Centered
OK. I feel better.
Here’s what I did:
I took a hike with my beloved husband and my (also beloved) dog.
This is what we call self-care, but it actually felt like being cared-for. Hearing my husband ask, “You wanna go for a walk?” and having our sweet-natured dog check on us regularly on the trail required nothing from me. I just went along with them and let them affect me.
Which is good, because when I’m decentered I have nothing to offer anyone.
Now we’re back in our motel, but I can smile about it because, as my husband said, we’re living our own personal Schitts Creek.
We’re all up shits creek right now. May you find a way to center yourself.
And now for something completely different.
The promised ideas for First Days. Wahoo!!
Remember, it’s all about relationships. With you. With each other. With the content.
Why not get in touch with your students before the first day of school? Ask them what they hope to learn in your class. What they’re looking forward to the most. What they’re looking forward to the least. What they know about the topic you’ll be teaching (begin to create a virtual K-W-L chart). These questions should be
about the students.
They should not be about the class. They should not be assignments. Because everyone wants to talk about themselves, you might get some responses.
Ask your students what advice they have for other students about online learning. How do they manage their time during COVID? How do they distinguish school time from home time? What makes it easier for them to tune into a virtual class? Perhaps they could put that advice on a slide or in a video that you can share as a show for the class. In one fell swoop: Students reach out to each other, possibly entertain each other; and they consider ways to make schooling during COVID more successful.
What might you share about yourself? What slide or video would give students a good picture of your personality? your expectations? your appeal? Don’t give TMI. Give hope. Confidence. That you’ve got this. Because you know what?
You do.
(But maybe only after you’ve taken a long hike or binge watched your favorite show or chatted on the phone with your best friend.)
What absolutely needs to get done on the first day of class? If you’re fully online or even hybrid, do you really want to go over the syllabus together? Or might you send it out before the first day of class along with a goofy quiz asking students questions like
When is our first test?
Will we be doing peer review of papers in this class?
What do you do if you need an extension?
How can you earn a D in this class?
What happens if you don’t show up, either online or in person?
If you don’t give out syllabi, perhaps a Jeopardy game outlining your policies. The hand icon on zoom being the buzzer. Or a class discussion about the students’ answers to your pre-first-day questions. Or a group brainstorming session in which you all agree on ground rules and the consequences for breaking those ground rules.
Whatever you do on the first day, though, I recommend that it be engaging. That it represent the promise and the feel, the practices, the routines and approaches that will characterize your time together over the next few months or academic year. That it interest you, so you can sustain it, and that it pique the interest of your students, so they will return and invest in it (and so they know that, if they miss it, they’ll be missing out). That it do justice to your subject matter(s) by honoring the bare bones and by making it fun.
Fun for you. At the very least. Good god, if you’re not having fun with your students and your subject matter, what hope is there?