"Outside the Topic" Student Connections in a Virtual World.

It's funny how students take things you say every day and turn it into "a thing."

Every morning I share the Morning Meeting slide with my class. (I tweaked someone else's template).I always try to connect the topic to the National Day or things that are going on in the world.  In order to give my class a chance to talk about what they want to talk about, I would say,"Who has something to share outside of the topic?

Well, one day, I forgot to say this."Ummm, Mrs.Mims, we didn't share outside the topic!" 

And thus, "Outside the Topic" was born.

Student voice. Student Choice.

In this virtual world, we have to give them something. 

Give them a chance to talk about anything, and (almost)everything, they want.
From the heartwrenching share about a mom's battle with thyroid cancer, watching the basement renovation unfold with daily updates, as well as listening to the devastation caused by fallng into lava and losing everything!  (Minecraft,people😀). He cried that night,but then he got over it by playing a different game.

It's just a way, every day, for my kids to be themselves.

A way we can connect, outside the topic.