Question

suggest THREE practical strategies in which your school could involve learners in community work to develop a sense of social responsibility. Also indicate with EACH strategy how this involvement could create greater awareness of the social issues in your community

Answer 1

• Email your students to remind them that you are still there for them.

• Tell them how you are shifting your schedule to deal with the new situation and that change is part of life. Humanize yourself and make it casual and lighthearted. For example, you might talk about how, in between reading their discussion posts, you decided to start your spring cleaning, which you’ve been putting off forever.

• Reflect on the notion of rigor and continue to challenge and support your students. As instructors, we often must balance rigor and support, and this situation might be one where students will need more support than rigor. Establishing continuity doesn’t mean you increase the amount of work required of them. I say this because I worry that some of us might be fixated on the rigor of the materials presented. Let’s face it -- the rigor may suffer, and that’s OK considering the situation.

• Repeat some of the lessons you taught in class. Especially for those students who are missing the classroom environment, this will probably help activate their memory of being part of a community and remind them that they are still part of one. For example, in your email you can say something like, “Remember when we talked about this and …”

Use hopeful and optimistic language, such as, “When you come back this fall …” This will help students look forward to coming back to the campus.