by Ross Peters | Vice President of School Strategy, EXPLO Elevate

Originally published on EXPLO Elevate.

Educators love words—knowing them, using them, stretching them, and even at times, creating them. There have been instances in our work that we have created so many words, or stretched existent words so far away from their original meaning, that we cannot always understand each other. Even more, when we have created such esoteric language, language meant for a relatively small group of those initiated into a particular lexicon or dialogue, we have cut others off from understanding what we are talking about. This use of vocabulary creates a kind of fog around meaning, and it creates needless mystery. It creates a club at the moment we most need inclusion. In such cases language that should connect us to others through shared meaning can, somewhat ironically, separate us from it.

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Maintaining Role and Boundary Awareness when Teaching Remotely in a Time of Crisis: Being Alert to the Challenges of One-on-One Electronic Communications

With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, most schools have instituted remote learning. We are fortunate that so many schools and families have access to the technology to make this possible. Not surprisingly, the sudden and unexpected shift to remote learning comes with many challenges. One particular issue that may be overlooked is the potential for missteps in teacher – student relationships due to increased opportunities for unobserved electronic one-on-one communications.

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