Building Community in a Remote Learning Environment
If we are faced with a continuation of remote learning in the fall, how will we create strong classroom communities when students don’t have the same opportunities to come together in a physical space, to get to know each other in the unstructured moments of the school day, and to work together in close proximity? In this post, Katy explores the ways in which The Nora Project programs can contribute to this community-building process, whether learning is done remotely or face to face.
Recently I was chatting with a friend of mine who happens to be an elementary school teacher. She was telling me about remote learning, about how things are going and how she and her students have adapted to this new environment. As the conversation shifted to talk of the fall, I asked her, “How are you going to build community?” Her response was full of uncertainty, “That’s what I have to figure out next” she replied.
Those who aren’t educators may not realize this, but teachers spend dozens of hours perfecting their classroom environments to ensure that they are comfortable, accessible, fun places to learn. They labor over the organization of desks and bulletin boards. They pour over seating charts and student groupings. So what happens when the physical environment is stripped from the equation?
So much of what we do in schools is based on proximity. We ask students to sit “elbow to elbow, knee to knee” to share their ideas with a partner. We teach students to turn toward one another and demonstrate active listening. We play team games like the human knot to build connections between students.
This physical closeness has historically played a big role in the way we build culture and community in our classrooms. We must now find a way to develop that social and emotional closeness without the physical proximity. This is especially true in those critical first weeks of the school year as teachers and students are getting to know each other and establishing a positive classroom culture. By going through the motions of setting classroom expectations and norms, organizing supplies, and interacting in those first days in the classroom, teacher and students get to know one another through their interactions and observations. Teachers seize this opportunity to establish trust, convey that they care, and provide their students with a reason to show up every day.
The Nora Project programs offer a solution.
Our social/emotional learning programs are grounded in developing empathy and friendship skills, which are at the heart of building a strong, connected community of learners. For example, in the first week of the school year, our Primer Pack lessons, for students in preschool thru third grade, teach about emotions - how to manage and explain their own and how to sense and support the emotions of others. Students become “feelings detectives,” and learn how to find out how a person is feeling so that they can adapt their own behavior to meet the needs of that other person. Imagine how helpful this would be in a remote setting where we have to work hard to make a human connection. Our youngest learners would build their ability to recognize how they are feeling and check in with their classmates, building trusting, caring relationships, even from afar.
And our Storyteller project, which is for students in fourth grade and older, leads students through a process of creating shared values. Teachers are invited to share their stories with students in an effort to build a personal connection, and students join into that process, sharing their own stories, strengths, and needs with their teacher and with one another. This process encourages vulnerable sharing and helps students establish a culture of caring where empathy is expected. Then, students begin to answer three essential questions: 1) What does it mean to be a good friend? 2) Why is there no such thing as “normal?” and 3) Why do we share our stories with others? This process helps them tease out shared values, and together they write a mission statement that guides their work for the rest of the year. When we’re isolated in our homes, empathy can be hard to muster, and the lessons in the Storyteller Project bring it to the forefront of students’ experience. We teach students to appreciate differences and adapt to meet one another’s needs, to lift each other up and care about one another’s success. What better way to build community than by engaging in conversations that allow us to develop shared values and an inclusive culture?
If we do return to a remote learning environment this fall, teachers will need tools and language that help them build community that makes school worth tuning in for. Multiple teachers reported that when students learned that school would be moved online, the first thing they wanted to know was how they would complete The Nora Project and stay in touch with their Nora Friends. Which is why it’s really no surprise that one teacher shared that while she had about 40-50% of students “show up” for her virtual academic-focused lessons, nearly 70% “attended” Nora Project lessons during remote learning. Another Nora Project teacher shared that she and her team “have a dedicated SEL section of our E-learning plan and have found [The Nora Project] to be the most meaningful activities” they’re doing with their students. The Nora Project feels meaningful and worth tuning in for because it allows students to show that they care and build each other up in the process. Having a positive impact on another person’s life makes us feel good, especially under challenging conditions. This type of motivation is exactly what teachers and students will need to face another round of remote learning.
To learn more about The Nora Project programs, visit our Sign Up Page, or contact me directly at katy@thenoraproject.ngo.