Jennifer Hutchison: Ideas We Can Use to Strengthen “Engagement in the Ether”

By Jennifer Hutchison
Professional Learning Specialist
Hudson-Alpha Institute (Huntsville)

Think back to March 2020. I am absolutely not asking you to go back to March 2020. None of us wants to do that. But, when you recall the day you were sent home from school indefinitely due to COVID-19, I am sure that you felt a plethora of emotions.

Then, your teacher superpower kicked into gear and you started trying to figure out how to best meet the needs of your students. One of the biggest challenges that faced educators became very apparent almost immediately.

One of the things that we, as educators, pride ourselves on is making daily connections with our students. Our driving question became, how do I connect with a tiny green dot, with students who have their cameras turned off and who may or may not be sitting in the same room with their computer?

These were the questions that kept us up at night. I won’t forget the moment when I was facilitating a webinar and one of our participants raised the question, how am I going to replicate the conversations and discussions that occur in my classroom, that drive students to make connections and to gain a deeper understanding of content? This question – to which I did not have an answer at that moment – was a call to action.

Hearing this teacher’s frustration and concern drove my interest in what I could do to help educators with this unique dilemma. Given the urgency of the question, I dove in.

I should say that the things that I will share here are useful for engaging students in discussions virtually, but they are also instrumental for connecting with students in a face-to-face setting. So, regardless of whether you are teaching students from a distance or in a classroom together, these best practice strategies will be applicable.

What do students need?

The first question to ask yourself when thinking about how to get students to discuss a variety of topics in a virtual setting is: what do our students NEED to learn today? That is always our driving question as we plan instruction. It never changes, regardless of the teaching environment.

It is essential that we consider the difference between purpose and task. Rather than focus on the tasks that we will have students doing, we should focus first on the purpose of those tasks. Placing the question of what our students need to learn today in the forefront will make it the driving factor in selecting the appropriate type of discussion to make that specific learning happen.

What will students talk about?

Once this essential question has been answered, we can begin thinking about what kind of discussions will elicit that learning. I was very fortunate to attend a session led by Sarah Brown Wessling (the 2010 National Teacher of the Year) that was sponsored by the Alabama Best Practices Center. During the session, I was particularly drawn to a set of discussion beliefs that she referenced.

I think these beliefs can provide valuable guidance in planning for student dialogue that will lead to deeper understanding.

• Discussions are not about individuals stating what they already know, rather they are about discovery by both the talkers and the listeners.
• This one is a hard for us to hear as educators: the ultimate goal of student dialogue is to reduce the dependency and reliance on the educator in the room. Think for a moment about the enormity of empowering our students with the ability to both initiate and maintain conversations within our classrooms, be they virtual or face-to-face. Now, that is powerful! This is a life skill that permeates every educational discipline and is absolutely worth taking the time to develop in our students.
• Discussions don’t just happen. They require planning, intentionality, deliberation, and safety.

How will students feel confident and safe?

How do we build student confidence and safety in the virtual setting? We must provide our students with opportunities to interact with one another and afford them the time necessary to build their trust in this environment. For example, if we expect our students to go on camera, unmute, and then articulate their deepest thoughts in the first virtual meeting of the year, we WILL be disappointed.

Consider scaffolding both content and engagement over time. Just as you facilitate student understanding of content by creating a foundation with concrete topics and building to more abstract subject matter, the same principle applies to engagement. Practice by constructing an atmosphere in which students are asked to engage in low-risk assignments (reactions, polls, yes/no questions, true/false statements) until they become comfortable, then gradually move toward higher-risk tasks (turning the camera on and articulating thoughts).

What tools can be used to encourage students to interact with one another? In the world of education, there is no shortage of instruments to be used to encourage student dialogue even in a virtual classroom. One strategy that may be particularly useful in getting conversations going is called talk moves. These brief stems create a non-threatening means by which students can have discussions with one another. I have listed just a few in the table below, but there are many other options.

Providing students with a set of 8-10 courteous, familiar statements, such as those in the table, can provide them the time and space to develop conversation skills without feeling threatened by the task of initiating their own questions and statements.

How will students communicate?

Students can work collaboratively using a variety of Google options, such as Slides, Jamboard, Docs and Sheets. Within these tools, students have the ability to work with one another both asynchronously and synchronously. Check out this video that highlights Google tools here:  Google Apps for Education Tutorial.

Working this way offers some big advantages while learning at home since individual student schedules can vary greatly. These flexible options allow students to continue learning within the parameters of their own home environment.

Also: as educators, we often put pressure on ourselves to grade every single assignment. Rather than assigning letter grades to assignments, consider investing in quality feedback as a way to support engagement. In these asynchronous digital environments, feedback tools are already built in, and we can invest our time in coming up with thoughtful things to say.

How will we take care of ourselves?

As you weather the many shifts that have defined education in 2020 and 2021, don’t forget to take care of yourself. The very things that complete you socially and emotionally during a typical year have been taken from you. Filling your tank and attending to your own emotional well-being better equips you to engage your students.

Keep doing the incredible work that you consistently do to allow students to continue learning despite the circumstances. You are all superheroes and your students are fortunate to have you guiding their learning, regardless of the mechanism.

You have risen to the challenge and I could not be more proud to consider myself an educator alongside you. Now. let’s peer into that green dot, connect with our students and continue the engagement in the ether.

Jennifer Hutchison is a science educator and a Professional Learning Specialist at the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology in Huntsville, Alabama. Jennifer was a biology teacher at Huntsville High School for 12 years and a Biology Specialist at Alabama A&M for 12 years, before joining the Institute in 2018. Her daily work includes developing and facilitating professional learning opportunities for educators throughout the state of Alabama and beyond.