Remote Welcoming Rituals
Austin ISD SEL Department
Dear Educators,
The way that you do it is much less important than doing it as consistently as you can. Try starting with a way that you already are comfortable with (Blend, Class Dojo, Seesaw, etc.) Connection is the goal, now more than ever.
With warmth,
Austin ISD SEL Department
As you plan for Welcoming Rituals remotely consider a few important factors:
- What kind of technology access do your students have?
- When will you do "live" aka synchronous welcoming rituals (ex. zoom, teams, etc.)?
- When will you do welcoming rituals where students respond in their own time (ex. flipgrid, class dojo, padlet, etc.)?
- What are the pros and cons for both types of Welcoming Rituals?
- When do you want students to do a greeting with only you? When do you want students to do public greetings where they can respond to each other?
Want to stay connected to other educators around this topic? Fill out your email address in this link and look for a follow up email.
Questions to Ask for a Welcoming Ritual
Ways To Do Welcoming Rituals Remotely
Usually done asynchronously (on your own time, not live) FYI: Blend is known as Canvas outside of Austin ISD.

This is a great communication tool to use, especially if it's one your students and families are already using.


Allows you to ask questions and share everyone's answers in a a word cloud, open ended response, multiple choice, etc.
Let's do a MentiMeter together!
Participation closes 4.4.2020
Results from our MentiMeter found HERE

Great video option for students to greet one another. Free for educators and no sign up needed for students!
Let's do a Flipgrid together!

Simple to use with lots of options. Students can easily read each others answers and respond.
Let's do a Padlet together!
Let's do one together by answering the question in the link. Easy to use with a phone or tablet! Great to continue with if you already use this platform.
Great one especially if you have it already set up. This has lots of additional features like asking the whole class a question, writing a story others can respond to, etc.
Let's do a Google Form together!
Use them as an interactive journal to stay connected
Let's do a Two Journal in Google Docs together!
These will be live greetings. This link gives you some tips for using Zoom
Go Analog!
- Call your students!
- Drive by their neighborhoods and wave from a very safe distance
- Write your students letters
- ...
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