Читать книгу Awesome Sauce - Josh Stock - Страница 27

At 9:30 a.m. on a Thursday, my students and I heard a knock on the door. I was in the middle of giving a life-changing speech; my students were perched on the edge of their seats, enthralled by my amazing words. (Okay, I was probably just saying something silly to get the class to laugh.)

One of my former students stood at the door with a student I had never met: “Uh, this is a new student. We’re showing her around.”

I tried to make the new student feel welcome, of course. I said “hi” and introduced her to the class before she continued her tour. But I could see the fear of starting a new adventure on her face.

I love meeting new students, and I’m glad they get to tour the school, but what if we looked at these tours differently? What if new students could watch a couple of quick videos to get to know their teachers before they even set foot in our classrooms? New students are already at a disadvantage because they have less experience with the adults in the building than the other kids. A quick peek in each of the rooms is great, but it doesn’t come close to teaching new students everything they want to know.

STUDENT-CREATED VIDEO

Being a new student can be scary. Starting off knowing someone right away can help. One way to make that happen is to form a welcoming committee of students who are assigned to make newcomers feel at home.

My team has a welcoming committee of about six students. On their first day, new students sit with one of the welcoming committee members to watch a one-minute video introducing the members of the committee. It’s nothing fancy, just the students introducing themselves and letting the newbies know they can always ask them questions. Then the welcoming committee member walks the new student around the halls. Having several students in the video gives new students multiple opportunities to make new friends quickly.

We receive a lot of new students every year. Video introductions get them excited about school and give them a bit of comfort. Pair these with a video tour and they feel more confident about joining in with their new classmates. Videos let students see who’s who among the teachers and practice teachers’ names at home.

Parents of new students are also playing catch-up, and this tool gives them a jump start on their own journey, helping to build trust with the new adults in their children’s lives. Transitions are tough for anyone, and the faster the student-teacher-parent connections can click, the faster learning can take place. Trust is a necessary foundation for learning content, and introductory videos help to develop it.