#33. Building Connections using Positive Psychology

I love the first day of school.  There is a palpable energy when the students arrive at the building.  The halls echo with laughter as students rush to class. Former students pop their heads into classrooms to greet last year's teachers. It is a time of optimism, excitement and hope. This year the first time I met my students was on Zoom.  I am so grateful that I got to see their faces - but, I'll be honest, it was pretty lonely.  I was sad to not be able to greet them in person. I was heartbroken to see them disconnected from their friends.  I found myself grieving what should have been, but wasn't.  And as I looked at their faces on my screen, I realized that they are grieving, too.  

Over the summer I did a lot of research about how to teach online.  Almost every article that I read stressed the importance of establishing a sense of community. I thought "duh, of course, that is the backbone of any classroom."  What I didn't realize was that it was going to be so much harder to build that community online.  As I began to reflect on how I build relationships with my students, I realized that many of my connections with students happen in the hall, as they walk into class or during small group work.  Regardless of being online, hybrid or F2F, these opportunities are not going to present themselves the same way as they have in the past.  I am going to have to intentionally and purposefully create opportunities to connect with my students and grow our class community.

Heather Chambers & Cori Schwarzrock

My next series of posts will address ways to increase connections and community in the online classroom.  I'm going to start my exploration with one of my favorite topics, Positive Psychology.   Positive Psychology is a branch of psychology that is focused on studying and increasing human flourishing.  It explores concepts like community, resilience, growth mindset and GRIT.  All of these concepts will be essential to our students' success this year, and quite honestly, every year! I had the opportunity to present on this topic at the National Conference of the Social Studies (2019) along with Heather Chambers (@IrishTeach). Some of these ideas were shared there and others are unique to this post.  If you would like to see our presentation in its entirety, you can join the NCSS Psychology Community at www.ncsspc.com.

My current school schedule is a modified block schedule.  I see all of my students for 30 minutes every Monday and for (2) 75-minute blocks during the week.  During our Monday class, the students will be applying the principles of Positive Psychology to their own lives.  Listed below are some easy ways to incorporate Positive Psychology into ANY classroom.  

1. Bell Ringers:  I love using the start of class to connect with my students.  Bell Ringers are an effective and efficient way that I can connect with my students every day through written or audio feedback. Not sure what to ask, check out this list of questions and prompts?

2. Greater Good Science Center at UC-Berkeley: This is an amazing resource for students and teachers.  My favorite part of this website is the "Keys for Well-Being." Each "key" has an inventory that the students can take to measure their current level of each trait. It also has articles, podcasts and activities that challenge the students to further develop that trait.  For example, I am asking my students to take the mindfulness inventory in class.  After completing the inventory, they will participate in a 10 minute guided meditation.

3. Social Connection Interviews: This activity will take about 30 minutes.  The students will choose someone with whom they would like to be more connected with to interview.  Ideally, they would "connect" with someone else in the class or the school community. The interview takes 15 minutes to complete and both the interviewer and the interviewee answers a series of questions that are designed to encourage social connections. 

4. Letter of Gratitude:  Ask the students to write a letter of gratitude to someone who has made a difference in their lives.  Encourage them to share how their actions have impacted their individual growth. They can also complete an inventory that measures their current level of gratitude on the Greater Good Science Center website.

5. Via Strengths Inventory: This lesson will take at least 45 minutes to complete but it is so worth it! The students identify their "Signature Strengths" and identify ways to use them.  

6. Savor Assignment:  This activity is designed to help the students capture moments of beauty in their own lives.  Over a series of days, they take pictures that capture moments of happiness and upload them to a google slides presentation.  On the last slide, they explain why they chose the moments they did and what made them meaningful.  In addition, they can choose one picture to share with their peers in class using a platform like Padlet.

7. Random Act of Kindness: Ask the students to purposefully do something kind for someone else - without getting anything in return. They should share what they did, for whom and the impact that it had. Other ideas for encouraging kindness can be found here. 

8. Go for a Walk:  Encourage the students to get moving.  It could be as simple as going outside, if it is safe, and taking a 10 minute break.  I have also incorporated more podcasts into my class this year, and I encourage them to go for a walk while they are listening.  I highly recommend "The Happiness Lab" if you are looking for one related to Positive Psychology. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-happiness-lab-with-dr-laurie-santos/id1474245040

9. Daily Check In: I love this set of questions for both teachers and students!  They can be used in a variety of ways; a journal entry, bell ringer, exit ticket etc.  Just because we are back to school does not mean that life has returned to normal.  

Humans are inherently social creatures.  We need to see and interact with other people.  Right now we need to meet these needs in different ways.  My next series of  posts will be exploring ways that we can meet these needs in an online environment and, in doing so, create a culture of community.  

Please share how you are creating connections with your students in the comment section below.  I'd love to hear from you.