If you read the LA Times article that showed the depressing numbers of students not participating with online learning, it's easy to get discouraged. The truth is, many of my students are not logging in or completing work either. At this point, only 63% of my students in my academic classes have completed anything online. I have emailed parents and sent reminders and that has improved "attendance" online but I am not seeing the same engagement online as I did in my classroom of course. It's easy to think, "What's the point of doing all this?" when you have so many who aren't participating.
However, think of the students who ARE logging in to work, commenting on posts, and seeking connections with their classmates and you through the digital learning environment. Those are the kids I keep doing all of the work for, try new things with, and get feedback from. Not every student who is now home would prefer to vegetate and watch movies or play video games. Some of them crave learning and want to have something to do. It's a sense of normalcy they can grasp to in this stressful time.
I have been holding Zoom video calls nearly every day with whoever attends. I have a core of about 5 students who are consistently there every day. Others will pop in here and there but those students are the ones I'm doing this for. They asked to have a book club after we finish our class novel so they chose a book and I put together a calendar. We will have a book club. 90% of my students probably will not participate but the 10% who do will have something to look forward to that they had a say in creating and is it really a lot of trouble for me to organize this at their request?
Continue doing what you can to provide students who can learn from home opportunities to do so and try some new things with them. There are so many extended free trials right now so take a look at them and try out some of the resources on L and T's Distance Learning website.
Who knows? Maybe you'll fall in love with something amazing to use next year. It's a different world in education right now but hope is not lost. We can do this for our kids.
Keep the magic alive,
Kandyce Valverde
Thank you for this post! You addressed the concerns so many teachers are feeling right now. Very true and encouraging to focus our attentions on the students who DO want to continue their learning :)
ReplyDeleteHi Kandyce. This was a really eye-opening post. You touched on some really important issues that are truly pertinent to all of us right now. Thank you! =^..^=
ReplyDelete