Teaching in the Pandemic Period

How has teaching changed.
PIcture of the author wearing a homemade mask


I used to get 15,000 steps about 10,000 of them within a 25 by 20 sized room.
I used to stop drinking coffee at 8:30 because I just forgot or didn't have time.
I can go to the bathroom at any time and that is awesome.
I don't plan a daily lesson.
So much of my time was spent planning and reflecting on my daily lesson. Then grading exit slips and homework. And of course about 5 hours a day was actually required to be in the classroom. Way too often those 10 or 15 minutes quick lessons dragged out to 45 50 minutes because:
  • Someone wasn't listening so I had to repeat.
  • Someone was late.
  • Someone was goofing off.
  • Someone had a question.
  • I was too long winded.
  • We went down a rabbit hole.
  • The instructions were unclear.
  • Someone felt turn and talk time meant a discussion of birthday plans.
Today I am doing my best to shrink those 15 minutes lessons into a 5 minute video.
Instead of spending all my time corralling restless middle schoolers I can stalk GoGuardian and ask them if they need help.
I'm changing my teaching into a more coherent week long project based lesson with optional skill and concept building lessons on video.

It took forever to teach students how to be students in my classroom. Now I have to teach them how to be students in my online classroom.
They need to learn these life skills.
  • There are no classes - self directed learning with support from me
  • Time on tasks is less important. Quality of learning is more important
  • Organization is key. Tracking of assignments - calendar ?
    • Take notes
    • Set goals
  • When you need to get help
    • Anyone can be a resources, friends, family, college professors, Reddit
    • Google the answers, I'm not there to stop you
    • I have office hours, I'm around most of the day send me a message. Seriously yesterday I spent an hour one on one with a student. We never got frustrated we didn't feel pressed for time.
  • How many hours do you spend on learning? You should put in a few, but it probably won't be as many as if you were in school to get the same benefit.

I have the opportunity to try different things.

School now has to be more focused on results and less on time in the seat. I know the standardized testing culture was supposed to make us focus on results. What it did was scare administrators who pushed teachers to spend more time gathering and analyzing data to show growth then they spent planning quality lessons. I guess they figured if we spent 30 hours a week gathering and analyzing data we would use it, instead we cut down our lesson planning time because we were over worked.

Now I'm not expected to run a tight ship of a classroom. I don't have to spend all my time crafting scripted lessons and worrying if students were doing exactly as they were expected. I can spend more time developing a well crafted project. Create a few skill building videos, Then spend the rest of the time actively connecting with students.

All of those things that I was told are hallmarks of good teachers, but I didn't have time to actually do. I get the time to do it. I'm just not physically in the room.

The two problem areas. Not enough students are showing up, and I'm not getting enough work that I feel I can give high quality feedback.


Comments

Carole M. said…
I enjoyed your commentary. Are you by any chance incorporating any global connections with your math curriculum at this time? If yes, can you give me an example of how you are doing it? Thank you,
April 28, 2020 at 12:56 PM
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