This is Jennifer Gonzalez welcoming you to episode 159 of the Cult of Pedagogy Podcast.

In this episode we're going to talk about breakout rooms, games, and other ways to connect students remotely.

Even before 2020, building relationships between students was an important ingredient in making school great.

When students feel socially comfortable in a classroom, when they feel like they're among friends, when they feel known and seen, when they trust the people around them,

they're more willing to take academic risks, ask questions, and even attend class.

Creating this kind of environment in your classroom isn't really difficult, but it does require a conscious effort.

While some relationships micro-organically, no matter what you do, many more will develop if you take deliberate steps to make them happen.

Right now, while we're still in the middle of a pandemic, that principle is even more true.

Across the world, social isolation is causing more people to experience depression and anxiety, and that's as true for students as it is for everyone else.

Setting aside time for social interaction is not just a nice to do, it really is essential.

And I fear that in too many places it's getting overlooked.

From a personal standpoint, I've seen my own kids who are in middle and high school beg to stay home from their twice a week in person school days.

They talk about the drudgery of sitting still all day, the feeling of not knowing anyone in any of their classes, and the anxiety around speaking up or getting things wrong in front of peers, all of which indicate a lack of interactivity,

not enough time being spent on relationship building between students.

This isn't a surprise. Like so many other districts, ours has done its best to adjust to constantly changing circumstances, and everyone from the superintendent to building principles to classroom teachers, has been incredibly flexible, compassionate, and willing to do just about anything to make this school year work.

But they all have a million things on their plates, making the tech work, getting through the curriculum, keeping everyone including themselves safe.

It's not a huge surprise that socializing isn't at the top of the list.

What I have to offer today is not grounded in any kind of formal research.

It is just a list of ideas for generating more high quality social interactions between students, whether they're remote or socially distance in person.

I got most of this from your responses to a couple of tweets that I sent out.

And if you go over to Cult of Pedagogy, click on episode 159 in the podcast page.

There are links to the tweets. There was actually three.

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