Whether students are going to school 100% virtually or participating in a hybrid model, 有一件事是肯定的——建立社区的需要, 建立人际关系, and boosting engagement are more important than ever before. 现在的教育显然不同了, and many teachers would argue that distance learning is just not cutting it academically or socially for our students. Regardless of how and when schools will resume in-person learning, teachers have to get creative in the meantime to ensure that students’ needs are met on a holistic level. We cannot solely focus on providing virtual instruction during these trying times.
日志记录
It is difficult to connect to students through a camera lens. It’s even more difficult to build relationships with learners you’ve perhaps never met in person or if you haven’t even heard their voices. 它可能同样不舒服, 如果不是这样的话, 让学生参与到新的, 现场教学时陌生的成年人坐在电脑前. 缓解不熟悉的感觉, some teachers are turning to a tried and true writer’s workshop activity—journal time. 日志记录 as a warm-up activity lends itself especially well to an English course, but other content areas can capitalize on journal writing as well.
Teachers should consider starting with open-ended prompts that allow students to express themselves on a personal level. 鼓励学生自由写作, explain to them that their journal responses will not be evaluated or read by peers. They should understand that journaling is purely intended to share experiences and spur conversation. This also prompts students to speak candidly so that you can begin to get to know them on a more personal level—this is essential since we are no longer teaching in person. Keep the prompts light and provide options to start the routine. I always like to ask my high schoolers to tell me what their favorite and/or least favorite thing about being a teenager is. These responses give a really good insight into students’ lives and what they may be dealing with outside of school. I also like to keep these samples and refer back to them later in the school year to show students how much growth they’ve shown in their personal writing.
身份拼贴
Creating an identity collage is another useful and engaging way to get students to share a little more about themselves in a visual art form. 要求学生制作一张谷歌幻灯片作为自画像. They can use an actual photo of themselves or get artistic and sketch or draw themselves. 一旦他们添加了照片, 这向世界展示了他们的外表, ask students to cover half of their face on the slide with images, 词汇/短语, or other symbols that represent their underlying or deeper identity. Encourage them to think about what their peers might not know about them just by looking at them. 一旦学生提交了幻灯片, teachers can combine all of the dual external/internal self-portraits into a class “yearbook” of sorts. 这种方式, even though we aren’t physically learning in the same space, students can get to know a little bit more about their peers on a more personal level.
“所有情绪”播放列表
Music tends to be a topic or area of discussion that spurs great participation, 无论你的学生的年龄或年级. Music is also something that can unify groups of people on an emotional level since people often view music as therapeutic. 如果学习语言, 历史, 心理学, 或者是音乐, 孩子们会非常喜欢这个引人入胜的项目. Ask students to compile a list of go-to songs that they would play as clear representations of a mood or emotion. 例如, what is your go-to song to listen to when you’re frustrated, 或忧郁, 或兴奋, 或者觉得自己很傻? Students will then make a playlist of their 3-5 songs and briefly explain how the song helps to alleviate their frustration or sadness. They’ll need to answer questions like, What about this one song excites you or makes you laugh? What about this song helps you to release anger/frustration? What line or lyric from this song resonates with you when you’re feeling sad?
在变焦上获得自发性
至少可以这么说，整天盯着镜头会让人筋疲力尽. Shake things up for kids by utilizing short breaks that serve a specific purpose and keep kids engaged and wanting to come back to the discussion. 例如, if giving students a quick 5-minute break during your Zoom class, challenge them to come back to the session holding something orange. 让他们带着帽子回来. Prompt them to grab their pet or favorite stuffed animal when rejoining the session. Tell them to grab their favorite snack or something that they absolutely can’t live without. Take it a step further and ask students to bring a family heirloom or family photo to the next Zoom class so students can pair-share in breakout rooms as a family-based show and tell.
