Creativity inspired by disruption: 14 ideas

"Little touches have made all the difference." These were the words of an elementary principal yesterday.

A vice president for development said, "Teachers have always been the heroes, but it is more evident than ever. How are we supporting teachers?"

On the same Zoom meeting, a teacher shared, "We are getting to model not having all of the answers and telling students, 'We are going to see how this works.'"

Over the last two weeks, I have seen an explosion of creativity in schools - the way we teach, learn, and lead. Yesterday, I was on Zoom for our monthly checkin with three of the best Christian schools in Texas and was inspired by the work they are doing. Many of these ideas apply to any school in any context, and I want to spread good ideas as quickly as we can. I added some information to my resources page before the check in, but I also wanted to capture some of the personal touches that these schools are using to serve their students, families, and faculty well. Given how little time we all have, I am going to list what they are doing in bulleted fashion. Feel free to add comments about good resources and practices you are using. This is an unprecedented time for us to get better together!

1. Schools are providing one hour of office hours in the morning and afternoon where teachers answer emails from parents.
2. No more automated phone call trees: all phone calls are going to an individual instead of automation.
3. Every student has received a phone call from a teacher to check in.
4. Teachers did a "happy dance" video to let students how happy they were to see them.
5. Zoom classrooms with all elementary kids. Unlike many of us adults, Zoom is a novelty to them and they love seeing each other!
6. Students are using Padlet to upload and share what they are creating.
7. Administrators are maintaining weekly meeting with teacher teams to support and encourage.
8. Pre-K and primary grades are using SeeSaw to interact with younger students
9. Teachers are coordinating to make sure students are taking breaks throughout the day for online learning.
10. Christian schools are not asking for money from donors. Instead, they are calling donors to see how they are doing in order to pray for them.
11. At one school, families getting at least three calls a week - one from an aide, nurse, and teacher.
12. What is too much calling? Right now, there can't be too many personal calls, but there can be too much email.
13. Teachers are dividing and conquering work by developing video lessons for each other dropping in the virtual folders for students and families.
14. Christian schools are continuing spiritual formation - chapel via Zoom, daily devotionals, 4th grader video messages about verse of the day.

This is a tremendous opportunity to let students and families know how much we care about them! Let us know how you are doing this in the comments below.