Are there any other teachers who AREN'T freaking out about teaching virtually?

[Anonymous]

I teach kindergarten and we are supposed to be live online for 3 hours a day. That’s too much. No time for recording lessons for kids to watch later and I know plenty of our kids won’t be able to join us live online at all. This is a Title One school do their parents aren’t working from home. They’ll either take them to work or get a neighbor to babysit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I also teach math albeit at the middle school level. In both my content and on my team I think we're all a little nervous about it but actually mostly excited about the change. It gives us some opportunity to experiment and we've been working this summer to see how we can integrate new technology into what we did this spring.

I think we're going to rock it. Our principal has been reinforcing that we did a great job this spring and that we should work on refining not completely redeveloping. Some of the parameters are changing but we will be able to adapt.

Right now the biggest limiters seem to be connectivity issues working out of our homes. Also some of us are lacking tools that we want like document cameras or white boards or science kits. I went ahead and my own white board and doc camera back in the spring so I feel like I'm in good shape. A few science teachers are hoping that they get at least a shot at running into their classrooms and grabbing a bunch of their lab tools. I told the science teacher on my team that I will be there with my kids to help the load out if the opportunity arises. The connectivity issue will continue to be a challenge for me because of where I live but I will have to keep crossing that bridge when it appears in front of me because I don't have any other choice.

I don't really know any teachers who are freaking out or upset. There are one or two teachers who want to be back in school full time with full classes like the old normal but they are the outliers. It is hard to put credence into their perspective since it goes against everything the CDC is saying about what is healthy.

All in all I think I am ready, my team is ready and my content area is ready. We will rise to the challenge and we will totally nail it.

So you live somewhere with bad WiFi?

I bet she lives in Alexandria. You have no idea...it is horrible. We actually pay for both Xfinity and Verizon. I toggle back and forth all day. The two wifi options in Alexandria are crap. People complain about both on NextDoor all the time.

[Anonymous]

I teach elementary music and we’re supposed to do 6 groups of log on, log off. In April we were doing one live session
(teaching, not office hours) per week for each grade level. That was better. I’m getting nervous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I teach elementary music and we’re supposed to do 6 groups of log on, log off. In April we were doing one live session
(teaching, not office hours) per week for each grade level. That was better. I’m getting nervous.

I'm in a similar position. Honestly I'm thinking of hiring my college aged son who will be living at home this semester to be my assistant. He can call parents of kids every hour who aren't logging on and talk them through getting the kids on. My doctor has assistants to get the Zoom calls set up so the doctor can just get on and off quickly. Sure, I know I'm not a doctor... but there's no way I can make sure all my kids are able to log in and out while I'm teaching, and if they don't get on, it is my responsibility to hunt them down and make sure they make up the class so I'd rather they just log on the first time!

Or maybe I'll offer some amazing prizes to the kids who log on consistently the first 2 weeks. Once they are in the habit of it, it might get easier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach HS math and belong to many online teaching groups where all the teachers are stressing out about teaching online this fall and talking about how busy they are preparing for it. I really don't get it. I taught over Zoom this spring and while there were some modification that needed to be made, it really wasn't terribly different than what would happen in class. In person, I have presentations that are displayed on my SmartBoard, on Zoom, I display the same presentations on my computer. I don't understand how it's THAT much work for other teachers to transition to teaching over Zoom. Obviously, I'm not referring to elementary school teachers who are leading reading groups, or teachers who teach subjects like FACS where they normally cook in class. But for HS teachers, who teach in the four core subject areas, we already have presentations that we use in the classroom, these can just as easily be shared on Zoom. There's not a tremendous amount of modifications that need to be made. Is most of the stressing out coming from the elementary teachers, and those who teach subjects like PE, Theater, that really need to be completely reworked?

I think your teaching style is exactly why so many students hate math. This sounds dry, boring, unimaginative and just plan lousy lazy teaching. I hope your school has few teachers like you and more than realize teaching is more than putting up a presentation.

You have any better ideas of how students are supposed to learn high level math without receiving a lot of explicit, direct instruction? It's not something kids just "discover" working in groups with each other.

NP but yes I do have idea for how students can learn high level math without lots of direct instruction. I use lecture sparingly. Yes it took a lot of work developing materials but my classes have been very successful on the AP exams. Including this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach HS math and belong to many online teaching groups where all the teachers are stressing out about teaching online this fall and talking about how busy they are preparing for it. I really don't get it. I taught over Zoom this spring and while there were some modification that needed to be made, it really wasn't terribly different than what would happen in class. In person, I have presentations that are displayed on my SmartBoard, on Zoom, I display the same presentations on my computer. I don't understand how it's THAT much work for other teachers to transition to teaching over Zoom. Obviously, I'm not referring to elementary school teachers who are leading reading groups, or teachers who teach subjects like FACS where they normally cook in class. But for HS teachers, who teach in the four core subject areas, we already have presentations that we use in the classroom, these can just as easily be shared on Zoom. There's not a tremendous amount of modifications that need to be made. Is most of the stressing out coming from the elementary teachers, and those who teach subjects like PE, Theater, that really need to be completely reworked?

I think your teaching style is exactly why so many students hate math. This sounds dry, boring, unimaginative and just plan lousy lazy teaching. I hope your school has few teachers like you and more than realize teaching is more than putting up a presentation.

You have any better ideas of how students are supposed to learn high level math without receiving a lot of explicit, direct instruction? It's not something kids just "discover" working in groups with each other.

NP but yes I do have idea for how students can learn high level math without lots of direct instruction. I use lecture sparingly. Yes it took a lot of work developing materials but my classes have been very successful on the AP exams. Including this year.

Well, don't hold back. Please share.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach HS math and belong to many online teaching groups where all the teachers are stressing out about teaching online this fall and talking about how busy they are preparing for it. I really don't get it. I taught over Zoom this spring and while there were some modification that needed to be made, it really wasn't terribly different than what would happen in class. In person, I have presentations that are displayed on my SmartBoard, on Zoom, I display the same presentations on my computer. I don't understand how it's THAT much work for other teachers to transition to teaching over Zoom. Obviously, I'm not referring to elementary school teachers who are leading reading groups, or teachers who teach subjects like FACS where they normally cook in class. But for HS teachers, who teach in the four core subject areas, we already have presentations that we use in the classroom, these can just as easily be shared on Zoom. There's not a tremendous amount of modifications that need to be made. Is most of the stressing out coming from the elementary teachers, and those who teach subjects like PE, Theater, that really need to be completely reworked?

I think your teaching style is exactly why so many students hate math. This sounds dry, boring, unimaginative and just plan lousy lazy teaching. I hope your school has few teachers like you and more than realize teaching is more than putting up a presentation.

What's wrong with having an electronic presentation? Should she do a performance? Act it out? Serious question.

[Anonymous]

The only way I learned math that worked for me was for lots of teacher modeling for us how to solve problems. After many examples, we did some together and then tried on our own. I hate the group/ partner work crap.

[Anonymous]

The teachers I know who are freaking out (and those that freaked out last year) seemed pretty low competency around a lot of skill sets. While I have a few bright friends who became teachers because of passion, reality is that many people become teachers because it’s the easiest college degree. The people I knew in HS who went to teachers college were nice, solidly average intelligence kids of UMC parents who expected their daughters to go to college. Had they been born middle class or poor, college wouldn’t have been in their future.

IN the spring, I saw these people take a whole day to draft an incoherent email with the week’s assignments, that would have taken a typical professional an hour. I saw them embarrassingly struggle with zoom for months whereas the rest of the professional world (lawyers, doctors, govt workers, therapists, small business owners, service companies) made the jump In a week with few hiccups. I think some teachers are freaking out because while they may be kind, well intentioned and hard working, they just aren’t across the board smart and are struggling with basic tasks. I think a smaller share of teachers are exceptionally bright, resilient, and creative, and therefore transitioned to DL much easier.

And before anyone says “yeah, well teachers were required to pivot to a job that wasn’t the skill set they were hired for, they’re awesome at traditional teaching, and you would be just as bad if your job overnight required you to go teach third graders in a classroom tomorrow.” ..... reality is that every single parent in America is going to get four weeks notice that their kids are doing DL this fall, and every parent is America is going to be working their butts off to teach their kids this fall, and the ONLY reason our (elem) age kids are going to learn ANYTHING this fall is because parents will step up to learn how to teach our kids.

So miraculously, parents will pivot in a month from being lawyers, doctors, shams, sahds, nurses, bus drivers, retail workers, and learn to teach their kids. But many teachers are going to wholly fail with the same time frame on the simple task of shifting from in person teaching to DL teaching.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The teachers I know who are freaking out (and those that freaked out last year) seemed pretty low competency around a lot of skill sets. While I have a few bright friends who became teachers because of passion, reality is that many people become teachers because it’s the easiest college degree. The people I knew in HS who went to teachers college were nice, solidly average intelligence kids of UMC parents who expected their daughters to go to college. Had they been born middle class or poor, college wouldn’t have been in their future.

IN the spring, I saw these people take a whole day to draft an incoherent email with the week’s assignments, that would have taken a typical professional an hour. I saw them embarrassingly struggle with zoom for months whereas the rest of the professional world (lawyers, doctors, govt workers, therapists, small business owners, service companies) made the jump In a week with few hiccups. I think some teachers are freaking out because while they may be kind, well intentioned and hard working, they just aren’t across the board smart and are struggling with basic tasks. I think a smaller share of teachers are exceptionally bright, resilient, and creative, and therefore transitioned to DL much easier.

And before anyone says “yeah, well teachers were required to pivot to a job that wasn’t the skill set they were hired for, they’re awesome at traditional teaching, and you would be just as bad if your job overnight required you to go teach third graders in a classroom tomorrow.” ..... reality is that every single parent in America is going to get four weeks notice that their kids are doing DL this fall, and every parent is America is going to be working their butts off to teach their kids this fall, and the ONLY reason our (elem) age kids are going to learn ANYTHING this fall is because parents will step up to learn how to teach our kids.

So miraculously, parents will pivot in a month from being lawyers, doctors, shams, sahds, nurses, bus drivers, retail workers, and learn to teach their kids. But many teachers are going to wholly fail with the same time frame on the simple task of shifting from in person teaching to DL teaching.

Shifting to teaching 25 first graders through distance learning is not as easy as you make it sound. Logistically it’s just not. Sorry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If all you're doing is lecture then sure. Doesn't matter if it's in person or virtual. But many teachers do much more than lecture the whole time. Small groups, participation activities that need responses from students. Students learn a certain way when they are in a group and feed off each other's engagement. My SIL is a math professor at an Ivy and has studied and researched how to make virtual teaching and learning effective. And even at that level it's hard. She redid her whole course for next year. Kids need different kinds of breaks and motivation when learning is online as well.

This. I teach highly gifted students are maybe lecture 4x the whole year. Mostly they have group activities, some of which involve forming and reforming groups spontaneously. My district says breakout rooms is a best practice, but also says that I am responsible for anything that happens in those rooms since I can’t supervise them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If all you're doing is lecture then sure. Doesn't matter if it's in person or virtual. But many teachers do much more than lecture the whole time. Small groups, participation activities that need responses from students. Students learn a certain way when they are in a group and feed off each other's engagement. My SIL is a math professor at an Ivy and has studied and researched how to make virtual teaching and learning effective. And even at that level it's hard. She redid her whole course for next year. Kids need different kinds of breaks and motivation when learning is online as well.

This. I teach highly gifted students are maybe lecture 4x the whole year. Mostly they have group activities, some of which involve forming and reforming groups spontaneously. My district says breakout rooms is a best practice, but also says that I am responsible for anything that happens in those rooms since I can’t supervise them.

What specific subject do you teach?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If all you're doing is lecture then sure. Doesn't matter if it's in person or virtual. But many teachers do much more than lecture the whole time. Small groups, participation activities that need responses from students. Students learn a certain way when they are in a group and feed off each other's engagement. My SIL is a math professor at an Ivy and has studied and researched how to make virtual teaching and learning effective. And even at that level it's hard. She redid her whole course for next year. Kids need different kinds of breaks and motivation when learning is online as well.

This. I teach highly gifted students are maybe lecture 4x the whole year. Mostly they have group activities, some of which involve forming and reforming groups spontaneously. My district says breakout rooms is a best practice, but also says that I am responsible for anything that happens in those rooms since I can’t supervise them.

What specific subject do you teach?

If I say, I will out myself.

[Anonymous]

Are there any parents who don’t think teachers are stupid? If parents think teachers are really this stupid, why would they allow their children to be educated by them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The teachers I know who are freaking out (and those that freaked out last year) seemed pretty low competency around a lot of skill sets. While I have a few bright friends who became teachers because of passion, reality is that many people become teachers because it’s the easiest college degree. The people I knew in HS who went to teachers college were nice, solidly average intelligence kids of UMC parents who expected their daughters to go to college. Had they been born middle class or poor, college wouldn’t have been in their future.

IN the spring, I saw these people take a whole day to draft an incoherent email with the week’s assignments, that would have taken a typical professional an hour. I saw them embarrassingly struggle with zoom for months whereas the rest of the professional world (lawyers, doctors, govt workers, therapists, small business owners, service companies) made the jump In a week with few hiccups. I think some teachers are freaking out because while they may be kind, well intentioned and hard working, they just aren’t across the board smart and are struggling with basic tasks. I think a smaller share of teachers are exceptionally bright, resilient, and creative, and therefore transitioned to DL much easier.

And before anyone says “yeah, well teachers were required to pivot to a job that wasn’t the skill set they were hired for, they’re awesome at traditional teaching, and you would be just as bad if your job overnight required you to go teach third graders in a classroom tomorrow.” ..... reality is that every single parent in America is going to get four weeks notice that their kids are doing DL this fall, and every parent is America is going to be working their butts off to teach their kids this fall, and the ONLY reason our (elem) age kids are going to learn ANYTHING this fall is because parents will step up to learn how to teach our kids.

So miraculously, parents will pivot in a month from being lawyers, doctors, shams, sahds, nurses, bus drivers, retail workers, and learn to teach their kids. But many teachers are going to wholly fail with the same time frame on the simple task of shifting from in person teaching to DL teaching.

Thank goodness the world has you PP! If only everyone were as brilliant - alas you can only dream...