Slice of Life 2020 Day 24: Ideas to Build our ‘Distant’ Learning Community

I wanted to write this post because I’ve been really focused on not making our classroom learning community feel ‘distant’ to my students, and to me.

So here are some ideas….I’ve shared real-world math applications, stories, updates, jokes, and riddles so far through videos. 

I’m thinking about all that I might share in these coming weeks. There has been a lot of creativity happening in terms of positive media. Maybe my class will be given the “see 10, send 10” push-up challenge since I’ve been tagged and have yet to do my part (oops). Maybe they’ll even have to send out 10 push ups to a family member or comment with a classmates name who has to do 10 push ups. How many push ups will our greater class community do? My arms are sore just thinking about it!

Maybe I’ll take a picture of my neighbor who has put their Christmas decorations back out and ask if anyone has done the same in their neighborhood. Maybe I’ll also share the chalk art on neighbors’ driveways. Once we discuss Zoom with our administration more, the first time we Zoom maybe we will play a game. 

Have they made up their own challenges with their families? Have they created new traditions? How many hours a day are they truly spending on Tic Tok? 

I want to know it all! These are certainly the moments we will will remember once this craziness subsides. These are the moments they’ll need if things get worse. We might all just have better biceps after all of this, too.

p.s. I would love to read any ideas you might have for connecting with students virtually in the comments. I’ll keep brainstorming!

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