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Community Building Strategies
Connect
- Introduce yourself via welcome postcard, home visit, or phone call
- Create a digital “get to know you” survey. Include questions specifically for families to answer. Share community-building responses with your class.es.
Establish Agreements
- With students, develop norms that are consistent between your physical and online classrooms
Foster Relationships
- Be positive
- Be consistent
- Be available.
- Be respectful.
- Honor individuality
- Incorporate SEL activities
Scaffold Responsibility
Establish routines and model how to:
- View feedback from teacher and peers
- Provide feedback to peers
- Navigate and use your LMS
- Turn in work
- Participate in a discussion forum
- Be an active participant
- Advocate for yourself
Socialize
Start video meeting/class with social time
- Show and Tell
- Virtual Spirit Week (hat day, silly glasses, themed dress-up days)
- Give students opportunities to introduce family members and pets
Provide Opportunities
Provide opportunities for asynchronous participation with:
- Flipgrid videos
- Posting photos in your LMS
- Discussion Forum
- Instructional videos
- Pre-recorded PowerPoint presentation
Foster Interaction
Foster Student Interaction:
- Allow students to see, like and comment on each other’s work
- Provide opportunities for students to work in small groups
- Use web tools that encourage interaction
- Encourage the use of appropriate emojis and/or emoticons
Accommodate
Provide accommodation for student needs:
- Utilize Universal Design for Learning (UDL) when planning lessons and activities
- Allow students to use appropriate video and audio features during video meetings
- Use a translator app
- Use captioning tools
- Use Immersive Reader in Microsoft products