Building classroom community

 This semester my hybrid class was divided in half due to social distancing.  The room can only hold 12 students so instead of all 21 meeting with me on Monday and Wednesday as was originally planned, 10 come on Monday and 11 come on Wednesday.

On the one hand I wouldn't have chosen this.  They wouldn't either.  On the other hand, we are all thankful we can meet face to face at all since much of the country still can't.  So, I'm leading by example to make the best of what we have.  I'm proud to report the students are working hard and we are a team as we figure this out together.  

I am required to wear a mask which is difficult because my voice is quiet and they must hear how I pronounce Spanish.  

I requested an amplification system and I received one that is working very well.  It's a mic on a headphone that connects to a speaker that I wear as a necklace.  It's not a fashion accessory, but it's getting the job done.  I call that a win.  It's especially nice in my night class because I don't have to strain my voice.  In past semesters I would be hoarse by the end of a class;  that's not happening now.

I considered pacing my hybrid day class as I normally would but making the "not in attendance day" accessible by Zoom.  After some consideration that I chose not to go that route and instead chose to go the 75% online model while 25% of our class is face to face.  This was logical choice for me because my curriculum is already online and it's excellent.

The pacing goes like this:  we cover the material in 2 classes that I would have covered in 1.  Is it excellent?  Not really.  Is it good?  Yes.  My hybrid students did better on Quiz 1 than my students did last spring when they saw me twice as much for face to face time.  I call that very good.  Students are learning.

I noticed the other day that my class felt too quiet and timid.

I tried something new and it worked :)

I'm using the flipped classroom model which for us means they are expected to read the material we'll cover in class beforehand.  I have created notes guides for them to complete which I'm very proud to report they are doing.

I love the think pair share concept because it gives students a chance to work together and it also builds class community.  I decided to use this in Spanish:  piensa, habla, comparte.

We covered Ch 2 vocab this past week and so the question was logical:  what is your favorite classroom object?  This was something they could confidently do and it achieved my goal of students working together in pairs.  It also helped build class community.

A lot isn't perfect this semester but I'll celebrate the wins as they come. 

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