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Virtual Learning Tip: Maintaining Relationships

By Jessica Winstanley


Learning is a social activity and relationships matter. Whether you are in your physical classroom face-to-face with your students or interacting through Google Meet during a virtual lesson, maintaining positive relationships with your students in key to their success, especially during these uncertain times.



Here are 5 tips from Matt Miller and Paulino Brener on how to build and/or maintain relationships with your students even when you aren't in the same physical space.
  1. The secret is you, the teacher, and what you bring into your classroom in person. Be that genuine voice and show that genuine interest that you have for your students. Your human self is the best gift you can bring to your students. 
  2. Use what works best for you. Talk about topics in a Google Meet. Write and share ideas and resources with your students. Share a Bitmoji of yourself to bring some personality. Create videos using screencastify or flipgrid. Share print materials in PDF or Google doc/slides. Whatever suits you best is what you should use. Just try to be consistent. Parents and students get frustrated if you use a new tool everyday. Also make sure everything is posted in Google Classroom so that parents have a one-stop shop for learning.
  3. Ask students about themselves. It can't all be about the content. We need to incorporate social and emotional aspects, too. Some ideas: Use polls in Google Meet to check which zone students are in, or to survey them about an interest. You could also have them fill in a Google form to share ideas. Use small group time for both learning and SEL. In these smaller groups they can talk. They can ask questions. But more importantly, they can feel noticed and appreciated.
  4. Be comfortable in your environment. If we are stressed and tense in our environment, students will notice that. Whatever we can do to feel more relaxed will cross over to the students. That might mean having visuals, props, or something else to bring into live video calls. Be relaxed, centered, and present, Paulino says. Start with the right mindset. It will set the right tone for class. Do whatever you need to do to be comfortable in your environment.
  5. Find a way to recreate your warmth. During your live instruction time, make sure you share your personality, acknowledge the students, let them know you see them. If all your live instruction is one-way, then you might as well be sharing a video. Make the time with your students count.
Want some more quick tips? Check out the Remote Learning Checklist from Matt Miller at Ditch that Textbook.



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