Digital Student Teaching Week #1

Relationships

Podcast Digital Student Teaching Week #1  Developing Relationships Virtually:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZX3lOwM2FPtCSvXmlLB_uCN7g9b2au1Y/view 

Miss Tina McDaniel is my student teacher this year.  She has a dual placement so she started with me as soon as we transitioned to remote learning.  We decided to share our journey with weekly podcasts.  We would like to share our story because we know that other people are also experiencing digital student teaching for the first time too. 

One thing we shared in our podcast was how important it is to establish strong relationships with families and students through distance learning.  Miss McDaniel created a video to introduce herself to the class. She had the students respond to her through FlipGrid. 

Throughout this transition, our goal was to develop a framework to foster a strong classroom culture.  We wanted to find a way to make students and families feel safe, connected, and supported.  We decided to provide Morning Chats to the families.  During our Morning Chats we explain to the students and families how things will work for the day.  Also, we are able to provide the students with a shout-out every day.  We were able to see who might be struggling so we can connect and support every family.  We are hopeful that we can increase the motivation of our student when they can receive a morning shot-out. When we recognize our students then we are letting the students that we see them, and we are acknowledge their hard work. 

Miss McDaniel explained that you just need to be cooperative and flexible through this new process.  There are a lot of things changing right now.  This is a learning experience for everyone.  Embrace this experience! We are able to collaborate and stick together through these challenging times. 

We teach students. Even though we might not be physically together, we need to find ways to make it work.  Be real with your students, and share your own mistakes with your students.  

I would like to encourage all mentor teachers to still consider taking in student teachers.  During these uncertain times you can figure it out together.  If you are finding new ways to develop relationships during your Digital Student Teaching then please feel free to share it with us.