Opening the lesson
The beginning and the end of the lesson are key moments for your students, as well as for you. Being mentally prepared to open and close a learning process in a proper way will ensure half of the success of the online lesson. Through check-in and check-out moments, students will feel seen and heard, and, most importantly, will be present.
Check-in is about focus and commitment. Check-out is about reflection and proper closure of a process.
The first minutes of the lesson are supposed to draw students’ attention from what they were doing before the lesson to the learning process you are immersing them into. Create an encouraging and safe environment by using the following tips:
Prepare to welcome students with a warm greeting, both visual and verbal. Give it a personal touch, so that they will feel comfortable.
While they are connecting, ask each student to say hello, test their microphone and camera. Silence might make you nervous - in this case, you can use a countdown timer which shows how many minutes/seconds are left until the official beginning. You can even play some music.
A “start before the start” activity will ensure participation. It could be an on-screen question that they can respond to in the chat, or a clear statement that they can agree or disagree with, using the app’s reactions or their gestures.
Some ideas related to a first activity could be(10):
✅ “In your display name, write your first name + how you're feeling right now.
✅ Check-in using an emoji
✅ Check-in by showing us on screen from 1-10 how energetic you are for today's meeting (fingers, or a note, type in the chat)
✅ Check-in by showing us your power pose for this meeting
✅ Check-in by changing your virtual background to a scene that means something to you, and tell us about it.”
In order to create connection and ensure that students are fully present, you can use a check-in question so that students become aware about how they feel at the moment and what is the emotion they enter the lesson with. If you have more time available, you can have a round of audio answers, and if not, students can write the answer in the chat (11):
- What animal represents my mood today?
- What song / movie / story represents my mood today?
- What is my superhero power pose?
- What's one thing that brings me energy and joy?
- What is a recent success I've experienced?
Also, a “review and relate”(12) activity could be useful, in order to refer to previous knowledge and experience. Think about the contents that you want to cover in this lesson, and use a question/poll for opening the discussion. It should be an easy question that can be answered by all students, or as many of them as possible. Your aim is to get them engaged by knowing this first answer. You can refer later on to this first question and make connections.
Basic reflection exercise: before going further, please structure the first moments of your lesson. They will set the tone for the lesson, and will, for sure, ensure an increase in engagement.
Advanced reflection exercise: make a list of 8 questions that you can progressively ask at the beginning of each online lesson (during 8 different lessons with the same class), that can encourage interaction and motivate students to be present. You can get some inspiration here:
https://academic.wlu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/130QUESTIONS.pdf