Empathetic Remote and Hybrid Learning

As almost all schools across the globe are back in session in some form or another, many have decided to begin the year remotely with the hopes that COVID-19 cases will subside in the coming months. Others have started the year with some sort of hybrid model.  There is no easy decision when it comes to determining which pathway is the most appropriate at this time. Each, in its own right, presents particular challenges. Regardless of the route taken, all learners and adults' health and safety should be the driving force that determines whether to stay the course or move in another direction.

There is a great deal of stress on students, parents, and administrators, and even more on teachers. The next few weeks, or even months, will be ridden with anxiety, fear, and at times confusion no matter how prepared a district or school is. What we have learned about COVID-19 is that it can spiral out of control at a moment's notice if social distancing and health recommendations aren't followed. However, this is not all doom and gloom. Throughout the pandemic, educators have embraced new opportunities that have materialized and taken advantage of a clean slate. Innovative practices and technology that might have been on the back-burner months ago are now front and center. Rest assured, when this is all over the resilience of teachers and administrators will help usher in a new normal that better meets the needs of all learners.

Now more than ever, empathy is needed to help everyone get through remote or hybrid learning. The reality is that successes are and have been, overshadowed by fear, stress, and anxiety at levels never experienced.  Below I will address six specific areas that can help to create an empathetic teaching and learning culture.  

Time

As I work with more and more teachers across the country, this is the number one issue that consistently comes up.  Teaching both face-to-face and remote learners at the time is not easy, but I recently developed a pedagogical framework using a station rotation model that can help. Many hybrid learning models have either an entire day (typically Wednesday or Friday) for teachers to plan, grade, provide interventions, and conference with students.  Some set aside a half-day.  Administrators can even cut any non-instructional duties to free up teachers. Remote teachers also need time, which is why having them follow a traditional school day schedule doesn't make much sense, especially when asynchronous tasks can be employed, freeing up much needed minutes or even hours.  

Support

Teachers and administrators need professional learning that aligns with the challenges they currently face and the demands of education in a COVID-19 world.  Targeted presentations can now be facilitated virtually, both live and on-demand, in time-sensitive ways.  Job-embedded coaching, which most educators yearn for, can also be facilitated virtually or face-to-face.  Asynchronous models that address the time issue above can also be used to mirror the same conditions that learners will experience either remotely or in a hybrid model.  Support can also come in the form of budget allocations for needed technology, an administrator covering a teacher's class, feedback, granting mental health days, listening to and then acting on general concerns, allocating time each day to check in with remote learners, and providing daily encouragement through inspirational messages. Another suggestion is moving around personnel so that there are dedicated teachers just for the remote learners in a hybrid model. Even though balancing both face-to-face and remote kids can be done successfully, it is still a challenge.

Grace

Depending on your position, leading and teaching with grace is the epitome of an empathetic culture. This can mean many different things to people, but overall it can be characterized by being welcoming, patient, warm, and kind. It's about emphasizing relationships over discipline or correction. For a learner, it might be giving him or her multiple chances on an assessment or to complete a project.  Or it might be a focus on restorative practices that emphasize forgiveness and the building of relationships. Leading with grace is all about service to others with a focus on humility and respect. From an administrator perspective, it means treating teachers with dignity and exhibiting generosity in addition to the characteristics listed earlier in this paragraph. When it is all said and done, continuously ask these questions when someone might be having a difficult day:

• Are you ok?
• Is there anything I can do for you or that you need?
• Is your current workload manageable?

Exemplars

Empathy is about putting yourself in the shoes of others. Modeling through exemplars is a great way to help ease potential concerns, fear, and anxiety on behalf of learners, teachers, and administrators. Showing examples of sound remote and hybrid pedagogy, as well as successful implementation plans, builds confidence in that you don't have to reinvent the wheel.  Recently I shared what some Corinth School District educators in Mississippi were doing and received some very positive feedback. In particular, teachers want to see what this looks like in alignment with their grade level and content focus. 

Flexibility

For remote or hybrid to work, a flexible approach has to be prioritized. Having teachers and students follow a rigid schedule that replicates what traditional schooling has looked like for years could dramatically impact morale, attentiveness, and motivation.  Video conference fatigue is a real issue, and it just doesn't make sense to have remote learners log in from home when they could just watch the recorded highlights and then complete the same tasks that they could in class asynchronously. Teachers also get fatigued if they are on a screen too long.  If the decision has been made for all students to be remote, then at the very least, each teacher should be given a choice as to whether or not they want to teach from their classroom or home. Other areas that can show flexibility include deadlines, attendance, and general with teachers and students.

Compassion

Some might think grace and compassion are the same things. Even though they are similar, there is a difference.  Compassionate teaching and leadership consider any type of suffering and move towards specific actions to relieve it.  The pandemic has resulted in so many misfortunes that are difficult to wrap our heads around.  This is why social-emotional learning (SEL) should be integrated into any learning model, but it also has to be adapted for adults as well.  Henri Nouwen said it best, "Compassion asks us to go where it hurts, to enter into the places of pain, to share in brokenness, fear, confusion, and anguish. Compassion challenges us to cry out with those in misery, to mourn with those who are lonely, to weep with those in tears. Compassion requires us to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable, and powerless with the powerless. Compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human."

There is hope as educators continue to embark into the great unknown. The virus will eventually be subdued. New learning models and innovative pedagogies will take hold. Parents and students will be more comfortable with and open to different ways to learn. Resilient educators who triumphed in the face of adversity will lead education in a better direction. Empathy will not only help us get through to better days but will also help to establish a thriving school culture grounded in relationships.

Be sure to check out my entire #remotelearning series. 

Students Remember Experiences, Rarely Grades

As a kid, my parents used to take me to professional baseball and hockey games all the time.  Even though I was an avid sports fan, I think I looked forward to the food and walking around the venue more than watching the sport that was being played.  Over time this changed, but as a kid eating junk food all day and not worrying about calories, sugar, or fat was the life. Herein lies my point. I vividly remember the food and atmosphere, but not the score of each game.  The same can be said for a variety of other experiences that have shaped my life and influenced my thinking over the years.

The Book Professor blog provides the following perspective:

How often have you heard the saying, “Experience is the best teacher.” I used to hear that a lot, especially while growing up, and while I didn’t always appreciate it then, I now agree with it 100%. Although there are some experiences I wish I could have avoided due to the pain they caused, they’re still a part of my story. The innate beliefs we have about ourselves can be the driving force behind the decisions we make. Our experiences (good or bad) shape who we are. They become a part of us, a part of our story.

When it comes to school, what do students remember? In the short term, it might be grades. However, as the years pass, what was earned becomes a distant memory.  For the most part, I only remember the grades that I got in graduate school as I earned all A’s and one B. I don’t remember any of my marks from K-12, but do know that I was an above-average student.  What I do recollect are the amazing experiences that some of my teachers provided me in their classes that epitomize the many strategies and ideas presented in Uncommon Learning. 

Mrs. Williams had us draw pictures in Kindergarten that depicted what we wanted to be when we grew up. At the time, I wanted to be a farmer.  In art, Mr. Wynn was one of the coolest teachers I ever had. Since I went to a K-8 school, I had him as a teacher for years.  Even though I was a horrible artist, he was always able to provide some sort of positive reinforcement. Mr. South had us evaluate how we would colonize Mars as 7th graders and then create prototypes of inventions that would help us get there.  Dr. Hynoski used humor and showed compassion in high school chemistry and anatomy.  I struggled to earn a good grade in both classes, but because of the classroom culture he created, I worked hard. I never had Mrs. McDonald or Mrs. O’Neil as teachers per se, but they were both student government advisors who were always willing to lend an open ear, whether it was school or personal related.  

The teachers above, and many more, helped to mold me into the person I am today, not because of their grading practices but through the fantastic experiences they created for my classmates and me.  While grades might work for some students, they definitely don’t for all, especially those who:

• Feel ashamed by the stigma that a letter or number has (or had) on them.
• Don’t learn one particular way, but that is how their classes were structured. 
• Receive high marks for not trying or being challenged and thus walk away questioning what was really learned.
• Are punished through unfair grading practices such as zeros where their final grade doesn’t adequately reflect what they learned. 
• Lacked relevance and meaning during their time in a respective class or course.

The key takeaway here is that more often than not, it’s the engaging, relevant, meaningful, fun, awe-inspiring, practical, and empathetic experiences that kids will remember long after they have had a specific teacher or graduated. The result is the formation of relationships that serve students more than any letter or number ever will. For grades to really mean something, there has to be a deeper, more emotional connection beyond what is just seen on a report card or transcript. This is what learning can and should be. 

Associate for Success

I cannot overstate the importance of trust in establishing the foundation for relationships.  In addition to trust various other elements contribute to the growth and strengthening of relationships.  One that might not readily come to mind is association.  The act of associating with others can contribute to positive relationship building and is linked to the awareness of your own defined leadership persona. Associating behavior is the essence of the classic model Management by Walking Around (MBWA), which is also sometimes referred to as Management by Wandering Around.  MBWA came to light in 1982 in Peters and Waterman’s classic management book, In Search of Excellence. 

The authors profiled the innovative owners of Hewlett-Packard who used MBWA as their signature way of communicating with their organization—not through emails, calls, or memos but by associating: They deliberately got to their people in repeated touch points, in regular face-to-face casual moments. It sounds commonsensical to do, but it was innovative at the time and still produces results. For those leaders needing practice in associating, this strategy can give you a chance to flex your relational muscles. MBWA isn’t haphazard; it is achieved with strategic thought. Getting into a daily routine of associating with a wide range of stakeholders, internal and external, is of primary importance to leadership and to the promotion of a school brand. Adding associating— the deliberate flexing of your communicative muscle as a part of your daily to-do list—builds trust, respect, and forms a base for school leadership power.

Image credit: frederickmordi.files.wordpress.com

Use any of the many free communication channels available online that support an associative online daily routine as you take MBWA onto the digital and social media stage. Go on a hunt. Deliberately identify people you want to associate with in digital spaces and build relationships. There are opportunities for “walking around” in digital spaces today that weren’t existent in 1982. The power of association had a profound impact on me when Trish Rubin saw the chance to associate with me. It came from seeing that potential relationship source on TV after CBS NYC aired a story about how my teachers and I were using Twitter as a teaching, learning, and leadership tool. Our ensuing face-to-face conversations laid the foundation for how digital tools could vastly improve associative behavior. The digital world provides endless opportunities to associate with like-minded educators as well as experts in the field.  

Image credit: www.free-management-ebooks.com/

Consider adding the power of associating to your leadership toolbox.  If you need structure, set your phone on a timer and give yourself 3 minutes to associate with others at various points in your day both face-to-face and virtually. Push yourself to associate daily. Use the Google Calendar Speedy Meetings setting to keep your connecting to short (5–10 minute), meaningful, real-time or online meetings. Just the intention of reducing meeting length from 30 minutes on your calendar can help you be more efficient. Move outside your comfort zone. Identify and reach out to people beyond your brick and mortar building to push your thinking and gain invaluable insight on ways to improve your professional practice. Associating with people that you might not agree or see eye-to-eye with can help to build relationships that you might not have thought were possible. 

All stakeholders, including students, should be on your associating radar. Talk with them about school culture and initiatives. Ask for their impression of the school vision, mission, and values to gain insight on what can be changed as well as to cultivate greater student agency. Seek ideas and suggestions. Smile and say thanks, then follow up selectively with some of these new ambassadors. Include aspirational associations. Associate through “reach” in real time or online. Look above you in a metaphorical sense. Whom do you want to build a relationship with that may have a higher stature? Start wandering around in digital spaces where your prospects are engaging. Twitter is a good resource for this, and once you have “professional collateral” to share that shows who you are, you can use it to associate for connection.

As you associate, “see” around your circle. See people whom you may have the tendency to overlook or to take for granted: Service providers of any sort, businesses, media outlets, professional organizations, senior citizens, very young people, and diverse newcomers to your community can be part of your association plan. They are valuable contacts in their own right and may have additional associative power. Wander around, listen, ask questions, and engage to develop more associative relationships that can complement and improve your ability to lead change. So how have you leveraged the power of associative behavior? What other strategies would you provide to help others associate to succeed?

Content for this post was adapted from BrandED: Tell Your Story, Build Relationships, and Empower Learning. Get your copy TODAY!

Empathy and Leadership

“It is easy to knock people down. Building people up is at the heart of empathetic leadership.” - @E_Sheninger

No significant relationship can exist without trust. Without relationships, no significant learning occurs. As I continue to research and reflect on strategies to build powerful relationships with others, the topic of empathy has a consistent presence.  In simple terms, empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. So how does this connect to leadership?  I pulled a few connections from an article by Bruna Martinuzzi that address this topic. Below are some highlights.

• Empathy is the oil that keeps relationships running smoothly.
• Research by Dr. Antonio Damasio has shown people with damage to part of the brain associated with empathy show significant deficits in relationship skills, even though their reasoning and learning abilities remain intact.
• Empathy is valued currency. It allows us to create bonds of trust, gives us insights into what others may be feeling or thinking, helps us understand how or why others are reacting to situations, and informs our decisions.
• Tips to become more empathetic include listening, encouragement, know people’s names, don’t interrupt, be cognizant of non-verbal communication, smile, be fully present, and use genuine praise.
• Empathy is an emotional and thinking muscle that becomes stronger the more we use it. 

Let’s be honest.  Empathy is not a typical component of core training and coursework in the field of education.  It is something that we typically learn from our parents, friends, and colleagues.  In my opinion, empathy should be a core component of curriculum in schools and the culture of any organization. Truth be told, this at times can be a difficult lesson for many of us to master. Talking about empathy and demonstrating it are two entirely different concepts. Our mindset and certain pre-dispositions put our own feelings and needs before others.   This is not always a negative, but something that many of us would agree must change.  

As leaders, it is important for us to imagine ourselves in the position of our students, staff, and community members. This gives us a better perspective on the challenges and feelings of those we are tasked to serve. Better, more informed decisions can result from “walking in the shoes” of those who will be most impacted by the decisions that we make. The image below does a great job at articulating four key elements of empathy.

As Theodore Roosevelt once said, “Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.” A culture of excellence is created through relationships built on trust and sustained through empathy. Showing we care can be as simple as listening intently, demonstrating emotional intelligence, or being non-judgmental when others open up to us about their feelings, concerns, or challenges. However, actions that bring empathy to life can have a profound impact on others. To see what I mean check out this brief video below.

As you think about your professional role as a teacher, administrator, board member, entrepreneur, or in any other field, reflect on how you can be more empathetic towards the people you work with and for. For some of our students the only empathy they might receive occurs within the schoolhouse walls. Regardless of your leadership position, understand that trust is a currency that should be valued above all else. If people don’t trust and relate to you then chances are you are a manager, not a leader. Empathetic leadership not only builds trust, but creates a culture where students want to learn and adults strive to perform their best. In BrandED, Trish Rubin and I discuss the powerful role empathy plays in the stories we share and the relationships we strive to build. 

Make empathy a part of your professional role. In the end you will be a stronger leader and a better person for it.

Relationships Are Everything

I recently had the honor of being a guest on Dr. Will Deyamport’s podcast called the Dr. Will Show. You can view the Google Hangout video HERE.  We had a vibrant conversation on the topic of Digital Leadership with a focus on school culture, embracing change, strategic use of social media, the Model Schools Conference, and innovation. A major theme that resonated throughout our discussion was the importance of becoming a connected educator and how this in itself can be a powerful catalyst for meaningful change.

If you watch the video you will see light-hearted back and forth banter between Will and me. He totally deserved the grief I gave him as it only took about five years for him to actually invite me onto his show.  In all seriousness though, something Will said to me really resonated. At one point during our conversation he told me how much it meant to him when I gave him a shout out during my keynote at the 2013 Mississippi Educational Computing Association Conference. To be honest, I really didn’t remember doing this as I routinely try to promote the great work of educators I know every opportunity I get.  This made me reflect on the journey Will and I have taken together as connected educators and the resulting relationship we have cultivated.

Will and I met virtually on Twitter way back in 2009. At the time he was known as @peoplegogy on Twitter.  I remember vividly sitting at my desk when I was a principal and seeing Will tweet out each morning “How is the coffee brewing?” Our connection began like many other educators who use social media as part of a Personal Learning Network – we wanted to learn, grow, and get better. Over time we began to communicate and collaborate across an array of social media networks exchanging ideas, providing support, and dispensing out advice. I can’t even count the number of times we have now connected over the years just to check in on one another.

A professional relationship was cultivated.  I always admired Will’s passion for educational technology and genuine interest in becoming a better educator. There are so many benefits associated with becoming a connected educator regardless of your role.  Professional relationships based on a mutual desire to improve professional practice are probably the most important outcome in my opinion. Through every connection you get new sets of virtual ears to vent to and shoulders to lean on.  Silos or isolated islands are often a fact for many of us during the daily grind. A focus on innovative practices also tends to create a lonely place for educators who go against the flow.  Not having a virtual network to complement our face-to-face relationships just seems silly to me now.

Over the years Will and I have gotten to know each other quite well.  Our professional relationship eventually blossomed into a great friendship. When I moved to Texas I drove down from New York City with my twin brother. As I was looking at our route I noticed that we would be driving through Hattiesburg, MS. I didn’t think twice about reaching out to Will and inviting him and his wife to join my brother and me in his hometown for lunch and some brews.  As I think about this story I am overwhelmed by how many other professional relationships forged through social media have resulted in great friendships.

Becoming a connected educator has definitely resulted in an exponential increase in professional relationships for me. Each of these connections over the years helped give me the knowledge, skills, and motivation to lead a successful digital transformation at my former school.  These relationships also assisted me in overcoming fears such as writing, public speaking, and failure. I am who I am today in part because of the connected network of amazing educators I have come to know over time like Will.  It is important to embrace a connected mindset ourselves and then help others build professional relationships themselves as part of a digital leadership strategy. As appreciative as I am about the professional connections I have made, it is the personal relationships and resulting friendships that I have formed that I cherish the most.

Focus on building better professional and personal relationships with any and all means (or tools) at your disposal.  In the end you will be stronger, more confident, and inspired as you journey down the path of professional and personal growth.

Facilitating Open Debate In and Out of School

As educators it is important that we model the expectations that we have for our students and each other.  To that end, it is vitally important that we continually look for ways to push our own thinking and leadership in order to improve professional practice.  In my role as a presenter this is key. I routinely ask all types of educators to be innovative and take risks. As I continue to grow in this area, I am always on the look out for new tools that I can integrate into my presentations to demonstrate these two points as well as to illustrate the pedagogical link that technology supports in our schools.  Often times I will double down and also make the connection of how certain tools can be used to support the work of administrators.

Recently I was tasked with delivering a two and a half hour keynote to 1700 educators in Missouri.  This posed quite the challenge thanks to the large size of the crowd and duration of the presentation.  As I went through my deck I looked for opportunities to build in numerous interactive activities where everyone in the audience would be able to respond.  Lately my tools of choice have been TodaysMeet, Answer Garden, and Mentimeter (my all time favorite).  Once all of the interactive components were added I noticed that I had more questions than different tools.  It was time to take a risk and learn a new tool.

Thanks to the assistance of my PLN I had a variety of new tools to choose from. I settled on ProConIt.  This is a very cool, yet powerful tool that has applications in the classroom and to strengthen relationships with stakeholders. With ProConIt your audience can discuss and debate any topic you develop. Unlike typical polling tools, you create something called a "Procon" by defining both the topic of discussion and the two sides of the issue you want to gather opinions on. ProConIt allows you to ask these questions and then invite students, stakeholders, or audience members to provide their thoughts. Essentially an open debate unfolds where everyone can participate. 

As others navigate the Procon, opinions up to 225 characters can be submitted on both sides of the issue. People can even evaluate comments that were previously submitted.  What then happens is the best opinions, either for or against, rise to the top. The needle at the top of the page tells you which way the issue is leaning while the specific arguments identify why.  Take a look at the results from a ProConIt I recently used during a recent keynote. The prompt was as follows: Do you feel gaming and the gamification of education can lead to better learner outcomes? Submit your opinion with a reason.

This is a great tool to use in the classroom and with stakeholders to facilitate open debate on issues relating to learning concepts, global problems, policy changes, new courses, referendums, technology purchases, proposed school schedule changes, and the list goes on and on.  The key to using this tool, especially with students, is for respondents to explain why they are for or against.  Shortened URL’s can also be included as a means to provide evidence to support a pro or con stance.  

Upon reflecting on my use of this tool yesterday, so many useful applications come to mind.  For starters, it is an incredible tool to use during presentations to engage attendees in a thoughtful dialogue.  However, the real value of this tool will be found in the hands of students, educators, and administrators. Think about the possibilities of using ProConIt as a powerful way to improve student agency in your school or to build consensus around major decisions with a better sampling of stakeholders.  How do you see yourself using ProConIt in your respective position? I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas.

Together Everyone Achieves More

I am typically in an aisle seat when flying. The more I fly the more I notice how picky people are when it comes to their seats.  Every now and again I get asked if I would be willing to move my seat to accommodate a family member who, for whatever reasons, were reserved elsewhere on the plane. This particular week a mother asked me if I would move to her seat a few rows in front so that she could sit with her daughter. Was this a slight inconvenience for me? I suppose it was a little bit as my carry on bag would be farther back on the plane. However, I didn’t think twice about my decision. Not only was it the right thing to do, but also if the roles were reversed I would want someone to do the same for me.

It amazes me though how often I see this same situation unfold in the opposite way.  For reasons that make no sense to me, there are people who refuse to change seats. Not only do they refuse, but also they are not very respectful in the way that they respond. “I paid for this extra legroom seat so why should I give it up? I can only sit on the end seat. I will miss my connection.” Instead of embracing common courtesy, the situation morphs into a personal issue of inconvenience.  The end result is sometimes a road rage reaction, but in the air.

It is a shame that we see situations like this unfold in our daily lives. Reactions like this also extend into our professional and personal relationships.  It is easy to let our emotions get the better of us when we disagree on issues, ideas, methodologies, and opinions.  That’s human nature for you. The problem arises though when a professional disagreement is made into a personal issue.  Using the airplane seat example, it really comes down to reacting to discomfort or disagreement in a way that our treatment of others is a reflection of how we ourselves would want to be treated.  

"When we take things personally, it is difficult to see the good in people. Positive discourse is what humanity needs and deserves."

We must resist the subconscious urge to berate and belittle others just because we don’t see eye to eye. Politics this year have become a very divisive subject for many of my friends and colleagues.  I have seen countless examples of one’s views being taken personally and out of context. Verbal battles are then waged and friendships severed.  Is this the type of discourse we want to model for our students? The same can be said about idea sharing on social media.  The same behaviors and results listed above rear their ugly heads.  There is no ownership of an idea and just because you don’t agree with someone’s position doesn’t make it right or wrong from both points of view.  Yet battles ensue as to the validity and value of ideas and positions.  In some cases critical dialogue occurs, but from my view this is typically the exception.

We are not in competition with one another. It is important to always remember that even though we might disagree on a professional level, this should not lead to an erosion of personal relationships. Everyone is entitled to his or her view. As human beings we are also entitled to making mistakes.  It takes a secure person to not only admit his or her mistakes, but to also help others in a proactive fashion when they make their own. Treat others how you expect (and deserve) to be treated yourself both in face-to-face and online situations.  

As we continue to build, nurture, and repair relationships at both professional and personal levels it is vital to always remember the good in people, no matter how difficult it might be at times.  If we expect this of our students then we must expect the same for ourselves.  Technology has allowed us to grow a global team of committed educators to take on the man challenges we are face with in education. Let's seize this opportunity before us. Modeling the best in humanity in both digital and non-digital spaces will help to bring about the change we all wish to see in education.