Teach Through the Screen

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I trained a great group of teachers this month from Horry County South Carolina via Google Meet on text-dependent writing tasks and distance learning engagement strategies. While speaking passionately to the teachers, a thought came to mind and I shouted it out: 

"Find ways to Reach through your screen! Teach through the screen! Don't let the screen block you or keep you from making meaningful connections with your students." 

It was like I was convincing myself. You see, I was only days away from meeting my new students online. I was encouraging the teachers to do what I know I needed to do in just a few days with my own students. 

Fast forward to today--the first day of school. I brought everything I could to help the kids feel safe, comfortable, and welcome. Here are a few things I did to "reach through the screen."

  1. I played fun music while showing a Bitmoji commercial. I saw the kids giggling while they waited for me to appear.
  2. I acknowledged that they all miss socializing with their friends at school. I acknowledged them as humans who have feelings.
  3. I asked students to turn on their cameras and explained that humans need face-to-face contact. I said we need to see each other to make critical connections and to read emotion. We speak through our faces, I told them. One after the other, cameras turned on. I went from 50% to 100% cameras on. And I never said they had to turn them on.
  4. I taught them about paradigms. I told them that they can choose to hate this experience of learning online or see the good things that are happening in each class.
  5. We collaboratively built a poster about what good Falcons (fill in your mascot here) do online and in their community.
  6. I praised them at different times for their behavior online, unmuting and sharing ideas, and for showing their faces. I acknowledged their effort and called it our explicitly.
  7. I ended with a few more speeches and told them that it was an honor to be their teacher. Then, I asked them to type in the chat one word that could describe our class today. Here are some of their responses.

  • Fun
  • Weird
  • Different
  • Exciting
  • Hopeful
  • Enthusiastic
  • Motivating
  • Encouraging
  • Strange
  • Enjoyable
This is a question I ask on the first day of school. It gives me an idea of how my students are feeling after day 1. In the classroom, I ask students to say the descriptive word out loud. You want to know the coolest part? This list of words is similar to lists I have received in the past when I was teaching at the front of a room with a room full of students. 

I set out to teach through the screen. I wanted them to know that I was here for them. I wanted them to know that they were important. I wanted them to know that I was going to enjoy this ride with them no matter what. In class or online, I was going to bring it! And they in turn brought it right back!

2020-2021 will be a strange year for education, but I won't let a screen stand in my way!

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