This is Hard!
Online and virtual schooling is most often offered to 9th-12th graders. This makes complete sense! These students know how to use computers and have the ability to navigate them on their own. According to Freidhof in his "Michigan's K-12 Virtual Learning Effectiveness Report," about 50% of those attending a virtual school use online learning to supplement their in person instruction, not completely take the place of it. Teachers in online schools that are very structured are noticing that their time is not all that flexible, it is planned out for them. The one on one instruction that kids need and desire in online learning really depends on the student to teacher ratio. If one teacher has 30 students, there really is not enough time for that teacher to provide individual support and instruction to each student every day. Through my
Poplet, I have noted some of these challenges. Online learning isn't all sunshine and rainbows, and during Covid, all teachers have learned that.
When teachers were thrown into online teaching, it was a mess! As Gudmundsdottir and Hathaway mentioned in "'We Always Make It Work': Teachers' Agency in the Time of Crisis," most teachers have never taken, let alone taught an online class! How did we think this was going to go well? Teachers didn't have a choice, so we tried our best, but not much teaching was actually done. Coming into a new school year, districts around the country realized that teachers needed training in how to teach online. Although they knew we needed this training, they didn't really know how to teach us to do what they are asking us to do. They have provided us with resources for academics and want us to tend to the social emotional needs of students. However, I think they have forgotten about who is on the other side of our computer screen.
When I am teaching, on the other side of my screen are 7 and 8 year olds. These kids don't know how to navigate a computer, they are unable to sit and stare at a screen all day. Have you have tried to teach a third grader how to toggle between tabs, open up new tabs, create google slides, log onto and turn in assignments on Google Classroom through a computer, without being able to provide them hands-on assistance? I hadn't either and let me tell you...IT IS HARD! Every day I spend at least an hour or two helping individual students try to navigate tools we will and have been using every day. It is completely draining and I will do it all over again the next day. Online learning may be appropriate for some students, especially those in high school, but a virtual classroom is no place for a third grader!
Resources:
Freidhoff, J. R. (2020). Michigan’s k-12 virtual learning effectiveness report 2018-19. Lansing, MI: Michigan Virtual University. Available from https://michiganvirtual.org/research/publications/michigans-k-12-virtual-learning-effectiveness-report-2018-19/
Gudmundsdottir, G.B. & Hathaway, D.M. (2020). "We Always Make It Work": Teachers' Agency in the Time of Crisis. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, 28(2), 239-250. Waynesville, NC USA: Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education. Retrieved September 20, 2020 from https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/216242/.
Yes! This is so hard! I couldn't agree with you more. Do you feel you've experienced far more than you could ever imagine and perhaps your perceived number of years of teaching is way more than your actual years of teaching? The stress is bad, but you are learning a ton more about your practice, and maybe that's a positive.
ReplyDeleteYour comment, "They have provided us with resources for academics and want us to tend to the social emotional needs of students. However, I think they have forgotten about who is on the other side of our computer screen" and your elaboration of what you learned they cannot do is a huge concern. We talk about preparing teachers but not about truly preparing students to be online learners. Perhaps we were going to eventually get there. The Hero's Journey from EDIT 787 reminded us how slow school culture is to change. In a way, it is a good thing that we now can see how unprepared students are too. The key is, how do we support them? Hopefully, by the end of this semester, you will have some specific and actionable ideas!