I’ve always liked talking to students, even if they’re “in trouble.” I find it healing for me and for them. I “channel my inner Mr. Rogers,” and try to see the world from a kid’s perspective.
When we moved to remote learning last month, I knew we had use video to bring our presence to the students—our inner “Mr. Rogers.” We scheduled bi-weekly video conferences with classes (“office hours”) and taught teachers how to make video lessons.
However, at the beginning, a few teachers were camera-shy and made video lessons without their faces showing (the “screencasting” program we’re using gives the option of presenting a lesson with or without a video image of the presenter, so kids might just hear a voice narrating a Powerpoint). I made two points to the teachers: one, in a school of English Language Learners, it’s crucial for kids to both hear and see the language being spoken. Two, the kids miss us. Continue reading
A friend was recently telling me about his experience when he was a child in the 5th grade. “I used to get in trouble before the 5th grade. But my 5th grade teacher, she liked me. It was like, she never expected me to do anything bad. So I didn’t.”
Classroom 325 