All In-Person Learning: How are your teachers adjusting?
Teachers have had to adjust to constantly changing expectations throughout the course of the pandemic
There’s no doubt that COVID-19 has thrown a wrench into everyone’s daily school life, but while students have been focusing on new schedules, classes, and seating charts, there has been a lot going on behind the scenes. Teachers have been working meticulously on how to adjust their classes to Full-Time In-Person learning for the first time this year, starting with the return of Freshmen, and then the rest of the school.
When the Freshmen returned, teachers had to see their plans for In-Person learning put to the test. These plans included attempts to switch back to Paper Assignments, shifting away from the computer use which has come to be a part of life, and being able to have more in-depth discussions and help available to the students. But with every solution comes another issue, and this took the form of students remaining in Distance Learning. All of a sudden Teachers needed to focus on both In-Person and Distance learners, without making it seem like they were ignoring the other.
“It is really easy to focus more on the in-person activity and questions and less on remote learners,” math teacher Marci Bauman said, “especially if they don’t unmute and get my attention and only write comments or questions in the chat.”
But this was a good chance for teachers to prepare for the next step, the return of sophomores, juniors, and seniors. After adjustments were made after the freshmen return, teachers found that their plans were working as well as they could have hoped for the new wave of students. This time though, they had experienced and were ready for the Students, both DL and FT.
“It is funny to be talking to my DL students directly in front of a whole in-class group,” science teacher Jenn Peterson said. “The technology of Google Meets and sharing screens, videos, PowerPoints, etc… has been pretty good. At times weird things happen like no one can hear anyone, or the screen share fails, but we all make it work.”
Overall, Teachers seem to prefer being back Full-Time and interacting with/being able to see the students they’ve only seen on screens for the better portion of the year.
Photo by Matthew Scherber
