From the Teacher's Desk: Virtual Learning

Welcome to WEEK 5 of virtual teaching

Week 4 was chock full of planning virtual meetings with students. I have been offering Google meetings since Week 2, but was not taken up on the offer until this past week. For whatever reason (I didn’t ask!) many requested Google meetings.

Some asked to talk to me for a check-in, some asked for English help (writing poetry with a student for 40 minutes was SO FUN! It made me miss the classroom even more!), and some are struggling emotionally and need to vent and just be heard.

In each chat, the parents were there, which made me feel comfortable talking to the student. To be honest, in some cases, I think the parents needed it more than the students, which is completely understandable.

Back At It

It was wonderful to see students’ faces and hear their voices! All of the students I met with said they are bored, they do not like eLearning (Duneland’s name for virtual learning), and they are sad to not see friends and teachers.

That they don’t like eLearning was expected, but to hear they are bored was a little surprising. I hadn’t thought that students would say they are bored. I assumed they would be loving all the time to play video games, ride bikes, watch Youtube, etc.

However, every single student I met with said they were bored.

I was not surprised they miss their friends and teachers, but to hear the emotion in their voices hit me hard. To read it and expect it is one thing; to hear the emotion and see their faces when they are talking about it was a whole other ball game.

What Now?

It hit home to me that we are all (every age) going through so much turbulence right now; we have so much that is still unknown. One thing I tried to do as a mother, and try to do as a teacher, is to let my kids/the students know what is coming up.

I have a board in my classroom with the days of the week and lessons for each day; I talk about upcoming projects and assignments, so they are ready when we start them; and I let them know what is expected of them, even before the lessons are started. I feel strongly that this helps allay any fears and worries.

But, we’re in a new reality…

What do I say now?

How do I make things okay for them?

How do I prepare them for an unknown future?

We’re Ready

A teacher friend (in one of the many adult meetings I also had this past week) brought up the social-emotional effect of this on children. We discussed in that meeting how we must be conscious of this when we do return to school because many students will have feelings of abandonment, mistrust, and anxiety when returning.

We teachers at CMS have been doing a lot of SEL (Social Emotional Learning) training over the past year, and I feel like the universe started us on that journey to help us prepare for the next school year.

We are already on the road to making school a safe place for both academics and emotions--whenever it is we are able to return to school.

Please thank a teacher the next time you speak (or email) with one.

This is the toughest time in all of our careers.