I am actually sad that I didn't think of this sooner, and really want to pursue it further. (This is my 15th year as a special ed teacher.) No commute An ability to get straight to the point Limited staff interactions. I am NOT anti-social--actually quite the opposite. My coworkers and I usually chat too much during our planning periods, and I end up getting nothing done. I just feel more productive in general. Even if I do go back to a traditional school setting, I really want to use what I have implemented to do some tutoring for next school next year. I have a student who has responded so well to some one on one reading lessons, but she could never stay for tutoring because of transportation issues. Doing an online session with her never even crossed my mind before all of this. Curious to hear your thoughts... P.S. Happy Friday!
I'm enjoying the workload and the flexibility... If I thought that I could really get away with doing this little and still earn my full salary, then, yeah, I'd be all over online teaching. But, I don't think that's reality in a normal world. If I'm doing full-time work, I'd rather be in a school.
I'm an introvert, so the whole part about being home all the time is great. However, I've found that I really do a lot of formative assessments as the kids work, and I can't do that part when I'm not interacting with the students in person.
Enough that I'm actually taking some online gig leads (couple of state schools that run online). My favorites: I can really focus on content and lesson-planning. I can still make it fun, but it's not quite the same dog-and-pony show often required in the classroom to sustain attention. The behavior management falls to the kids. There's a lot of flexibility. Working from home is very nice. I miss the culture of the traditional classroom and interacting with the kids, but there certainly are perks.
I do not miss the behaviour management and I know that some of my students are thankful that they don't constantly have their learning derailed. I miss the kids and the conversations that I am able to have with them when we see each other face to face. I also miss the structure of the school day; I find that I am "on call" for a much longer day now.
This. I have teachers, parents, and students emailing and messaging at very late/early hours. I find myself working late into the night, too, which I have never done before. I feel like the boundaries I used to have are out the window.
I have wondered if more teachers would find that they like it and pursue online teaching after this. I had a rough couple of weeks working 12 hour days trying to learn all the new tech at once, but once I figured that out I work far less than I used to. I am probably averaging 4 hours per day spent on work. However, like you mentioned, part of that is that there are no distractions and I'm working straight through- unlike being at work where I'd be spending time talking to coworkers, have a lunch break, etc. Most of my work is asynchronous, so I can get it done whenever, which I also really like. I can sleep in most mornings (2 days per week, I do have early meetings scheduled) and work in the afternoons/evenings which is my preferred schedule. I've always hated having to be at work at 7:30 AM! That said, no I could not see myself wanting to do this full time. I feel it's incredibly ineffective, especially with the student population I teach. While some hard parts of the job have been taken out (behavior management, state testing, etc.) basically all of the fun parts have too- interacting with kids and teammates, etc. This past week I started online tutoring 1:1 via zoom. It felt so good to do some actual "real teaching" even though it's still not quite the same- I felt so energized and just much better after that first day. That said, I offered that to my entire caseload and only 3 of 25 kids signed up, so if we continue online I don't see that being something that could work as far as instruction long term. I have a really tight knit team and I really miss that daily interaction with my teammates as well. We do our own zoom "happy hours," but I was thinking- we're doing that because the relationship was built in "real life." If were "online teammates" from the start we would have never gotten close. If I weren't so worried about the economic devastation this is bringing and about how long this will carry on for, I might be able to enjoy this time as a little "break" from the stresses of my real job. But no, I would never want to do it long term.
Are you really expected to do this by your school district? Can’t you get away with only answering emails from, say 8am-4pm or something?
I am only responsible for answering emails from 7-4 (which are my contracted hours). But emails and Parent Square messages go straight to my phone and I’d much rather answer questions as I get them than wait until the morning. To give some context, before COVID-19, I rarely got parent or student messages. Maybe 1-2 per month, if that.
Same here. As a specials teacher, I get all of the students. I have over 500 students but I've only seen about 40% hand anything in. Managing them one class at a time I can take. With email, it's like getting all of the students/parents, "raising their hands" at once. There is no separation of sections or buildings. This was going on from the moment I woke to 9-10pm at night. If I did not keep up on it, the pile was bigger the next morning. Parent participation has slowed significantly in the last few weeks. I do not care for this online teaching. Beside what it does to me, it robs my students of the variety of materials, experiences, and level of education that they deserve.
Overall, I'd prefer to be at school with the students. You do have a point though. Some things are better at home. Here are 5 things I prefer about each situation. At home: 1. Easier to be organized. No paper or supplies...everything is on the computer. 2. Get to have lunch whenever you want to have it, and for a longer time period. 3. No commute to work 4. No playground or lunch duty 5. No standardized testing At school: 1. Use of hands-on materials 2. More time talking and being with students 3. More time talking and being with faculty 4 More and better learning gets done each week. 5. More fun large events...Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Graduation etc.
I am now doing this for the most part. ( 7:30- 4) At first, I hated it because most of it was new to me. It was a breeze for those who tried "flipped" classrooms, but I was not one who ever wanted to do that. I don't like trial and error teaching. After weeks of nonstop work, I learned to turn my computer off at 4 and cell phone too. My fam and friends can catch me on my unlisted home phone. I am retiring next yr, but if this was the way we were going to teach, I would do it longer. I am not finding myself exhausted at the end of the day anymore. I like rolling out of bed, getting a cup of coffee, and just turning on the comp to start answering emails, phone calls, grading papers, and doing trivial tasks.. I don't really have to get dressed decently until lunch time because Zoom/Skype meetings are in the afternoon. Plus, there aren't behavior problems. If there are, you can have the kid mute, get off, and the parents get to deal with it. Parents here , for the most part, have a whole new appreciation for teaching. They thank me often and many say , "I don't know how you could do this with a whole class."
I don't love it, but it's not as bad as I thought it would be. I am feeling pretty proud with how much my technology skills have increased in the past several weeks, though! That was the part that intimidated me the most at the start of this.
I've taught online before (as most of the old-timers know). For me, grading online assignments is much easier than paper ones even though the work is identical. Keeping track of progress is also a little easier. That being said, I miss seeing those non-verbal cues when students are confused, annoyed, or just bored.
I think if online learning (or partial online learning) is going work more successfully for both admin and staff similar boundaries will need to be set as in brick and mortar schools. For example teacher/admin contact hours need to be set appropriately. Attendance needs to be enforced (someone may have ideas how to do this). Classwork needs to be completed and turned in on time. As to the argument that parents can't contact teachers during work hours if they are at work themselves, that argument isn't valid because an adult will need to be home with younger children during the day if children are too young to stay home alone.
Minus the fact that we're doing this because of a global health pandemic, I am enjoying remote learning. I am an introvert, and so this is right up my alley. I can still interact with the kids, but I'm not "on" for eight hours a day. I don't have to police behavior or classroom management. I end up having more time to make meaningful phone calls to parents during the day. I normally have a one-hour (one way) commute to work, so it's nice to not have two hours a day spent in the car, and I can sleep a bit later/actually seem to be getting enough sleep. I obviously hate the reason why we are doing this, but I could see myself being happy being a virtual teacher. I set strict boundaries with office hours. I am on email from 9-230 (time set by my district, and I would be fine if it was longer than that, even), my students/parents are aware of this, and I do not check email outside of those hours. I purposely have never had my work email go to my phone so that I have a work/life balance.
Oh, it's definitely nice not to have a commute. And no worries about packing a lunch the night before. That said, I agree there is a definite blurring of the home/work boundaries. And I dislike the way virtual staff or grade level meetings stretch on and on. If they take place at school, there is a natural ending time.
I find that our meetings are shorter when online. I also find that I do better keeping strict lines between work and home.
I don't prefer it. I miss interacting with the students. Online learning is not an efficient way to learn or teach. A hybrid method might be more efficient, but completely online is not.
It still is valid. Just because they have a telephone available to them doesn't mean they have real opportunity to use it due to other mandatory work requirements. You may be thinking of what your job is requiring of you. I know many people who are working full time, in meetings or on calls with headphones on a full 8 hours a day straight, and trying to raise multiple children at home at the same time. They can't, in addition to the work disturbances of having to talk to a child when the meeting is going on, be able to say, I need to call the teacher. If your administrator tells you that you must be on the computer video instruction for the same number of hours as you were during brick-and-mortar school day, including any passing time that was built into the school day, and in meetings before and after school up to your contract hours, would you be able to tell your administrator that you will be stopping your work and calling your children's teachers during the school day when you are supposed to be working? Many of my friends are struggling greatly trying to work, monitor their children, teach their children because the amount of instruction they are now getting is even less than before. Please tell me you have had to interact with the forced working at home population and hearing strange things in the background in what used to be a "conducting business" call. These parents aren't free to handle everything that is going on in the house while they are working. In my opinion, I think it is going to make behaviors of children worse because they are probably placated more because parents have to get through their work day when trying to work, parent, and teach all at the same time, and we know that is not realistic.
Yet, somehow the parents were able to answer the phone when they had to leave the house to go to work each day? I never called a parent outside of contact hours, and always managed to get in touch with those who wanted to be reached.
I've never had a problem. I Just leave a message if they don't answer and let them know they can call me back by 3pm or even the next day if it's not too important. Unless there's an emergency where I need to speak with someone they will have to conform to my work hours.
You do know why they pick up even when they aren't supposed to, right? Because their child is not with them and the school can be calling because of an emergency situation.
I'm not a huge fan. Its true I don't have to drive 30 minutes to school every day, but I also know that I'm not getting half the amount of things done. My school wasn't 1 to 1 so we can't really hold kids accountable for turning stuff in. So out of 160 kids I get about 70 doing their work. If this was structured better in my circumstance and I could actually treat this like it was real school, I might like it. I can't imagine trying to do that with the elementary kids though. Middle/High School I think it could work ok but the kids are missing out on a lot. My kids were really bummed when the end of the year trips, dances, ect were canceled. (especially sports)
This pandemic has turned teaching into a 24/7 enterprise. I have learned quite a bit about my own skills and abilities making videos for the kids and just always being available. I think one of the positives I have seen is that students are advocating for themselves better than they ever have before.
Our school year is over (officially today, but this is a "bye" week and we need to go for 3 hours next week to clean our classrooms. I've created a side hustle (selling tie-dye masks to order) and I'm loving it! I also enjoy elements of teaching online, so I will be ok if we are online or blended next year.
I really enjoy it for the most part. I have felt alittle burned out lately but overall I enjoy it. I dislike my colleague (negative, complaining, hateful person), I am not dealing with behavior, cleaning up classroom, etc. What I dislike it the social aspects of it and continued meetings every other day. I feel like I have gotten to know some families and students even better. I do 1-1 reading with kids (too many kids at home with some of these families and too much chaos for small group reading) and the parents/kids love it. I am considering applying to teach online with one of those places that specialize in that.
