Tag Archives: students

Having Back Channel Support in an Online Video Class

I don’t think this is a word, but I’m going to use it anyway: Backchanneller.

There are many educators using tools like Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Adobe Connect for the first time. These educators are learning that it is very hard to be presenting with these tools and also pay attention to the chat, and what is happening in the digital room, while also delivering instructions or a lesson. One thing that can make this easier is to have a back channel helper, or a backchanneller.

People who run Twitter Chats understand this. They use a team of people to help welcome people to the chat, retweet, and like good responses, while the main moderator pushes out the questions and engages with individual tweets. A single moderator struggles to do it all.

For video-based classes and lessons the teacher/presenter will often struggle with:

  • Following the chat
  • Picking out good questions
  • Helping to orient latecomers
  • Finding the person with their mic on, causing a distraction
  • Keeping the chat on topic, or at least monitor the chat for people causing a distraction.

It’s hard to do these things while also trying to be engaging and/or creating an interactive lesson.

The primary role of the backchanneller is to monitor what’s happening in the chat in the background, and to assist the teacher/presenter. These are the main roles:

  • Look for good questions
  • Respond to simple questions
  • Choosing the right time to interrupt, if the question warrants it… and avoiding questions that would interrupt or derail the lesson, or that can wait for an appropriate pause in the lesson.

There are other things the backchanneller can do, as mentioned above, but the moderation of the chat is key.

It’s hard to run a lesson and watch a chat conversation at the same time. It’s easy to unintentionally let the chat take over the lesson. Having a backchanneller, who can be a student, who understands the responsibility of the role, can help a lesson go considerably better. A backchanneller reduces the cognitive load on the teacher/presenter and lets them focus on the intent of the lesson or presentation.

It’s great when a participant, a student, can take on the role of backchanneller. It’s empowering. Explicitly explaining the importance of this role, and reflecting on the person’s effectiveness can also be a useful thing to do, to help the audience or class understand the value of this useful teaching assistant. And that’s the ultimate role of a backchanneller, an assistant, someone who monitors and manages a conversation stream while the teacher pays attention to the lesson or presentation.

Good people

While you wouldn’t know it from watching the news, our world is filled with many amazing people. Some gestures are big, others small, but so many people are inherently good.

In the last 24 hours:

  • I watched a video of a senator in the US demanding that testing for Coronavirus be free regardless of a person’s medical coverage.
  • I saw a news clip of exhausted doctors and nurses working tirelessly in hospitals in Italy, where the Coronavirus cases are growing exponentially.
  • My wife received an adorable thank you letter from a student, thanking her for ‘pushing me to my limits and above’ and for being ‘a teacher I will always remember and love’.
  • I received an update from a former student who is going into family medicine because she ‘loves the idea of getting to know patients over a long period of time… and being the ‘first line’ of care’, and thanking me for my influence.
  • A subscription-based podcaster emailed to say that if the pandemic puts anyone into financial need, they can email for a free subscription.

We are heading into a time of uncertainty, when our social and medical services will be stretched. Some people will be scared, others desperate. I hope that the good in people shines through, and that people will come together to support those in their community who are in need.

A lesson taught with dignity and respect

My grandfather, Leon Bernstein or ‘Papa B’ as he was known, was an amazing man. As I shared at his funeral:

Papa B. is a Giant!

Like many of you, I know this because he told me so.
Papa wasn’t boasting when he said this, he was just telling you the way it is. If you were to measure a man by the legacy he leaves behind Papa would come as big as they get. In this way he is still a giant and always will be.

Here is a lesson that he taught me, wrapped inside of another lesson. It speaks to his character, and to the kind of person I want to be, that I strive to be. It’s a lesson he taught me when I was about 14 years old.

It happened at a family gathering at our house, it was the weekend and both sets of grandparents and a few aunts and uncles were over. It wasn’t a special occasion, our family often connected without a specific reason. I specifically know that it wasn’t a special occasion because I went for a bike ride with a couple friends, and if it was a special occasion, like a birthday, I would have had to stay at the celebration.

When I finished my ride, just before dinner, I came home and I remember that I was going very fast. I reached my driveway and I didn’t slow down. I made the sharp turn on my neighbour’s shared driveway and kept my speed up as I headed to the garage. But at the speed I was going I couldn’t make the turn and I hit Papa B’s car. My handlebar scraped across the car door leaving a scratch longer than a ruler, over 12 inches or 30cm. Then I fell to the pavement and scraped me knee.

It wasn’t a bad scape but standing up I looked at the scrape on me knee and then the large scratch on my grandfather’s car and I started to cry. I went into the house crying and I told my story of riding up the driveway and hitting the car. I didn’t admit to going too fast.

A few adults came outside to look at the car. I still had tears in my eyes as we looked at the large scratch on the front passenger car door. There was a remark about how big it was and the tears flowed. My grandfather spoke up, “It’s all right boy, the important thing is you weren’t hurt. Your knee will heal and the scratch can be fixed. All good.”

And with that we all went inside, me hobbling with exaggeration behind everyone that came outside. I got a bandaid from my mom, and the scratch on the car wasn’t mentioned again that night. I had convinced myself when I scraped the car that I was going to get in big trouble, but my grandfather said it wasn’t important, what was important was that I was ok. It was ‘All good’.

A couple days later Papa B came over and he asked me to come outside. He took me by the hand, something only he could do to a 14 year old in a way that felt natural. Holding hands was something Papa B did with all his grandkids. We walked to the passenger side of the car and he pointed. “See that,” he said pointing to the scratch I had made. “The scratch is horizontal. You were going too fast. If you were going a safe speed, the scratch would have pointed down as the bike fell, but you turned too fast and this scratch tells me so. It’s ok, I know it was a mistake, but I wanted you to know that I know you were going too fast.”

That was it. We went inside and it was never mentioned again.

This has shaped the way I have spoken as a teacher to students in my class, and now as a principal to students in my office. Papa knew all along, but he didn’t want to share this in front of an audience. He waited and taught me a lesson with dignity and respect. It’s easy to be angry and heated and forget to be like this.

That isn’t to say that I always choose to deal with things this way. And sometimes it’s good for students to see you upset, or disappointed with some emotion. But my default is to strive to be like Papa B. To choose a moment that isn’t public. To be gentle and respectful, but also to face the issue rather than let it pass.

Students make mistakes. People make mistakes. I make mistakes. When I remember this story, I remember that how we react to a mistake can be as much of a lesson as the lesson the mistake has to offer. Others deserve the same respect that my Papa B gave to me.

Kids do well if they can

I love this video by Ross Greene:

Moving from ‘kids do well if they wanna’ to ‘kids do well if they can’ is a significant change in philosophy. I like that Ross admits that this philosophy is “a lot harder and… more productive”.

It’s easy to blame a kid who doesn’t want to do school work. It’s hard to figure out what’s getting in the way of their learning. But which of these models provides the most reward, for the student and the educator?

I know there are students who are really hard to figure out. I know there are students who refuse to accept help. I know there are educators willing to bend over backwards to support kids who still opt out. But if you believe they will do well if they can, then you are still in a better mindset to find a way to support a student than you would be believing they just don’t want to do the work.

Kids do well if they can.

Resilience #OneWord2020

If I were to pick 2 words for 2020, I might pick “Growth Mindset”, but if I’m only choosing a single word, it would be:

Resilience

The world needs this word right now. Here are some specific places I see a need to pay attention to this #OneWord in 2020.

In Schools:

Student anxiety seems to be on the rise, and anxiety lowers resilience and the willingness to try new things. Words seem to ‘injure’ students in ways that victimize them rather than make them stronger. This is not to say that students should tolerate bullying or inappropriate language or slander, rather they should speak up, defend themselves, and report poor behaviour. Instead it seems that they feel wounded and do not act. This is a sensitive topic, but one where I’ve seen a greater awareness of adults who want to support students and at the same time I see students allowing words to hurt them deeply, giving too much power to the transgressor.

In Politics:

I said this in Ideas on a Spectrum, “In a civil society, dialogue is the one problem-solving strategy that should be sacred. To do this, free speech is essential. But right now there is a culture of ‘attack the opposition’ that is very scary.“ – We need to be resilient when hearing opposing views, and understand that, “…we must be tolerant and accepting of opposing views, unaccepting of hateful and hurtful acts, and smart enough to understand the difference.” When we can’t have conversations with people that have different political views, we don’t grow as a culture or as a society.

In Online Spaces:

People will make mistakes online. They will say things that are unintentionally hurtful, or blindly offensive. This is different than someone being intentionally biased and rude. If the slander is intentional, it should be reported. If it is unintentional, even to the point of ignorance, we need to be more resilient about what our responses are. When every transgression is treated with an attack, the most severe/bigoted/rude/biased transgressions are not given the heightened alarm that they deserve. With lesser errors and mistakes, we need to let people have a venue to recognize their errors and invite conversation rather than damnation.

Growing up, I heard the playground retort to taunts, “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words will never harm me.” We are past the era of letting nasty people say whatever nasty things they want, and just turning the other cheek to pretend we are not hurt. This is a good thing. We want to live in a world where that behaviour is not acceptable. But it does not serve us well to treat the attacker like they can not repent or be sorry. It does not serve us to let the words said hurt us too deeply. By being resilient we can speak up, clarify our perspective, and engage in conversations that help us feel empowered rather than victimized.

Resilience allows us to be strong, flexible, and engaged in a society that is the kind of society we want to live and thrive in.

Let the holidays begin

It’s the last day of school before the holiday break and I’m really looking forward to the time off with my family! I’m already eating too much, and so my treadmill run this morning will be longer and slower for a good calorie burn, and I will try to keep up my time-restricted eating to prevent some of the late-night snacking. But I will also indulge a bit too. Last night I was in bed by 8:45pm, I can tell that I need a break.

One thing that I always think about this time of year is how different the holidays are for many of the students in our schools:

  • Some will have holidays that make us envious, while some will stay cooped up at home with ‘nothing’ to do.
  • Some will celebrate the holidays with presents, some will not.
  • Some will eat to their heart’s content, some will eat whatever they can get.
  • Some will feel the love of a complete family, some will feel the loss of a loved one more than any other time of the year.
  • Some are excited about the break, some are dreading it and wish it wasn’t so long.

We sometimes forget that the joy we feel for the holidays is not always felt by everyone. For those of you in schools, pay attention to who might need a bit of your time and attention today. Celebrate the start of holidays by spreading some cheer with some of the kids that need it most.

—

Also, if you are in the spirit of giving, help Inquiry Hub Student, Andrew, raise money for young teens that will have very little over the holidays. Support Covenant House in Vancouver.

Happy holidays!

Gas in my tank

Yesterday evening was the Inquiry Hub Open House.

Here is a snippet from the ‘Cold Open’ that started the event, a song written by one of our students.

I wrote about the rehearsal and shared it here.

My day started with my meditation at 5:30am and getting to work by 7:20. I got home after the event at just before 10pm. I should have been exhausted, but the event was so rejuvenating! I came home and had a late night 2nd dinner, and was asleep just after 11pm. That should be a wipeout kind of day.

It wasn’t.

Watching our students showcase their school and their passion projects was wonderful. The enthusiasm was contagious. The night filled my gas tank. Sometimes we need events like this to pump some fuel into us, and get us off ‘E’. I’m ready to cruise through the craziness of the month ahead.

Act your age

It was 21 years ago when I was on my practicum to become a teacher that a student taught me a valuable lesson. The kid was a bit of a handful and he often acted out in class. He was quite manageable for my teacher advisor, and for me when my advisor was in the room, but he’d act out in an exaggerated way when I was teaching this grade 6 & 7 class on my own.

I don’t remember what the issue was, but one day he did something and I held him back after class. I waited for students to leave then I went over to his desk and sat down next to him. I only remember one thing about the conversation, during my little monologue I said to him, “You’re acting like a little 9 year old!”

He spoke up in response, “I’m 10.”

I froze. Staring at him blankly, I thought to myself, I told him to act his age… and he is… he’s being a little kid in a class of little kids.

After that he was still a challenge at times, but I gave him more responsibility to help me out and he responded well. When he acted out a bit, I remembered his age and that he needed help and guidance. He didn’t need a teacher that was expecting him to act like a mature 15 year old when he was just a 10 year old kid with a lot of energy, being asked to sit at a desk for long periods of time.

I don’t think I’ve ever told a kid to act their age again. In fact, the only times I’ve ever thought that since this incident has been when adults act and respond like kids. I must admit I find that disappointing. But when kids make immature choices, that’s often when they are acting their age.

Empowering students

Inquiry Hub is a small school. We don’t have a lot of grads, but we have grown enough that we need to switch venues for our Annual/Graduation. We run this event together, for our entire school community, so that our grads have a full auditorium at their ceremony.

For this special event, the presentations and entertainment are organized by our students and teachers together. At the event, our students run the show, with teachers handing out awards, and students providing the entertainment. Last year we packed the small auditorium, and with 8 more grads this year, the search for a new location began.

Two of my grads did the research and presented me with a couple options. We started inquiring about dates and costs, and by ‘we’, I mean my students did, presenting the final suggestion to me. My job, pay the deposit and set up the first technical visit.

That visit was today. We looked at the stage set-up, I shared my thoughts and ideas, and while a few were taken, a few weren’t. When the meeting with the booking coordinator was over, we thanked her and she said, “It’s funny, this whole time, until you came in today, I thought I was corresponding with teachers.” She had no idea that all the setup and communication (other than me joining in to sign the papers and pay) was done by students.

I thanked her and told her that these students, Jazmine & Antoni, would continue to be her main contacts for the event, other than final payment. The first 5 minutes of the drive home, the car ride was silent, while these two students made notes on their phones.

The one big realization that I needed to remind them of was that unlike last year, they would be in grad gowns in the front seats, and other students would have to work back stage. They assured me that the 2 students that were being groomed last year were ready to take on the challenge, and they were not available today or they would have joined us. I guess I should have known that already, but if I didn’t trust them then I wouldn’t really be empowering them.

I’m not pretending that there won’t be a lot for myself, my teachers, and my PAC (Parent Advisory Council) to do, to ensure that the event goes smoothly. But, I also know that what will make this celebration extra special is that it will look and feel like it was student run, with a level of quality that surpasses what you’d expect from a student run event. Why? Because when students feel truly empowered, they shine.

Some kids…

Some kids are easy to like. They make an effort to connect with you. They want to do well. They seek your approval.

Some kids are hard to like. They don’t want to make an effort to connect. They are defiant. They don’t want your approval, or maybe they do, but they sabotage their own efforts because that don’t believe they’ll get your approval even if they try.

Some kids don’t fit either of those categories, and others switch between the two on a given day, or even within an hour. Some kids come to school to learn, some to socialize, some to get out of their house. Some kids don’t want to come to school at all.

Some kids deserve a second chance, while some kids deserve a sixth or ninth chance. Some kids are willing to say sorry, and some of those kids mean it. Some kids make others feel unsafe, some kids do things to make themselves unsafe. Some kids are resilient, while some kids lack the strategies and the confidence to believe that they can be successful.

Some kids make working with them feel like hard work, while some kids help you bring joy to your work day. Some kids are happy, positive, and peaceful and others are sad, negative, and angry.

Some kids deserve more effort, thoughtfulness, patience, love, tough love, and care… more care than you want to or feel that you can give… more forgiveness and acceptance than you want to share.

All kids deserve to be cared for by adults who believes in them; who want them to be better than they are; and, who see the good in them, even when it is hard to see. All kids need to see the goodness in you. They need to know that you believe in them. They need to know you care.

And as for the toughest kids to work with, the ones that drive you crazy, the ones that don’t appreciate what you do for them… they are the ones that can read you the best. They know if you are working from a place of love, or acceptance, or tolerance, or impatience, or anger. They are the kids that most deserve the best you that you can give them. Because only the best, most resilient, and most caring you can get the best out of them. It isn’t easy, but it’s extremely rewarding.