Remote, distanced, virtual, hybrid – none of these are our public school tradition. Yet, for many teachers and children today, these are their pathways to a continuing education in the Time of COVID. Let’s consider how these strange yet necessary pathways can work to cause all children to learn.

We need to begin a discussion of best remote education practices with this proclamation. Some teachers will excel as remote and online teachers and some teachers will fail. This does not defame those who are uncomfortable, ineffective or inefficient as distanced educators. Our faculties are selected and hired to work in direct contact with children. Personal relationships are essential to causing learning. Remote education’s screen time is a game changer. The lack of daily, person-to-person presence disrupts if not completely baffles many teachers. This does not mean that ineffective remote teaching cannot be improved. Where there is willingness there is a way. Where there is a “must” there is a “can do”.

Personal and daily exchanges between a teacher and each of the teacher’s students are essential if we are to overcome the distancing required of remote education. The key words are “daily” and “personal”. Best practice is a personal exchange between teacher and child every day. It takes time. It takes planning. It takes commitment. Personal contacts are irreplaceable. A day with a personal talk between a teacher and child is the best prevention of student disengagement, because disengagement is the educational disease of COVID.

Personal exchanges are “you matter” moments. The greatest loss in distanced education is the personal connection between teacher and child. We need work-arounds that re-establish personal conversations.

• A daily one-to-one screen chat or a personal telephone call is a classroom lifeline to a child at home. And, this is not just for a young, elementary child only – it also is true for seniors in high school. After initial instruction for a lesson has been given to all children, shut off the broadcast and let children work independently. Children do not need the distraction of what other children are doing and not doing. Use this time to make one-to-one screen chats or telephone calls to one child at a time.

• Personal means personal. This talk time is only about the child and the child’s school work. You my inquire about health and safety and how the family is doing. And, then you need to get to the school work.

“Tell me how you will start this assignment.”
“Let’s talk about this sentence in your writing.”
“Tell me about…”
“How did you feel when…?”
“Tell me more …”

The conversation only needs to last several minutes. Enough for the teacher to assures to the student that her teacher is committed to her learning every day.

• Personal contact is student-centered. The conversation is not about the teacher or teaching. This call is not about any other student. It is all about the called child and that child’s learning. Do not introduce other school or class issues. If you have five minutes, make all five about “this child”.

• Link consecutive calls. “Yesterday we talked about … let’s go on from there.” Linked calls provide continuity for a child. They expand the lesson from the moment into learning over time. “Yesterday you said … What are you thinking about that today?” “Tell me about what you did in reworking that math problem.”

• Do this every day. Make it your #1 priority. Make a daily contact with each child your COVID Resolution. This is more than possible because it is so utterly necessary. Like so many preventative measures, the total amount of time required for daily contacts will be far less than the time and effort to re-engage a disengaged child.

• Personal is the sound of your voice. Get off screen and use a telephone. Not a text. Not an e-mail. Your voice talking to the child’s voice. Teachers frequently forget that the sound of voices, their voice in particular, is distinct and unique. A teacher’s voice has special meaning for a child. Many adults still recall the sound of a particular teacher’s voice, her speaking mannerisms, and with that sound the words she spoke. Make your voice heard by your students by speaking to each one individually.

• Make a record of your daily contacts. One purpose of the record is to ensure that all children are being contacted with regularity. A second purpose is to provide you with the reinforcement that comes from committing to and doing a necessary task. A long and continuous list of made connections easier to sustain than restarting an on again and off again pattern.

• Principals will pay attention. One element of your principal’s assessment of your work as a teacher of distanced children is how well you maintain contact with each child. Your commitment to personal and daily contacts and your record of these assists your principal to validate the effectiveness of your remote teaching.

There will be a day when all children will join their teachers in their school classrooms. Teaching and learning will return with highly personalized, daily conversations between teacher and child. The distancing caused by the pandemic need only be an inconvenience not an obstacle to the continuity of personal and daily connections.

A commitment to personal and daily contacts now during remote education will make a day when everyone is back in school a gathering of people who know each other well – not a meeting of people who saw each other only as distant and impersonal faces on screens.