Those first few moments of the online meeting are invaluable. It sets the tone for the rest of the day. Below are several ways to welcome students into the classroom space while building relationships and preparing students for the learning ahead.

Inviting students into conversations with a poll question or Microsoft Form provides a space for teachers to take attendance, address technical questions, but also continue those routines they once did at the door. “Would you rather” questions offer simple questions: “would you rather own a cat or dog?” (cat, duh) while others illicit reflection and consideration of the options. “Would you rather ride a shooting star or a rainbow?” The answer to that question depends. Is the shooting star hurtling towards the Earth? Is there the possibility for gold at the end of the rainbow? The questions are simple yet complex. They offer a low barrier invitation for learners to engage in online conversations and connect with their classmates and teachers.  

Teachers may choose to align their question or prompts with the learning intentions for the day. In a senior English class, a teacher can explore dilemma, the choices we make and what those decisions reveal about character. Moral dilemmas provide a hook for students to examine themselves through the safety and distance of fictional scenarios. For example, the Heniz dilemma elicits conversation, examine character and build the initial conversation for online class discussion boards. When students are invested in the questions, they take ownership of their ideas and are motivated to have their answer attributed to them.    

There are many ways to invite students into the online classroom: 

Begin the class with a morning song (even if the cameras and mics are not on, the opportunity and routine remain) or begin each day by learning to say hello in a variety of languages (invite students or parents to teach the class, including local Indigenous languages) 

Would You Rather Questions – start the meeting with a Microsoft Form and a “Would you rather question.” Invite students to justify their response in the chat or via microphone and camera. Students can be invited to provide questions and, if comfortable, ask the student to moderate the discussion the day their question is used. 

The New York Times offers a variety of weekly resources: 

What’s Going on in this Picture? Every Monday a new picture is uploaded. Students use their critical thinking skills to predict and interpret the image. The caption for the photo is release on Thursday. Teachers can search through the webpage to find a variety of images. See an example here. 

Picture Prompts: Invite students to create a story for a visual (pictures, videos). Invite students draft stories in their Notebook or construct a class story – The first student starts with a sentence that begins with the letter A, followed by sentence starting with the letter B and continuing in a round-robin fashion. Students could also write a hook for the story in the chat, encouraging students to react and add to the posts.  

What’s Going on in this Graph? Each Thursday a graph is posted that includes real-life data sets that supports students with the interpretation of data. Here is an example showing increasing usage of tobacco products and e-cigarettes. Approximately a week later an interpretation is posted to support student learning.  

Modern Languages – share a video of yourself or a group of students (with permission) engaged in a conversation or a series of statements. Invite your students to outline the conversations, identify the pronunciation errors or construct a response to the video.  

Being present in the online space looks and feels different, but with patience and scaffolding it looks, sounds and feels much the same. 

What about our closures? How do we honour our students and the learning of the day? 

See our latest Tuesday Workshop “Building Community and Engagement in a Blended Classroom”