Leading With Connections & Relationships to Inspire Lifelong Learners

As both a parent and educator, I can attest that this pandemic situation has weighed heavily on our family. Schools have been scurrying to shift to remote teaching and learning which means that the demand for online professional learning has been at an all time high. I spend the majority of my days facilitating sessions and connecting 1-on-1 or with small groups. My husband is a principal, so he’s providing support just with a different focus. Amidst it all, we have two teens who still require guidance and support with their own endeavors. With all that said, I’m aware that we don’t have an awful situation. Like others, we worry about our families and their ability to support their children with learning, provide meals, their access to internet and above all- we feel concern over the safety and well-being of children, too.

Building an Airplane While Flying It

Within the whirlwind of the day, it’s easy to get caught up in supporting districts with the needs they’re seeking. From online learning management systems and creating screencasting recordings, to incorporating support personnel for platforms to provide support to learners; the focus is on how to communicate and provide resources for learners and their families just to get off the ground and running. It is an enormous undertaking, particularly if educators hadn’t felt the need for technology integration pre-COVID-19. We’re not just asking teachers to shift to online, but we are expecting them to figure out how to do get everything up in running in a matter of days or a week that would typically take months to a year. Fortunately, they’re not expected to teach a full course load or entire day of learning. There are reasonable expectations set for hours within a day, yet everyone is still working to grasp what this will look like.

This is Not Online Teaching, This is Teaching in An Emergency Situation

In speaking with colleagues and teachers I support, I can sense their feelings of overwhelm, too. In times like these I feel the urge to remind others to step back and breathe… Validation is important. However, we need to slow down and take in where we are at. We are not living within a typical time and simply shifting to teaching online; we are experiencing uncertainty and perhaps anxiety, while trying to wrap our minds around how we can best move forward.

Daily, I tune into the news. You can’t avoid hearing the increases in the numbers of illnesses and deaths. It’s alarming. Additionally, I recently watched a segment on the Today Show reporting that droves of cars continue to line up to receive food for their families from local food banks, even as food banks struggle to keep up. I also listened to stories from healthcare workers who are also parents share how terrified they are of bringing home the illness to their loved ones. There seems to be a disconnect. As a dedicated educator, I know how much learning matters, but how we communicate and connect with our learners is most important now, more than ever before. This is an opportunity to create meaningful learning experiences that matter to individuals while demonstrating humanity. We’re living through a time where connecting with human need is essential.

The Importance of Taking a Pause

George Couros recently posted 4 Ideas to Consider for Online Learning, and his message resonated with me. Along with great tips, ideas and reflections, Couros shared, “Not only have educators been inundated with information on COVID-19, but they have had to retool, refocus, and rethink completely how they are going to connect with and teach their students.  A lot is going on in our world right now, and my first instinct is that we need to slow down and focus on what is most important at this moment.” Couros continues, “I have been thinking about how best I can support others in this time.  Part of my “pause” is thinking about the importance of how do we get better moving forward because of this situation.”

I know we feel that every second is precious and that we are racing against the clock, but in reality, are we? What I mean is that we are all so accustomed to accomplishing what needs to be done, yet there’s power in pausing. There is power in simply taking a moment to breathe and put into perspective what is happening. If we take a moment and step back to take a pause, it just may help us to move forward towards something better. What we are trying to do is not within typical circumstances. What our children need most right now is not a polished lesson with assignments linked to due dates. What they need most are connections, relationships, and the opportunity to be engaged in learning; through connecting with their strengths and interests. I’m not expecting teachers to learn a completely different way to teach, I’m asking for us to slow down and consider what’s needed most during this time and how we can create experiences that feel meaningful to our learners.

Relationships Always Have and Will Always Will Be Heart Teaching & Learning

The importance of connection and relationships have been discussed in depth for numerous years. I can’t express how important connections and relationships are within day-to-day interactions, but especially in current times. As busy as educators are scurrying to shift to online learning, it’s essential that we keep the main thing, the main thing. Let’s not lose touch with some of the most essential human needs- the importance of feeling understood, demonstrating empathy, and connecting just to remind our learners how much we truly care. We may not be privy to every individual’s situation so it’s increasingly critical to avoid placing too great of pressures on our learners and their families.

Questions We Can Ask Ourselves:

• When we connect, are we leading with learning goals and objectives or are we leading with connections and relationships?
• In what ways are we modeling how to demonstrate empathy and understanding to bring a sense of calm and security to our learners?
• How are we ensuring that our learners feel that who they are matters more than what you’re teaching?

Even while working through professional learning with teachers remotely, I begin with check ins. We focus on what’s been going well and then I invite them to share what their concerns are. Using Zoom, they can share verbally, within the chat, or even privately with me. It allows me to connect with my participants and adjust to their needs. Similarly to our students, they benefit from connecting before diving into learning. Perhaps our first connection doesn’t have anything to do with a lesson, maybe we treat it like the first days or weeks of school where we connect, teambuild, and engage in an activity that serves as an icebreaker. I encourage you to take a step back from lesson planning, and take time to focus on relationship building- the human side or heart of teaching and learning.

Meaningful Learning Experiences that Leverage Strengths and Interests

In addition to connection and relationships, we can help our students to connect with learning that feels meaningful to them. Each time I present or keynote, I share this quote as it’s one of my favorites:

“It is literally neurobiologically impossible to think deeply about things that you don’t care about.”

-Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, neuroscientist

We can create videos sharing content and upload worksheets all we want, but that doesn’t necessarily ensure learning is occurring; at least, not at a deep level. There can be some benefits including the reinforcement of concepts and of course, there are some children who like to engage in learning this way. However, it’s helpful to remember that learning should occur in many different ways to reach every individual.

In my book, Take the L.E.A.P. Ignite a Culture of Innovation, I share, ” Learners can become co-pioneers in their education and promote the development of empowerment in a student-centered learning environment, where adults shift from the role of teacher to coach. In this role, we can craft learning experiences that are unique to the students’ passions, strengths, and needs.” When we empower learners in this manner, we see greater intrinsic motivation and autonomy develop. Ultimately, we don’t want to simply focus on the memorization of information or completion of work out of compliance. Rather, we can create the conditions that empower meaningful learning and inspire new ideas and interests; leading to passions.

During remote learning times, just as within a classroom, we can still promote the development of empowerment through deep engagement and serve as a learning coach. By leveraging the 6c’s of reimagining learning (more on this within my book), we can support our learners to take steps toward developing success skills that can be utilized throughout life:

Within each lesson, we can reference the visual above as a reminder that we can infuse the 6C’s to engage learners in discussion, spark curiosity, inspire creativity, connect, collaborate, and engage in critical thinking. With every lesson we can purposefully infuse one or more of the 6C’s to foster success skills and empower learning.

Questions We Can Ask Ourselves:

• What authentic problems exist that are relevant to students and how can we create opportunities for our learners to engage in discussion and problem solve?
• In what ways can we provide choice and opportunities to demonstrate learning in creative ways?
• How can we promote learners to set goals, engage in reflection, provide purposeful feedback to peers, and retool their work?
• How might we incorporate opportunities for our learners to leverage their strengths and interests and interweave them into learning or within products that communicate their learning?

The shift in thinking is supporting learners to engage with one another through discussion, reflection, and feedback. We can incorporate authentic and meaningful learning experiences and do not need to limit ourselves to direct instruction and having students submit worksheets. Sure, there are situations where doing so may be feasible, but we benefit from rethinking how we can best help our learners understand content and how they might utilize it meaningful ways (ie. creating and sharing a product to an authentic audience remotely). Although we will lack time to “get to” everything in the curriculum, this is a great opportunity to place a greater emphasis on the learning process as opposed to focusing on assignment completion. I’ve always said that we can teach as much as we want and cover content to ensure that we’ve checked off every box, but that doesn’t mean deep learning took place.

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

– Albert Einstein

We know we are in a time of uncertainty, but I believe in silver linings and that possibilities are endless. With the support of one another, I believe the opportunity is before us to focus on what matters most–– connections, relationships, and meaningful learning experiences that develop lifelong learners. I know many of us feel vulnerable; we are journeying through uncharted territory. Seeking support and connecting with others demonstrates courage to grow. Just remember, as Brené Brown so eloquently reminds us, “Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity and change.” I’m an advocate of making small shifts that when put together, cumulatively create an immense positive impact.

At the end of the day, it isn’t about the content. It also isn’t about checking off boxes. Our profession is all about connecting with people and sparking a flame that ignites curiosity; leading to deeper learning and a desire to continuously develop oneself. Together, let’s take a moment to just breathe… We all need to give ourselves, families, and especially our students grace. This isn’t easy on anyone. When all is said and done, we will want to reflect and recognize that we focused on what was most important during this time and embraced opportunities to grow toward something even better.

Interested in more related to school closings as a result of COVID-19? Check out past week’s blog posts:

COVID-19 Resources for Educators and Families

Learning at Home: Finding Balance

Rising to the Occasion: The Relentless Dedication of Educators

Recording Mini-Lessons using Zoom, Flipgrid, and Powerpoint: Tech Tips for Teachers