Encourage students’ hearts after returning to class: Download the Handbook of Tips

Here we are. A large number of high school students will return to class on January 18th. Finally, they will say, especially in these last hours, those who have occupied some high schools or carried out anti-government activities. Truth be told, it is similar to teachers who have suffered from a process with which they are unfamiliar, and perhaps with the thought of a function that is not spoken to the heart and often not encouraged.

This is the first commandment to encourage the hearts of students, in the first chair on Monday.
As teachers we create the climate in our classrooms. If we are negative, our students will react. If we are positive, our students will react. Students react to the energy we bring and the climate we set. Through our actions as their class teacher, we set the tone for learning, motivation and mutual respect … an atmosphere and doing it, I tell you, finding behind the scenes, following, re-proposing is often impossible. Dumb, always cool and anonymous. A screen that cannot transmit vibrations and be mesmerizing. Eyeless screen for 360 degree view.

Climate becomes culture
The everyday climate system we set up, in general presence, becomes the culture of our class. We know that classroom culture can help students thrive or tear them down. It has the greatest power and the greatest responsibility. We have the power to choose how we present ourselves in our classes each day. We can choose negative, stressful and excessive. Or we can choose to be positive, balanced and independent. We can choose to motivate our students or bring them down. I don’t think a teacher would deliberately tap his students if they weren’t emotional in a very dark and ugly place. Most of us try to motivate our students, but sometimes our unwilling actions can be the opposite. We need to be very deliberate in our approach, the strength of our mindset, the scan of words and our actions to create a classroom culture where our students thrive. How to do it remotely? Behind the monitor that can not detect mood, read worries)

Encourage students ’hearts
James M. Gauss and Barry Z Posner wrote a book about leadership called the “Leadership Challenge” in which they outlined five key practices of talented leaders. One of the practices that stuck with me was “encourage the heart”. Leaders, teachers of classes, in every order and degree, in southern and northern Italy, in the islands and mountain communities, young and mature, male or female, at any time of the year, at any season, encourage the hearts of large or small students to progress. True acts of healing lift spirits and propel people forward. No one wants to take it. After all, our students resigned to being like them, very different from each other, fragile, and at the same time strong, sad and happy, dreamers. Resignation of these months.

We are the leaders of our classes – it should never be forgotten
As teachers we are the leaders of our classes. Therefore, it makes sense to focus on talented leaders to inform our practice. There are many things we can do to encourage students’ hearts, from big gestures to small ones. And from Monday it will be easier for many more, thankfully. Sometimes it’s as easy as looking them in the eye and smiling. On Monday we can do it. We make good use of our time. At other times, great gestures of gratitude and encouragement are needed. On Monday we can do it, restoring faith, proposing solutions, encouraging not with words, but with the strength of actions, for example, the lasting ability to ask religion to be “silent”. Finally we are quiet, they are emotionally activated by the possibilities of reclaiming desks, offices, their condition, perhaps labs, gym, computer rooms, and so on. Recognizing contributions by appreciating personal excellence is part of a leader’s job … Leaders celebrate values ​​and success by creating a sense of community, among other things, the “Leadership Challenge” and the Posner. Not a book like many, but an adequate answer to existentialism and the health and economic crisis.

Questions to ask and answers to give us
It is definitely easier to list any questions than to give answers.
We will try to do both, honestly, a list of things to do, Monday morning, returning to school (or any other Monday or day of the week that needs to be fixed, to return to face-to-face teaching, for students from Friuli-Venice Giulia, Lombardy, Sicily, and the Autonomous Region of Bolzano). This Monday, we need to strengthen ourselves with a smile and our professionalism. This is an assurance we cannot lose, we cannot hand over to anyone.

Questions
Questions are here. Vatecom’s responses that we have prepared and attached.

• Do you have ways to appreciate the personal excellence of your students today or in the next two weeks?
• How can you celebrate the values ​​and achievements in your class not only for fun, but also to deliberately create an opportunity to inspire the hearts of your students?
• Remember that you set the climate and culture as the teacher / leader in your class. How can you be a motivating supervisor without conditioning students ’hearts and imposing your preferences?

My heart is full. This is what awaits us next week. School made with heart.