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MCC Daily Tribune

Some Encouragement from the TCC for Week 2

So, about all that community-building and connecting work you did with your students during the first week of classes? Don't abandon it now, thinking it's all out of the way and that it's time to move on to "real" matters. Establishing a shared sense of purpose, building trust, and encouraging a genuine feeling of belonging in our students matter just as much as course content. They take sustained effort. Do a little bit of such work each class period (or each week if you are fully-online).

A few strategies and tips for Week 2:

  • Continue to humanize yourself online: Update your Bb profile to include a photo; change your own Zoom profile to a photo instead of just your name, too. [Psst: You can even add a photo to your Outlook account.]
  • Remind students to change their Zoom name at the start of a session to whatever they prefer to be called--and do the same with yours; include preferred pronouns in parentheses
  • Use polling apps, or Bb surveys, to get a quick view of your students' reactions and experiences with the start of the semester so far
  • Use participatory apps such as Padlet or Jamboard to do "chalk talk" exercises with students
  • Remember sitting in front a computer for long stretches of time is taxing, and it's not good for us, either. So don't expect of your students what you know is unreasonable. Work in a few short stretching or walking breaks throughout your class session to acknowledge that human bodies frequently ache and hurt.

That is by no means an exhaustive list, and I bet you have your own to share. I'd love to hear them! Send them my way, and I'll compile them for a future Trib article.

Amy Burtner
Teaching and Creativity Center
08/31/2020