Creating A Small Community for Virtual Learners

One of the biggest questions that middle school parents have is, "Who is this kid that lives with me?" The middle schooler is more independent than the elementary student, but not independent enough to handle the challenges of high school. Raising and teaching middle school students can be a delicate tightrope routine. Trying to find the balance between parents and teachers can be difficult. At the middle school age, students are also trying to figure out who they want to be in life.

In the cyber education model, it can be challenging to help guide students through this stage in their development. I have attempted to develop experiences in my school that will help students develop relationships, tap into small social communities, and to develop a sense of self.
Homerooms
The brick and mortar educational experience utilizes an advisory or homeroom experience for students that is generally intended to track student attendance. I have seen the homeroom misused and is really just a holding period for students where they simply sit for 15-30 minutes a day with no real purpose to the time. The time is more of a social experience. I have also seen some amazing character building programs implemented during a homeroom period. My challenge was to find the balance between the two. 

I had all of the students in my school assigned to an advisor. The advisors were required to meet with their students at least once per month for thirty minutes (this will be more next year). I gave the teachers time from our 3 hours of Thursday professional development time to meet with their students. During their meetings, they were asked to talk to their students and to let the students talk to each other. Some of our students are home with just their immediate family all day. It is important for them to learn how to socially interact with other children and adults.  They were asked to celebrate their birthdays, important accomplishments, play games, and just have fun. 

Yes, there was pushback by the staff, but I know that this is best for the students. They really thought that it would just be one more thing that they needed to do in addition to all of their other responsibilities. I know that the program has not been implemented consistently across all grade levels. My goal is to continually provide these small community interactions for students. At the end of the year, we will compare the number of students who withdrew from our school, and who cited communication or being disconnected as reasons for leaving the school with the number of students who cited these reasons in previous years. Changing culture can be a slow process, but providing opportunities for social interaction is important.