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Teachers/Educators Thread • Page 16

Discussion in 'General Forum' started by Matt Metzler, Mar 31, 2016.

  1. Jusscali

    Synth-Bop Enthusiast Prestigious

    This suckkkkkksssss
     
  2. fyebes

    Regular Prestigious

    It's going alright! there are students who zoom in and students who attend in-person, so that part of it is really weird, but I'm sure I'll adjust somewhat.

    but I think I can manage for the remainder of this year. thank you for asking!
     
  3. Grapevine_Twine

    It's a Chunky! Supporter

    I'm in such a rut right now. Remote teaching sucks. I want my job back!
     
  4. dorfmac

    Trusted

    that's how it's been for us most of the year. even when all four grades of high school are back in person, we have left the door open for families to remain virtual if they choose. it's the right thing to do, but that's been the most difficult part for our faculty - trying to serve the kids in front of you and the kids on the computer simultaneously when their needs and engagement looks so vastly different.

    at my school, we always have placed an emphasis on connection over content, so our existing culture is well-suited to these times, but i'd say we've quadrupled down on that approach the past year. even my ap class, i'm more interesting in chatting with the guys and hanging out than i am about resistance movements to colonial control or whatever i'm teaching about. although that's a bad example, because i love teaching that one...
     
  5. fyebes

    Regular Prestigious

    what do your in-person numbers look like? the biggest number I've seen for in-person so far is only five. one class doesn't have anyone show up in-person so I taught the whole class virtual.

    it honestly doesn't make much sense for it to be in-person and virtual in my opinion, but I teach juniors and seniors. I'm sure that at the elementary and middle school levels it's a lot more even (between virtual and in-person).
     
  6. dorfmac

    Trusted

    it's the opposite for us. we have maybe 90% of students in person, so maybe 1-2 students virtual in any given class? with that critical mass, i think that at some point you need to serve the widest cross-section you can. for us, that's the in person guys and the ones at home may not get the best experience, but teachers aren't do it all superheroes and need to make sacrifices. for you, it sounds like the best bet is designing your lessons to serve the virtual crowd and augment as possible for the in persons, but not to lose sleep over it.
     
  7. David87

    Prestigious Prestigious

    Yeah I've got about 1-4 students in person for each class here so I'm just teaching it as I was virtually. The kids in class just have a slight advantage of being able to ask me a question easier
     
  8. ncarrab

    Prestigious Supporter

    So you guys are teaching to in-person and remote learners at the same exact time? That's kind of wild.

    Our District created an entirely separate Remote Learning program and it's taught by our own staff members, but those staff members focus solely on remote learners. We're a District of 4,300 students, with about 30% online. I think we have about 40-50 staff members dedicated to the remote learning program. There's no cross over...we thought it would have been too distracting and difficult for in-person teachers to focus on in-person students and remote students at the same time.
     
    David87 likes this.
  9. David87

    Prestigious Prestigious

    It sucks. I wish we were doing it like you but the logistics would be messy I think. For example, teachers could end up teaching subjects to virtual learners that they don't usually teach/have lesson plans for
     
  10. ncarrab

    Prestigious Supporter

    Yeah, we definitely have teachers teaching outside of their normal classes or even grades. Luckily though, all the teachers who are teaching remotely offered to do so voluntarily - knowing that they may be teaching a different grade or class than they normally would. Really proud how everyone has adapted and adjusted.
     
  11. David87

    Prestigious Prestigious

    Yeah if they gave us that option I would almost definitely have taken it. It would have been a pain in the pass but I'd rather be home and safe tbh
     
    ncarrab likes this.
  12. stayillogical

    Kayak, deed, rotator, noon, racecar, Woo Young-woo Prestigious

    I just discovered this thread. This is how I'm teaching too. Covid is up high in my state so I have 1 or 2 kids in class, maybe 4 or 5 total the entire day. It's kind of annoying to have to go to school for that. I'm sitting at my desk teaching in front of my laptop anyways. So glad I decided to buy an iPad over the summer, it has been absolutely essential. Last year was asynchronous and I just made videos with my document camera. I still really need to figure out some more engagement/assessment strategies, all my kids have cameras off. I use whiteboard.fi to ask questions, (I'm high-school math by the way), but then some of them don't even bother logging in or leave their boards blank. It's so hard to help when they don't meet you halfway. I have so many kids failing, it really bums me out. At least in person I could force them to make up work while in my sights.
     
    David87 likes this.
  13. fyebes

    Regular Prestigious

    yep, that's what I'm going to have to do. at this point, it's honestly about survival or every teacher is going to drive themselves insane.
     
    dorfmac likes this.
  14. David87

    Prestigious Prestigious

    We just got an official snow day. The assumption was we were gonna be teaching virtually since we started late, but they gave us the day off. wooooo
     
    dorfmac likes this.
  15. dorfmac

    Trusted

    I just got the notice about 15 min ago. Absolutely thrilled.
     
  16. fowruok

    Trusted Supporter

    Just found this thread. The snow day on Monday was great. We're all virtual today and then again tomorrow. Definitely nice right now not being in the building.

    This year is killing me, especially since I'm making videos for everything I do (emphasizing content over connection, which is pretty much the opposite of how I usually operate). That's pretty much the only way I could simultaneously deliver lessons in-person and remotely; otherwise, it's just a mess with technology every single day. My prep is insane, though - definitely the most I've worked in my sixteen years of teaching.

    89 days to go. Keep reminding myself that this is just a job.
     
  17. dorfmac

    Trusted

    these snow/virtual days have been clutch. every year, the time between winter and spring break is always such a drag - any chance to take a breather during that stretch is welcome.

    are you doing all flipped classroom, basically? doing the content over video and then emphasizing skills/activities during the in-person time? the hard part is the time consuming videos, so if you're already doing that, it might be a way to still emphasize the in-person time for connection and keep the content separate? if you want to go that route, edpuzzle is a god damn lifesaver. then again, if you've been at this 16 years, i'm sure i'm not breaking new ground with those suggestions :)

    i've been spending the last few weeks planning our senior retreat, which is a four day, overnight experience. we've made it opt in this year for obvious reasons, and all but four students are choosing to take part, even the bulk of the students who have elected to stay virtual all year. given that we've been in person all year and each student will have their own individual room and bathroom on the retreat, i don't think we're exposing the gravity/scope of our exposure, just increasing the time of potential exposure.

    the other huge headache for me that's specific to my role as dean of students is the cheating that's going on. teachers are working their ass off, but leaving the door open for kids to cheat - giving virtual assessments with easily google-able questions, electing to give virtual assessments instead of planning for the tests to be on days that boys are on campus, using platforms like khan academy with known exploits the students can take advantage of, etc. i'm not about to nail a kid to the wall when a teacher is making it easy to cheat, but i also am having to balance having the teacher's back when they are appalled it's happening. meanwhile, if the cheating is this pervasive, then obviously it's more of a systemic problem and we, as the adults, need to look in the mirror and adjust, which no one is happy to do given all of the other layers of stress this year brings. it's just a big clusterfuck that i'm sure every school is going through.
     
  18. David87

    Prestigious Prestigious

    Causality of virtual learning: I usually show the lunch counter sit-in scene from Lee Daniels’ The Butler during my civic participation unit. If you’ve ever seen it, it features some very rough racist language. Cant take the chance of parents hearing it blare through their kids speakers. It sucks because it really drives home what people went through to secure civil rights for African Americans. Every year it’s one of my favorite lessons because the white kids never know what hit them and my black students just end up pissed off in the best way possible, and even some of them are shocked at how bad it was.
     
  19. dorfmac

    Trusted

    This is something that I'm incorporating into my history class as an opt-in, non-grade-related experience for the students. I've invited them to take on this "challenge" with me over the next few weeks.

    21-Day Racial Equity Challenge — America & Moore
     
  20. David87

    Prestigious Prestigious

    E7ECC4B3-707C-4FE3-BB9D-E34BF69CD714.jpeg


    The amount of seen I have been is illegal
     
    dorfmac and popdisaster00 like this.
  21. I have my first real interview next week
     
  22. OhTheWater

    Let it run Supporter

    Going back hybrid at the end of March. I'll have max 5 kids in my room and the rest on Zoom. It is what it is, some of these kids need to get out of their houses so I get it. Just scheduled my first vaccination for March 4th.
     
  23. ncarrab

    Prestigious Supporter

    I was supposed to get my first dose for the vaccine next Thursday, however, as luck would have it, I just tested positive for COVID two weeks ago. Thankfully, just had minor symptoms, but don't feel comfortable getting the vaccine so soon after recovering. There seems to be mixed messages on whether it's OK to get it right away after recovering, or if you should wait 90 days. I figure I'll let someone else in need take my spot.
     
  24. Getting my first dose on Saturday
     
  25. mgiannotti

    edge mike Supporter

    Got my second dose last week, it messed me up good, but I’m glad my school is also a clinical setting and allowed me to get it fairly early. We’ve been back since September with students at half capacity with staff in full PPE, it’s been pretty tough.