By Zachary Smith
It is safe to say that the start of this school year is going to be unlike any other. As a teacher, one of my favorite parts of teaching is celebrating student success. I am in a district that is including virtual learning as part of our return to school plan for the fall semester. As a teacher, I found myself pondering the issue of how will my student celebrations happen if my classroom setting is virtual? Therefore, I researched and created a list of ways that we can fulfill our desire to celebrate students… virtually!
When Students Enter / Beginning of Class
Recognize Each Student
Students are individuals. We all know this, and we do a great job in person of addressing students by name and saying “hello” to each student as they walk into our classroom. It is important that we do this virtually. The students made the effort to be in our classroom, showing up ready to learn and be engaged. The least we can do is greet them by name and give a warm welcome to each as they enter. This seems very obvious and simple, but it is very easy in a virtual space to not individually greet each student.
Create Discussion Environment
While we are in class with students in person, we limit the amount of direct instruction we give students into small chunks. We should do this virtually, too. Don’t expect young students to be able to sit and watch/listen to you for 20 minutes or more without giving them time to interact or move around.
Here are a few ideas to get students more involved in direct instruction.
- Let students engage in the chat.
- Create a speaking order to allow students to share out.
- Have students create signs they can hold up so they can respond visually without all speaking at the same time.
- Have students create a paper hand or speaking bubble they can hold up when they would like to speak.
Set a Routine
Just like with in-person classes, students expect routine and want to know what they’re going to be doing in class before they come in. During the first days of virtual instruction, it is very important to establish this routine. The faster the routine is established, the more comfortable students will be in your virtual classroom.
Question Time
It is harder to “read the room” virtually than it is in person. All teachers are able to eventually read each student’s face and see whether he or she “gets it” or not. This is very hard to do virtually sometimes. Therefore, give students many chances and options for asking questions. Students should be able to ask questions by speaking, putting them in the chatbox, emailing, texting, through your learning portal system, etc. Students are going to have varying levels of comfort, so the more ways you can create for them to ask questions, and the more responsive you are to those questions…the more they will ask (in frequency and quantity).
Class Incentives and Awards
- Guest Readers This works primarily for younger students, but with the right positioning, this could work for older students, too. Once a class earns a class reward, bring in a special guest as a reader. Skype in the Classroom has a great program for free speakers to come into your classroom.
- Virtual Field Trip This can be another whole class incentive. Many zoos, museums, art galleries and more have created virtual field trips.
- Silly Reward If this is for a larger accomplishment, students love seeing teachers, administrators, or counselors, do silly things as a reward. For example, the game Pie Face. If a class meets a challenge that is set up by the teacher, then we can play a game of pie face. Each student will get to roll virtual dice, and I will have my pie face game and a can of whipped topping by me (and will play on my outside porch, as to not make a mess in my office). This can be fun to vary up and bring in other people, too.
Zachary Smith is a language arts and ELL teacher for Des Moines Public Schools and can be contacted at zasmith001@gmail.com or on Twitter @zas85.
