One thing I am feeling pretty deeply right now is the loss of those personal connections, “drop ins” and other informal conversations that happen between people at a workplace. In this case, I am missing those conversations I would have spontaneously with my other middle school teachers, as well as teachers in the other divisions at my school.
Not only were they touch points for maintaining my professional and even personal friendships, but they also are very often moments of exchanging incredible amounts of information.
- Stopping in to chat about a student with an advisor about observations I am having in the classroom.
- Sharing some new tools or ideas for pedagogy with a team teacher.
- Catching up to hear about a family member, friend or loved one.
- Dreaming up cross curricular connections, projects, or interdisciplinary initiatives.
All of these conversations now seem that much more distant, formulaic, and just more difficult when it has to be via email, or in a scheduled team or faculty meeting. There is some of that “spark” that exists when generating new ideas, collaboration opportunities, or deepening our relationships that seems to be lost in a digital setting.
How much of this “spark” is also being lost for our students in a distance learning mode?
How are you, your teams, your faculty cultivating this form of informal professional learning that happens naturally when groups of people work and learn together?
How can we foster spontaneous conversations and collaboration for ourselves as teaching and learning professionals? How can we model and foster it for our students?
Sarah Howell 
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