Everything changed a couple months ago when school went online. At-home learning has caused every school to attempt schooling in new and creative ways. We can also get creative about habit training during online distance learning. I shared my new eBook on habit training in the classroom about a month before we stopped meeting in classrooms. So here is a brief update where we consider how habit training might work while doing school online.
The Method of Habit Training Doesn’t Change
Even though our classrooms are online and it feels like everything has changed, the method of habit training doesn’t change. Let’s review the basic steps of habit training in general before we get to habit training during online distance learning.
We always begin installing a new habit with an inspirational idea that seeks the best for the child. In this step we are cast a vision of the child as a person with greater freedom, competence, ease, independence and/or autonomy. This inspirational idea does several things at the same time. It excites interest on the part of the child in his or her own development and growth as a person. We are also building an alliance with the child, getting them on board with us as teachers to work on this one new habit together. A good inspirational idea also anticipates the ultimate reward of the new habit, which is actually the habit itself.
After inspiring the child with a compelling idea, we describe in detail the habit itself. Remember to keep this simple. Instructions should be brief and to the point. Avoid lectures and impassioned speeches, as they will miss the mark. Instead, see if you can boil down the habit to three or four steps that are easily repeated by you and the child.
The next step is constant vigilance. You are to be ever watchful to ensure that every opportunity is taken to form the habit as well as making sure old patterns aren’t allowed to return. As the teacher, it is important to be supportive, but the word vigilant is different than supportive in one key way. It is ultimately the work of the child to form the habit. We are shepherds along the way, encouraging, reminding and being present for the child. But we need to be careful not to micromanage the child or attempt to do the work ourselves.
In continuation with constant vigilance is accepting no half measures. The child will be worse off by half forming a habit than she was had we never begun the attempt in the first place. Once begun, the training needs to be taken all the way to its conclusion. This is why it’s so important to select only one or two habits to work on at a time. Accepting no half measures doesn’t mean there will be no lapses or that failure at various stages is unacceptable. Instead, it means when we see those lapses or failures we (who have been constantly vigilant) are right there at the elbow to encourage and remind all the way to the finish line.
Finally, the reward of habit training is the habit itself. The child who has been trained in kindness now reaps the reward of a friendly disposition, is able to forgive and be forgiven, and forges deep and meaningful friendships. The student that turns in assignments on time is rewarded with the satisfaction of his accomplishments and is free from the burden of missed deadlines and a mounting backlog of work. This student can enjoy the leisure that is his by right, having finished in a timely manner.
New Online Habits
As the preacher says in Ecclesiastes, “There is nothing new under the sun.” (Eccl. 1:9) Most of the habits in the online environment are analogous to what we would find in the classroom. This is not to say that the internet doesn’t pose problems with regard to habits and habit training. However, there are some unique habits that are relevant as we think about habit training in an online distance learning environment. We can set aside for now difficulties that are of a technological nature, such as video feeds that are glitchy due to poor internet connections or sounds problems that may be a result of feedback or low-quality hardware. Let’s explore two habits to exemplify the method in an online setting.
The first habit to explore is centering your face in the camera. This is a habit that is more mechanical in nature, but it has some interesting implications. We start with an inspirational idea. “If you were able to get your picture centered in the camera, you would have a more professional looking presence in the group chat.” Here I have connected the student to a particular vision of himself as capable of presenting himself in a more mature way. The detailed description is simple, “Each time you join a group meeting online, adjust your camera or move yourself so that your face is in the center of the picture.” Each online session I have with this student, I’m on the watch for good positioning and will mention any adjustments that need to be made in a calm and supportive way.
I will have set some target dates in my calendar to aim for, so that I can make sure we don’t lose track of this habit in the flurry of activity that can distract us from our goal of mastery of this habit. Ideally, every lesson plan will list this habit. But setting reminders in two-week intervals keeps it fresh in my mind. This habit should be easy to acquire, so I anticipate the student will be squared away even within a month. I’ll keep those reminders on, though, just in case there’s slippage that occurs later on. The child then reaps the reward of the acquired habit. He has a professional presentation, he looks ready to engage in online discussions, he has greater control over his technology, and he’s able to fully focus on work that really matters.
The second habit to explore is a little more difficult. Because we are physically separate from our students, it is harder to gauge how students are doing. They might encounter technological difficulties. They might get behind on their work. We might not be as aware of struggles they are having. What they need to acquire is the habit of self-advocacy. This is a skill I help students with in the classroom, but I have found it to be all the more important with distance learning. We start as always with an inspirational idea. “The more you express how you are doing with your work, the more you will feel a sense of control of your own destiny.” There are many directions I could go with different students. For this child, I sense being in control is valuable to her. For others it might be a sense of independence or being able to finish their work quicker. The detailed description must be boiled down to a simple routine. “Every day you should write me a quick, short email telling me about your day. Tell me what went well and what didn’t go well, especially if you had any problems.” That’s the heart of self-advocacy. Notice I didn’t tell them to ask for help. I didn’t make it conditional, “If you are having problems, then reach out.”
If we’re really going to build the habit, we need lots of repeats. So this child is going to tell me something every day in the form of statements, positive or negative. I’ll be able to figure out if there’s some way I need to help, or if I need to get a parent involved at home. Every day I’m on the watch for that email from her. If I don’t get one, I write immediately. “So sorry I didn’t hear from you yesterday. Could you send me something right now, just so I know everything’s okay?” It’s calm and supportive, but notice the ball remains in the child’s court. She’s supposed to initiate the self-advocacy. I’m not sending her prompts every day. My reminders may extend longer than the previous habit. Self-advocacy can be a difficult habit to acquire, because there are aspects to our personalities that cause us to doubt whether we need help, we feel embarrassment if we need help, or we don’t want to ask for help because we might inconvenience someone else. So expect to work on this one for a while. And don’t relent until it is well formed. A student who has learned how to self-advocate well is well prepared to negotiate numerous kinds of relationships in life, from college professors to a spouse to employers.
The Future of Habit Training
It is my great hope that we will soon return to classrooms. There are many predictions about how life will never be the same again. In many respects, that was always true. Life is never the same again. Obviously what people mean is that there will be remnants of social distancing, economic recovery and cultural shifts in light of a global pandemic. But in other respects, human nature will remain human nature. If you are the kind of person who views children as whole persons, the schooling will remain ever as it was. We educators know that everything changes each year. We can’t just reteach our old lesson plans, because we are dealing with new students. The cultural context is always changing, and yet there are perennial things we will always have as part of our work because we work with children.
So, what is the future of habit training? As we explored habit training in an online distance learning environment, we saw that the heart of the method hasn’t changed. My prediction is that habit training will remain the same. The method I have outlined here was essentially the same in Charlotte Mason’s time, and look how many technological and cultural shifts have occurred since the early 1900s when she wrote her six-volume philosophy of education. What this means is that investing in this method even now will reap benefits in your life as a teacher for years to come.
To that end, I encourage you to check out the eBook, A Guide to Implementing Habit Training. It’s a free download on our website. Feel free to send us a note or write a comment to let us know how habit training is going for you. As teachers we are also a community of learners, and through your questions, comments and perspectives, we can all reach new depths and heights in our skill at the craft of teaching.