Shutdown Food for Thought: Disconnected

Good Wednesday Morning,
Despite my best efforts to treat last weekend like a normal, true weekend, my brain was already telling myself that something was weird and different. Even though I'm lucky to have a family around me, I already felt oddly disconnected, and that's coming from an introvert who enjoys being alone. The most common thing I've heard from friends (in person and through social media) and replies to the first couple of these emails have been similar comments about feeling disconnected. If we're all feeling this way, imagine how some of our students must be feeling. Those Google Classroom posts, Flipgrid read-alouds, and Facebook posts are important to let students know that you're still there and thinking of them. Please don't forget to encourage them to participate back. That same disconnect is what is driving me to write these daily messages to you. Sure, I'm a math teacher by trade, but I find something soothing about writing (and I'm grateful that the ELA department is taking it easy on correcting all of my horrible mechanics). Maybe some of your students might be the same. When you're reaching out to them, don't forget to encourage your students to reach back. A digital community is still a community.
Another thing that brings me comfort and a small sense of connection is my social media presence. I personally rely on Twitter to connect to my tribe. I've slowly built up a great network of friends, colleagues, and other educators over the past few years with whom it has been great to share ideas, generate thoughtful discussions, and glean activities and inspiration. Most of the ideas that I shared yesterday came from there, and Twitter is full of educators with great ideas and great passion to share. I would encourage anyone who doesn't have an account to give it a shot, follow a few people, and see what it's like while you've got some extra time. Where to start? Create that account, then check out some good hashtags. #MichEd is a good one with a strong and active community, as is #cmakers. #MiDigCit is a fairly recent one focusing on Digital Citizenship with a group of Michigan educators spinning off of the national #DigCit discussion. In addition to these broad hashtags, you'll surely find many content and age specific hashtags that you can use to customize the content you see and consume. When you find folks that you enjoy hearing from, you can follow them with a click, and their content will show up in your main feed. My Twitter handle is @Everyday_Genius if you want to see the way I use the platform.
If you already have Facebook in play, awesome. Use it during this time to fight that disconnected feeling as well as making your students and families feel connected as well. If you're feeling especially frisky, you could also use some of this time to explore some other social media platforms that our students are using. Give Instagram (iOS, Android), Snapchat (iOS, Android), and TikTok (iOS, Android) a try and see what they're all about.