You’ve probably heard the saying . . . “it takes a village to raise a child.” Well, I’d like to use this same perspective and flip it over to the classroom to create the following saying: “it takes a dedicated and involved team to educate a virtual student.” Pretty nifty saying if I do say so myself, and I made it up all by my little lonesome. It was pretty easy to come up with too. Mainly, because my household is living out this saying each and every virtual school day.
It’s such a privilege to be able to experience the educational growth of my 11-year-old son, Little Man. But, I’m not just a silent observer over on the sidelines. I’ve found it to be very necessary to be all up in the business of my son’s educational career as a virtual student. And with that being said . . .
Let’s go back to “it takes a dedicated and involved team to educate a virtual student.” In that sentence, there are three different terms that I want to draw your attention to: “dedicated”, “involved”, and “team”. I think I’ll go ahead and take this time to break down my Jana-made definition for each one.
- dedicated – another word for “committed” which is identified by demonstrated action with an “all-in” attitude
- involved – actively participating in an activity with the intention of accomplishing something
- team – more than one party involved in a cooperative effort to accomplish a common goal
Notice, how all three factors are interrelated? Essentially, the action necessary in being dedicated intermingles with the involvement needed to be an active team player. And, it’s an absolutely beautiful thing to see all three working together on behalf of the virtual learner.
Now, you might have surmised that this post is fairly one-sided in dealing with the roles that I and my son’s teachers play in making sure that he has a positive educational upbringing, but you’d be wrong.
Why? Well, it’s important to note that all three factors actually apply to the role Little Man assumes in his education endeavors as well.
It takes concentrated dedication and involvement by all team members (student, teachers, and parents) to foster a conducive learning environment that leads to the growth and successful application of the virtual student’s knowledge base.
So, I think I’m going to end this post fairly soon, because my intention with today’s discussion was merely to plant a seed — to set the stage for some specific examples of how lesson 8 has actually played out in the virtual learning scenarios my household has personally experienced.
Therefore, I will let this lesson simmer on the stove and later add some seasonings (those specific examples I alluded to) to the pot in some future “Lessons Learned as a Parent of a Virtually-Schooled Student” episodes. These future episodes will give some context as to how the three factors (being dedicated, involved, and team-oriented) are all critical to the virtual student’s educational well-being.
I’ll be back with more virtual learning food for thought.
degreesofmaternity.com 