NEW MARKET — As a way of engaging with their students beyond the classroom, teachers and administrators at New Market Elementary have created Tuck-In Tuesday.
Set to run on Tuesdays of each week throughout the remainder of the 2019-20 school year and into the summer, Tucked-In Tuesday — a reading session streamed live from a teacher near a child’s typical bedtime — has already impacted New Market students, Principal Brittany Cooper said.
“The idea kind of came from our Title I program and really wanting to find a way to encourage kids to be reading at home,” she said. “We also really want to focus on building positive relationships with our students. It’s a fun way for our students to connect with our teachers in a different way.”
Receiving positive feedback weekly, Cooper and others who have live-streamed the reading sessions from their homes (with their own families by their side, occasionally), have enjoyed the results since the program began Jan. 7.
“After I did one, for example, the kiddos stopped me in the hall saying, ‘Mrs. Cooper, I saw you live from your house last night’ or ‘I saw Mrs. Nave or Mrs. Allen reading with their kids, that was so neat,’” Cooper said. “It just allows them to connect with us in a different way.”
Because the program has its own Facebook page, titled “New Market Elementary Tucked in Tuesday,” administrators are able to view its analytics. In other words, Cooper is able to see just how many people engage with the videos.
“We have a school of about 435 kids but looking at our video from last week, I have 702 people who have viewed this video, which is fun to see,” Cooper said.
The live-streams, once complete, are posted as Facebook videos, allowing students to view them at any time no matter where they are.
No matter where the teachers are, either.
“We actually have a team of teachers from Southmont who are in Poland at the Auschwitz Memorial ... and a teacher is going to be reading a story on kindness at Auschwitz,” Cooper said. “We’ll be posting that video in the coming weeks. We’ve really challenged our teachers to do unique and different things.”
So far, teachers Libby Nave, Casie Allen, Susan McVay and Cooper have hosted reading sessions, which take place each Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
For more information, visit the program's Facebook page New Market Elementary Tucked in Tuesday or contact the school at 765-866-0740.
