What We Say Matters…Even Online

When leading a virtual class session, it can be a natural tendency to feel that we must talk or lecture more than we would in a face to face session. The feeling that we are talking to ourselves as we sit in front of our laptop screen is deceiving since there are real students on the other end, hoping that we will acknowledge and recognize their presence. While our intentions are usually good, a high level of teacher talk is not characteristic of a student-centered classroom.
Consider these 3 simple strategies to keep your virtual sessions more engaging and student-centered:
According to author Mike Anderson, “First-person language can command attention to oneself even if the original intent was to get students to share with each other.”
Phrase questions and statements to direct student engagement toward each other:
“Be ready to share what you read.” vs. “Be ready to tell me what you learned.