Frogs, Sharks and Other Motivators during a Crisis

“What about Sharky?” asked one of my students, “Where is he?”  This question was posed in response to me showing my class a stuffed frog that had a quarantine mask over its face. 

I realize that you need a little background before you will fully appreciate this question. So here goes!

 I have used this 18 inch long stuffed frog for years to teach anatomical words in science class. (For example: Dorsal, Ventral, Medial, and Transverse). Froggy, as he is affectionately known, is pretty iconic in my class.  When he is not in use, he resides on my desk and it is a special privilege for the student who calls dibs on him on the day of a test.  That student gets to take the test while clutching Froggy.  Now in case you do not remember, I teach teenagers, not elementary school students. My students appreciate the whimsy that is found in Froggy.

When I needed to pick up a few items from my empty classroom a few weeks into the quarantine, I saw Froggy sitting on my desk. It sparked an idea.  The next day in our Zoom class, I held up Froggy, which I had adorned with a quarantine face mask.  The students were thrilled to see him!  The question that came next was unexpected: What about Sharky? Did you just leave him all alone at school?

More background needed. You see, I have a stuffed hammerhead shark that I use when teaching about Cartilage fish and I had thoughtlessly left him in my room.  The next time I returned to school, I picked him up and then faithfully showed him to my classes when we met the next time online.  The response was incredible! 

I view these small events as a turning point in my online (Crisis) Learning experience.  These zoom meeting classes have me struggling for student engagement.  My students are showing up, but the rapport that I have built with them over the last 7 months has felt strained.  We have been going through the motions and I am only receiving one or two word answers to my questions – even to the queries that are just “small talk”. I realized that I have been so stressed trying to learn new software, develop new online tools, communicate with everyone in the entire school and cover appropriate content that I have been stressing over many of the wrong things. I have been putting all of these things before student engagement.

The mood shifted that day.  Seeing Froggy and Sharky sparked a sense of fun – a goofy memory from our time together – when things were “normal”.  I decided that I needed to do a little bit more to make the students (and myself) feel more comfortable in this new environment. I teach at a Christian school, so I begin each day with scripture and prayer and I have continued to do this to open my class as usual.  I began inserting a Joke of the day. I try to put this in during a transition time or if I feel I have been lecturing a bit too long.  There is no lack of funny cartoons detailing our new normal and it’s fun to be able to laugh about these things together. (My favorite cartoon showed Lego characters standing around a Lego washing machine with yellow things inside of it. The caption was “Wash your hands”. When you look closely, you realize that their yellow Lego hands have been removed from the ends of their arms and placed in the washing machine.)

But it’s not just all about whimsy. Today was a rainy day. I mean that kind of all-day rain where it’s gray and you just want to pull the covers over your head. In fact, some of my students showed up in their beds (fully clothed, of course, but in bed nonetheless). I admitted to them that I was really struggling with feeling weary of our new routine.  The students began to chime in, too. We wallowed for a few minutes and then we talked about things that we could do to try to get out of the rut.  One of my classes has committed to exercise 20 minutes each day for the next week. If we are successful, we will reward ourselves and then we will re-evaluate and see if we want to try it again the next week. We have each thought of our own personal reward. Another class decided to do a distance challenge.  We are going to keep track of our walking or running miles for the month of May. We have set a mileage goal that we think we can attain together and then we are brainstorming about how we want to treat ourselves if we attain our goal.  We are hoping that we will be able to meet in person for some sort of treat.  It has given us all something to look forward to.

I have heard our time now called “distance” learning and indeed I am feeling very distant from my students.  My new goal is to try to shorten that gap.  I am trying to combine some laughs, some goal setting, but most of all, some moments of being “real” with my students.  This is a worldwide crisis and unlike anything we have ever been through before.  I am encouraged to try to find new ways to motivate my students – not just in their schoolwork- but in life, too!

I hope this sparks some ideas for you! I would love to hear how you are finding new ways to connect to your classes!

As always, please feel free to leave a comment below!