At Home Learning: How Teachers Are Handling Online Education
Photo by Cora Kuhlenbeck.
With the rapid advancement of coronavirus, most schools across the country have been closed forcing teachers to find new ways to virtually educate their students. This has come with many challenges that each educator is handling in his or her own innovative way. Though this system has been challenging, teachers have adjusted well to the new form of teaching and communicating with their students.
The speed at which teachers had to adjust was the biggest setback to starting the online system. Mrs. Figueroa, a Hamilton Comm Arts teacher, wrote that, “The time factor has been the most difficult. We were notified that we might have to go online on a Thursday afternoon… When we found out on Friday that we were not coming in the next week, the online plan went into place.” As COVID-19 escalated, teachers had very little time to prepare and convert all material online. Though teachers did have the following Monday off, most were still very busy trying to recreate lesson plans over that weekend.
On top of this, most teachers and students aren’t used to using technology on a daily basis. Having to figure out the new system and understanding the expectations has been problematic for both students and teachers. Mrs. Datka, a sixth grade teacher at Silver Spring Intermediate, said that, “The transition has been a rough road. It is almost like the first day of school where the student knows none of the procedures. As detailed as my directions were there were a ton of questions.” The same applies at the elementary schools. An elementary teacher at Woodside, Mrs. Sciortino, wrote, “As a 1st grade teacher, we don't use as much technology as some of the older grades so learning the technology has been the biggest hurdle for me. I'm trying to help parents as well. This is new for all of us so we're navigating it together.” This transition has been difficult on teachers, parents and students and has been approached from many different angles by teachers trying to figure out how to shift their teaching style online.
Each teacher has developed their own system of communication with their classes. Most teachers are using Remind, Google Hangouts, or Google Classroom to communicate daily tasks with students. The teachers who already had online presences (Google sites, Google Classrooms, etc.) are typically just trying to adapt what they already have to serve the new purpose of communicating with students. Most teachers have set ‘office hours’ where they are available to meet with students and answer questions via Google Hangouts, Zoom, or email. Communication has been difficult for teachers because it takes up so much time. As Mrs.Acuff, a Hamilton art teacher, said, “A very time consuming part [of online learning] is emailing responses to questions, and trying to get in touch with some students… I didn't think that would take SO MUCH time.” Instead of being able to answer questions all at one time and troubleshooting with the whole class, teachers are now having to answer questions multiple times for multiple students, which has proven very time consuming.
Making easy to understand lessons has also been a struggle. Now that teachers cannot lecture or teach directly to their class, they have to find new creative ways to effectively teach the material. Teachers with more interactive, hands-on subjects have class using Zoom/Google Hangout sessions where they quickly go over the day's subject and expectations. Ms. Maxwell, a high school Biology teacher, said that she meets with each class via Google Meets daily. Some teachers are making lesson videos for students to watch through free websites like Loom and Screencastify. Though this seems like the easiest and quickest method to teaching, Mrs. Datka wrote that it takes her 8 hours to upload a single video, which complicates the whole process. Other teachers are writing out their lessons in a form for students to read. Mr. Nysee, a Comm Arts teacher at Hamilton, said that it has been a struggle translating his usually spoken lectures into a form his students can read at home. Some teachers are using other online resources to teach their students. They find videos on their subject through resources like Khan Academy or YouTube and give their students a link to try and minimize the amount of recording they have to do.
Keeping students accountable has also been a struggle. If students aren’t doing their work, there is little the teachers can do. As Mrs. Onysio, a Comm Arts teacher at Templeton, wrote, “I also have several students who are not logging and doing work. Tracking that and repeatedly having to check in on them is taking a lot of my time.” There is little teachers can do to motivate students who aren’t doing their work, and it is very time consuming to try and keep track of those students. Mr. Dejarlais has been having the same struggle at the High School, saying that, “the hardest part has been getting all of my students on board and completing the work.” Additionally, keeping accountability with tests and quizzes is difficult, since teachers can’t do much to keep students from using notes or other resources. Mrs.Winters, a Hamilton Math teacher, said that the hardest part of summative assessments right now is “not knowing how to keep them authentic.” Mr. Tenessen, the high school French teacher, reiterates this point by writing, “I have no idea how I will effectively take the assessments I usually give and turn them into something meaningful online.” Instead, teachers are sending out a lot of quizzes as progress checks and trying to do less summative assessments. These quizzes are just worth completion points and are just used to evaluate student understanding of the material.
Many teachers have said that not being able to see their students makes a tough situation even harder to handle. As Mr. Tennessen wrote, “ The hardest thing has been basically letting go of the best part of my job, which is what happens in my classroom with the classes in it.” Similarly Mr. Deshotels, the high school Comm Arts teacher, said that, “The hardest part initially was not being around my students and colleagues. I realized how much I need a live audience to communicate and anticipate the needs of my learners.” On top of the other challenges teachers are now facing, they have lost their favorite part of their job: interacting with students. Just like their students, the teachers are missing the daily socialization with their co-workers and students.
This transition has been challenging in many ways, but most teachers are adapting well. A lot of online education resources have become free for teachers to use during COVID-19, which they are taking full advantage of. Slowly, students and teachers are adjusting to the new system and have embraced our new reality during COVID-19.
