Question 1: As the year is well on its way and my Leadership course is in full swing I have realized a major sore spot in my workshop-style class. I have coined the term ‘Quiet Classroom’ This is where students are having a hard time participating in the discussion. They can’t seem to self-regulate enough to function in a discussion or they are fully disengaged and unwilling to participate. I know the lack of participation is nothing new but, it has progressively gotten worse since the pandemic started. We first blamed the awkwardness of talking to a screen alone in a room but, now that we are back in person I’m finding my students even less engaged than when we were online. This is the area Im hoping to gain perspective on. Are there different technologies we can incorporate into our lessons to provide our students with different ways to participate? Has this pandemic created a major gap in communication for middle schoolers? AND if so, is incorporating technologies to boost discussion hindering their ability to verbally communicate more? How do we get the kids talking, reflecting and sharing again? How do we bridge this gap?
Question 2:
Leading change through wellbeing This is the Strand that resonates with me the most this year. As a co-lead in Be The One, a full school club at Crescent School, we focus on character development and improving our school culture. We spend the time talking about everyday heroes, random acts of kindness and anti-bullying campaigns. This year we are finding fewer and fewer students wanting to get involved and less support in general. We are focusing on ways to trickle these concepts into the curriculum and co-curricular. As we head back to full-functioning schools it’s important for Crescent to continue to encourage character development. I want to work in an environment where there is no bullying, and every student no matter their race, sexuality, or gender can feel welcome and included. My fear is seeing groups like Be The One lose interest, all the momentum we have gained over the years in creating a kind and welcoming community will also disappear. How do we get kids to want to participate in clubs like Be The One? How do we keep this culture alive within our schools? How do we promote kindness in a world that is highlighting so much hate?
So glad you joined Cohort 21! Looking forward to your posts.
Your questions regarding student participation has really resonated with me! It’s an issue that I think all teachers are facing, regardless of student age. It does seem as though it has become even more of an issue this past year, which means it’s all the more important we find strategies/tools/solutions!
The first thing that comes to my mind is research done by Dylan Wiliam, regarding student participation in whole class discussions. Take a look at ‘The Classroom Experiment lollipop sticks’ video on YouTube. I think it’s about 4 minutes. There’s also I believe a two part series called ‘Classroom Experiment’. It’s really interesting! While it is ten years old, I still think there’s tons of strategies and ideas that are relevant today (it’s all about boosting student engagement!)
@acridland I appreciate the struggle you’re experiencing with your “Quiet Classroom”. The other day I too was having a conversation with another colleague about this very experience with a grade 10 class. The loss of two years of social skills for students is certainly one of the most urgent and important gaps that students are facing. The nuanced experiences in the classroom that are modelled by other students, and affirmed directly by the teacher in proximity are so important to the social skills that students develop. Students learn by observing, and in a zoom classroom, there is very little to observe – there’s a real loss of learning environment.
I almost wonder if our expectations are too high, and perhaps, we need to scale back the requirements to two years before. Personally, I’ve been trying that approach – I scaffold class interaction with students in my grade 10 class like I would with grade 8 students – giving them very specific roles, having them directly responsible for certain ideas and breaking them into smaller peer groupings, like think-pair-share before I make them speak up. It has helped, but I it’s definitely a process to which there are no easy answers.
I think your questions are great opportunities to reflect further on motivation and engagement – especially with regards to the strand of Leading Change through Wellbeing. I wonder if the loss of motivation is because students are very self-centric as a result of this 2 year gap of social skills. I think you’re posing an interesting framework to consider how educators can proceed with building empathy and kindness in a increasingly individualistic society. Looking forward to discussing with you more!
Hi @acridland! Congrats on your first blog post!
You have highlighted many important and urgent observations about returning to school in this post-COVID atmosphere. Interestingly, our teachers have noticed an incredible increase in the amount students are talking – more so in the elementary grades. It’s gotten to the point where it is a struggle to get the students to focus because they are too busy chatting! That being said, the content of conversations might not be exactly what we are looking for in terms of reflection, collaboration and on topic discussions… but I think the kids have missed the social engagements and are longing for peer-to-peer interactions.
I worry a little about using technology to try and bridge the disengagement. Somehow that feels like it further removes the human interaction and type of connection we are hoping for. I wonder if it has something to do with content? Perhaps finding something that the students are more interested in will help increase discussions and reflection…. even non-curriculum related?
Would love to hear any thoughts our group members might have on your second observation around kindness and creating a welcoming and inclusive environment when it seems to be slowing down …. @lbettencourt, @smartini, @rarcher, @cpickering, @bpineau