Building Relationships in the Virtual Classroom
Many of the greatest challenges teachers face in the virtual classroom tie back directly or indirectly to relationships. Student engagement, perceptions of equitable learning opportunities, student emotional well-being, and ultimately student learning outcomes are all impacted by the strength of the relationship between teachers, students and families. Busola Stackhouse (M.Ed), EdConnective Instructional Coach has adapted these relationship building strategies teachers can use to maximize student learning and well-being this school year.
In the Moment Relationship-Building Strategies
Greet students as they enter the virtual space. Greet and find something special to say to students when they enter. Try to make a personal connection.
Do “weather checks.” Find opportunities to check in with students about their “emotional weather” via chat box, breakout rooms, polls, or one-on-one check-ins.
Send out a questionnaire/survey via email, google form, or other virtual platform. Provide open-ended questions to gain insight into the background, experience, goals, interests, and motivations of your students.
Apologize when appropriate. Don’t hesitate to apologize to students if you have made a mistake.
Have lunch with scholars. In a virtual “Lunch Bunch,” meet with students over lunch to get to know them better. Ask questions that don’t pertain to school.
Acknowledge milestones and accomplishments. Share your screen with a birthday message, or do special shout-outs for showing hard work and perseverance on a task.
Use non-verbal acknowledgements. Smile, use the reaction button to give a thumbs up or clap, nod, make eye contact, use an emoji to share how you feel!
Have a “stay in the game” conversation with a student who is disengaged. Send a student a private chat message to encourage them to get back on track, cold call a student to re-engage in the lesson, follow up with the student after the lesson to check-in.
Away from Students Relationship-Building Strategies
Call home when students are absent from the virtual classroom. Call after students have been absent to share what they missed and check-in to see if the student or family need assistance.
Send personalized messages. Use learning management systems like Google Classroom or Canvas to easily send messages and announcements to students. Send positive messages or give shoutouts for what students have accomplished.
Send personalized videos to students to encourage them while not in live instruction. Record a short video on your cell phone or use screen recording tools like ScreenCastify or Loom to give students personalized instructions on an assignment or a quick word of encouragement before or after an assignment.
Offer non-instructional office hours. Set days and times apart from live instruction for students to join you in the virtual office to discuss anything that’s on their mind.
Building Relationships with Families
Drive-bys. Visit your student’s home by driving by while waving, honking, playing music, showing off a banner/decorated car, and shouting out a personalized message.
Send virtual messages. Use communication platforms like Remind, ClassDojo, Seesaw, or email to easily send messages and announcements to families. Send positive messages or give shoutouts for what students have accomplished.
Regular, positive phone calls home. Make quick, positive contact (1-3 students per day). Aim to connect with families at least 1 time a week.
Family Movie Night. Invite families to log-on to watch a streamed movie together with the class or school. Consider sending out a poll to see which movie they prefer to watch.