when things weren't going the way I expected them, it was my responsibility to have the courage to say: I need more from you and our students need more from you. Of course, all these conversations wouldn't have happened unless they were structured and practiced in a supportive environment.

My role as principal was to support teachers, and if they needed something to be better, it was my job to figure out how to get that for them. Sometimes they just needed time, resources and new ideas. It's was my responsibility to make all those things easily accessible.

How to build trust

1. Plan it like you plan a lesson- You don't have to be special to build trust. The most important thing is to invest time in nurturing the relationships. If you don't plan for it, it may be overlooked and not happen. I planned for building trust the same way I would plan a staff meeting on routine data analysis. We would make sure to structure time for appreciation of our students and staff. Start with small things. For example, we would spend time at staff meetings writing "Proud Postcards" to students. Each teacher chose three students and we would write to these students and their parents to tell them why we were proud of them. It was always a nice surprise when they received them in the mail and read the thoughtful comments. Similarly, we also spent time at meetings to recognize each other, share something we had learned or to appreciate a kind gesture.

2. Focus on students as individuals- Nurture relationships by focusing on student growth. In our case, I would meet my teachers every Tuesday at staff meetings, but on-going we had grade level check-ins, where we would sit down and put a picture of every kid in the center of the table. We talked about their strengths, how they were doing, and about our goals for them. And I loved Tuesdays, because I really got to find out about how we were progressing. I just felt like I always left that day much closer to my students and teachers.

3. Establish a peer support group- You need a support group to celebrate with, reflect with, vent with, rejuvenate with and improve with. For me it was the Elementary Principal team of my former district. We met weekly, but I would text, call and email them daily. I relied on them to bounce ideas off, to share practices or just to talk about doubts I may have had about my own actions. The other principals had been through the same things as me, so, with them, I felt that I could be the most real.

LaKimbre's key lessons

Trust is the most essential element in building relationships and improving learning

Once trust is embedded in the school culture, you can have more powerful conversations to help everyone grow and improve

It's not hard to build trust. To do so, start by investing time and giving structure to trust-building spaces such as recognizing and supporting others

Reflect & Share

How do you build trust among your colleagues? Have you ever had to repair trust that had been broken? How did you do it?

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Dr. LaKimbre Brown, Instructional Superintendent, Teach For America ’99

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A trust culture The purpose of schools is to develop a place where all students learn at high levels. In order to achieve this, we must establish meaningful relationships. As a former principal, one of my main responsibilities was to help facilitate these relationships. And an essential component of…

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How can we collaborate in a virtual environment?

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How can we collaborate in a virtual environment?

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Teacher Collaboration During a Global Pandemic

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Five tips for virtual planning from international educators.

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As a TLN, we will be focused on

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Educational leaders play a pivotal role in affecting the climate, attitude and reputation of their schools. But what makes a truly effective leader? Here we offer insight on 10 educational leadership qualities that make for a truly effective school leader.