During our staff meeting the other day, our Emotion Coaching lead shared with us a fantastic video that Jennifer Faulkner tagged me in about a week ago. Take the time to watch this video — maybe multiple times through — and have some Kleenex nearby, as it will bring you to tears.
This video though also reminded me of why my teaching partner, Paula, and I often break the #1 video conferencing rule: we don’t consistently enforce all microphones muted. Yes, during our one daily full class meeting, this is harder to do, and our kids usually mute after they share. I do some additional muting as well, especially if there’s a lot of echoing in the background. Sometimes, we’ll ask children to also mute, especially when there’s feedback. But during our small group meetings, many kids will leave their microphones open for most of the time. While there will still be moments of static, and occasional times that I need to mute a couple of students so that we can hear others, this unmuted, free sharing time also leads to the wonderful “noise” showcased in this video.
There’s the excitement as Paula reviews the yoga story with the group …
The connections around snacks and vitamins …
The unexpected, and expected, conversations that come from reviewing a read aloud while waiting for the book to load …
The added joy when a child realizes that maybe a Picasso picture is really a Paul Klee one …
And the times when connecting is truly the biggest goal of all!
It’s hard to know what the next week — let alone the next month — will bring in Ontario education. Whether we’re virtual or in-person, I’m thinking a lot about mental health. I realize that every grade is different. Yesterday, a Grade 4 teacher that I know, mentioned that he put all of his kids in breakout rooms with their friends for the last period. He moved between the breakout rooms, but gave students time to just connect. Those that usually leave early, not only stayed until the end of the day, but wanted to stay past that. I realize that the end of the year is coming soon, and there are still expectations to address and teaching to do. I have to wonder though …
- Do kids miss the “noise” as much as we do, and how might we attempt to replicate this noise — in all grades — online?
- What have you tried already?
- What do you hope to do in the next few weeks?
Maybe we can learn new ideas from each other, and give all students and educators what they might be seeking out most of all in this strange world that we’re living in right now.
Aviva