In true COVID-19 style, our garage is currently turned into my husband’s studio so he can host “huddles” with students all day through his company, which raises funds for schools. While normally, his team would be on a campus hosting these motivational “huddles” in person, his team is currently furloughed and he’s doing the work virtually. Now, I love my husband, but “pep” is not necessarily his strong suit – in fact, we often joke that his “excited voice” and his “angry voice” and his ” happy voice” all sound the same.

I’m giving you this back information because as I stood in my laundry room this morning listening to him leading one of these huddles, I heard students talking, cheering, and even yelling through the computer! I know that engagement right now is a huge obstacle – and that’s why I can’t help but continue to touch on this topic.

Here’s what I learned from my non-teacher, non-enthusiastic husband, with examples from his interactions this morning. 🙂

1. Take a poll that every student must answer on video.
   • Example: Ok class – here are the three teachers who are going to get slimed if you hit your goal! Which teacher do you want to get slimed first? Hold up one finger for Mr. Rodriguez! Hold up 2 fingers for Mrs. Taylor! Hold up 3 fingers for Coach Smith! Let me see everyone’s hand!
2. Expect repetition…and expect volume!
   • Example: What do you have if you complete something that’s hard? GRIT! Let me hear you! “GRIT!” Even louder…”GRIT!”
3. Celebrate students by name!
   • Think about this – you have a special hand signal or handshake with each student (yes- each student – take a day to get this done – it’s powerful) and you are celebrating a student, on video (or F2F) and you do your special hand signal. OR you have a way that your class celebrates each other, and so everyone does the celebratory hand signal on the computer…
4. And lastly – talk about things that are interesting to the students – and if the content isn’t interesting, make the learning fun! We’ve got to pull out all the tricks here! We cannot be a boring direct teach teacher right now and expect engagement! We’re here to help! Check out our new YouTube Channel at Jenn Kleiber, Teaching by Reaching, to get some more ideas!

I know these probably seem easy and a little common sense, but it’s when we are in the trenches that we need these little reminders.

We have a new YouTube video for you if you want a few more ideas! Engage! Repetition and TPR

And as always, follow us on social media!

FB: @pressingonwardblog

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Also – FRIDAY is the DEADLINE to reach out to me about virtual coaching through Clarity for the 2020/2021 school year! Click here for info! Clarity Virtual Coaching! We can’t wait to work with you, but don’t miss the deadline!