(Part 3) Showing Kindness from a Distance: Documenting Our Shared Experience

The following activity is part of a series we’re creating to support students, teachers, and caregivers, during this unprecedented time. Read more about the project here. If you try this activity with your student(s), we’d love to see what you do. Share your journey via the #Inspired2Learn hashtag on your preferred social platform.

Created by: Jenna Fournel
Discipline: Literacy / Art / Civics
Age level: Good for all ages.
Time: As long as you like.
Materials: This depends on the route you take but at a minimum writing utensils and paper are probably necessary. You might also need audio recording tools, online video recording (like ZOOM) and something to type up the responses.

Students learn many things in school, and while we don’t tend to focus on the social aspects of their education as much as the academics, learning to connect, cooperate, support, and build friendships with peers may very well be some of the most important things they gain from their preK-12 experience.

As most schools move to remote learning across the country, social skills will likely take a back seat to academics. And even in our communities, the opportunities to connect with other children in our neighborhoods, on playgrounds, or in after school activities are off limits.

But there are ways to keep practicing kindness and connection, even as we stay 6-feet apart. Over the past three days we’ve shared activities that provide opportunities to talk with your learners about people outside the space you’re currently inhabiting, and to think about how our actions can still have a positive impact on others, even if we can’t be together face-to-face right now.

What to do:

Collect Stories: We’re all experiencing a historic moment together and talking about our experiences is a good way to make the isolation feel less lonely, and less terrifying. Work with your learner to craft a few questions about this experience that they can ask several friends or family members. Questions might include things like:

What are you learning how to do right now that you didn’t know how to do before?

What is bringing you joy?
What is hardest about spending so much time at home?
What are you most looking forward to when this is all over?
What music is keeping you dancing?
What’s the most interesting thing you did today?
What’s something funny that has happened since this all began?

Have your learner either email these questions to friends and get them back in written form, call them on the phone to ask them and write down answers, and/or video call and record the conversation. After they’ve collected these insights, they might

write a short book,
create a PowerPoint,
put together a video montage,
or create a piece of art that reflects the varied perspectives they learned about.

Make sure they share what they’ve collected with their interviewees. It’s a neat way to show we’re all in this together.

Modifications

Noting that these activities involve writing, and you may be working with young learners who don’t know how to write yet, pictures work just as well. Or you can have your learners dictate to you while you write what they want to say. But have them be as involved as possible in the act of writing; so even if you write down what they say, have them help to illustrate the words.

Inspired Teaching Connection

These activities tap into the social emotional learning that is central to the Inspired Teaching approach. Learners are driven by Purpose, Persistence, and Action to create writing and art that has an audience and reason for being. In the conversations you have with learners as they create these things, you can engage them deeply in the Wonder-Experiment-Learn Cycle by having them observe the impact their actions have on others (i.e., When you ask your uncle how he’s doing, how do you think that makes him feel?)

See our instructional model here.

Micaiah Anderson

Community Outreach Specialist

As a Community Outreach Specialist, Micaiah is responsible for program promotion and outreach support for Inspired Teaching events and workshops. Micaiah has a passion for collaborating with community members to build-power and connect. She is an educator with a heart for youth and has experience supporting students fight injustices within their schools and communities. She has a BA in Political Science from, the real HU, Hampton University & anticipates graduating in May 2024 with a Masters of Arts degree in Educational Policy Transformation from Georgetown University.

AUTONOMY

"I want to have a say in what happens to me."

Autonomy is the need for independence; the ability to make choices, to create, to explore, and to express oneself freely; to have sufficient space, to move around, and to feel unrestricted with opportunities to exercise free will.

Brady Maiden

Outreach Coordinator

As the Outreach Coordinator, Brady helps maintain Inspired Teaching’s social media presence and supports the organization’s mission to connect with DC community leaders, educators, and parents. Brady has her Master’s in Public Policy from George Mason University and her BS in Political Science from Northern Arizona University. She is passionate about community, equity, and coalition building recognizing that learning and growing with the community at large is how we continue to be impactful.

What brings you joy in life?

I find joy in spending time with my friends and family and meeting new people. I like going to concerts and festivals, and finding new books to read.

The Learner’s Cycle, Wonder-Experiment-Learn, and the Teacher’s Cycle, Observe-Plan-Instigate, comprise Inspired Teaching’s approach to engaging students in inquiry-based learning.

When they are engaged in the Wonder-Experiment-Learn Cycle, students are immersed in learning. They take the lead in designing authentic learning experiences around their own interests and their school’s standards of learning. Each discovery leads to a new question which in turn leads to more wondering and more learning. In the Wonder-Experiment-Learn Cycle, Learn is not a destination or an endpoint; it is a deeper understanding, leading to a deeper wondering and new possibilities that create new entry points to further exploration. The cycle continues because what students have learned generates more wonderings that require more experiments that foster more learning – and on and on.

The Observe-Plan-Instigate Cycle is the work of an Inspired Teacher. While a student is expected to follow the Wonder-Experiment-Learn Cycle, the teacher joins them on the learning journey while following their own cycle of Observe-Plan-Instigate. This cycle ultimately serves to ensure an inquiry-based atmosphere is at play in the classroom.

Jaqueta Abbey

Teaching and Learning Specialist

Jaqueta is the Teaching and Learning Specialist for Inspired Teaching. In addition to her current role with Inspired Teaching, Jaqueta is a first-grade teaching assistant. Her background features a variety of traditional and non-traditional experiences in the field of education, including working as an adjunct professor, teaching summer reading programs to children and adults, and tutoring children in the foster care system. Jaqueta earned a B.A. in Communication Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and an M.A. in Interactive Media from Elon University.

What brings you joy in life?

Creative self-expression! In addition to my passion for storytelling, I love dancing of all kinds. I've studied belly dance, bachata, and Brazilian Zouk among other styles. I also enjoy glass fusing, crocheting, photography, and cross stitching. These art forms allow me to express myself and build connections with other people at the same time. I think life would be a lot less vibrant without artists and storytellers!

Michelle Welk

Communication & Marketing Specialist

As Communications and Marketing Specialist, Michelle is responsible for finding and creating new ways to highlight Inspired Teaching and promote its programs in order to expand and deepen the organization's impact. Michelle has worked in communications in an array of settings, from creative agencies to state politics to national nonprofits. She has a BA in Journalism from Temple University in Philadelphia and is passionate about education, access, and equity.

What brings you joy in life?

My son, the beach, making a persuasive argument and good food!

Max Peterson

Real World History Assistant Teacher

Max received his Bachelor’s degree in History and African American Studies from Boston University in May 2016. He has worked in museum curation at the Museum of the White Mountains in New Hampshire and the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Max has worked with young people of varying ages from young children to young adults transitioning to college.

Feedback and Accountability

We grow through feedback and an understanding that the quality of our work is a reflection of what we are learning, but the shift to remote learning this spring disrupted a lot of the tools teachers were used to using to evaluate student growth. How might we do things differently this fall? Participants in this workshop will explore ways to bring meaningful assessment into the virtual and/or socially-distanced classroom and approaches to student feedback that strengthen motivation, and build relationships and achievement.