Helping students feel seen and heard when teaching online - three strategies I'm trying this semester

The lesson begins with numbers.

Jessica is 3

Olivia is 4.5

Chris is 2

Julia is 4.99999

It's not a maths lesson. I'm asking students to rate how they're feeling today on a scale of 1-5. 

In a previous post I wrote about my journey from seeing students as a sea of faces to a "room of seas". Supporting students in an environment where they feel seen and heard is crucial to learning. 

There are many benefits to helping those under our care feel seen and heard. This is important both when a class is face-to-face and online; however, when teaching online there is a greater danger of students slipping under the radar. This means that making human connections when teaching online is absolutely crucial. 

My class is a “cameras off” class by mutual agreement. This makes the learning environment more relaxed. But it also makes it harder for me to know what’s going on with the students in a given lesson. Instead of just a name on a screen I want to acknowledge each individual. Below are three strategies that I’ve been consciously putting into action this semester as I teach online to help me “see” and “hear” my students and, in turn, also help them to feel seen and heard (which, I believe, is just as important).

1-5

This is the idea at the top of the post and it comes from Caleb Willow. It helps me gauge students' mental state in our online classroom. Students simply give a number indicating how they are feeling (5 means I'm feeling terrific and 1 means I'm really not feeling great). They don't have to provide a reason for their number, but they are free to elaborate if they want to. 1-5 not only allows students to express their emotional status, but also shows that I care about them. This is one low-stakes addition I've made to my teaching practice this semester in an effort to build relationships with my students.

"Real talk" discussions

Students go and discuss a certain question or topic in groups for a while and then come together and we hear ideas from different groups. Discussion and interaction has always been something I’ve thought worthwhile in class, but now I’m trying to be more purposeful about choosing questions that let the students know their thoughts matter. It is a simple way to allow them to be seen and heard. The discussion topic is related to the lesson; however, it always allows students to share their experiences or opinions. For example, when we started a unit on writing essays I asked the students about their experiences of writing essays in the past. They shared fears and struggles as well as tips they’d learned. All of this was useful to me for understanding the learners and planning future lessons, but it also gave students an outlet for their knowledge and feelings.

In July I took an online course as professional development. Besides all the things I learnt in the content, the most important takeaway for me was the human interaction. We could have just watched the videos, read the articles, and thought or wrote about the ideas but we were encouraged to interact by posting comments and reading others comments and responding to what others had posted. It was fun and motivating to be part of that community, and it was particularly rewarding to have the educators notice my comments and respond to them, effectively showing me that they had seen and heard me. My experiences and thoughts were acknowledged. That's what really MADE the course for me. And that’s what I’m trying to achieve in my lessons as well. Discussions that let students talk about "real stuff" are one powerful way to hear and acknowledge my students.

Personal messages

In the past, I've avoided contacting students outside of the classroom in an effort to keep professional boundaries. However, now that we are separated, texting is THE way to connect with students outside class time. Checking in regularly with students is not only allowed but encouraged when teaching online. Apart from responding individually to the writing tasks that students submit each week, personal messages are also a chance for me to follow up on things the student may have said or done in class. Some messages that I’ve sent include:

"It was really nice to see you participating in the brainstorm today—you have a lot of good ideas!"

"What was that book you mentioned in class today? It sounded interesting."

If this sounds like extra work...it is. It takes effort to remember little details and it takes time to send messages. But the results are worth it. These little individual interactions outside class help to build relationships with each student. Not only do the students and I gain more by getting to know each other, but I have also seen an increase in engagement in class.

These are three strategies I’ve been trying this semester, but there are many more ways to help students feel seen and heard. 

• What strategies have you found help student feel seen and heard?
• What would you like to try?