Ask a Teacher:
Why Aren’t Teachers Offering More “Live Lessons” in Distance Learning Classes?
On Wednesday, May 20, the Washington Post published an article by Donna St. George entitled “In Montgomery County, schools and parents clash over how much teachers and students are connecting”. The article attempted to cover how parents in the county felt about the online learning this well-to-do and well-connected D.C. suburb has offered over the last two months. Ms. St. George seemed to find that parents, particularly of secondary students, were not satisfied with the supply of live-lessons offered during distance learning.
The title of this article sets up a conflict between parents and teachers that I do not think exists. Despite the shared frustration, any reasonable participant in this online learning effort recognizes that it is difficult and flawed, but that most everyone is doing their best in these challenging times. Ms. St. George’s article included several parent voices but asked only one teacher about her experience with live lessons — a secondary teacher who teaches only three classes and seems to have few challenges in her schedule or internet connectivity. Most teachers at my school teach six classes and are juggling family commitments, student caseloads, internet connectivity issues, and lesson planning. I could go into the advantages of asynchronous learning, or delve into the legal requirements public schools must meet to ensure all students have equal access to education, but I don’t have the word count for that. Instead, I would like to provide you with a teacher’s perspective on why not every educator is offering live lessons.
TEACHERS HAVE YOUNG KIDS AT HOME, JUST LIKE YOU!
Ms. St. George’s article does not address how a teacher’s family life might impact the ability to hold live lessons. After stating that some parents find that “the blame lies not with teachers but with their union”, she quotes the “union officials” who reasoned that teachers could not be required to hold live lessons because some teachers “might need to care for their own children or families”. This meager line from the article doesn’t begin to explore just how difficult a teacher’s “new normal” home life can be for hosting an effective live-on-screen lesson.
Imagine you are the Social Studies teacher friend of mine who has three kids under the age of 8, one of whom is a toddler with special needs. You spend the morning helping your school-age kids through their online lessons and assignments. You then try to hold Zoom class while your toddler screams for your attention or the five year old begs to play outside? Is this an effective teaching and learning opportunity? Another English teacher friend has had to cut short live Zoom sessions multiple times because her child threw a tantrum during one class and had injured himself during another. Should she ignore her own child and simply “yell-teach” over the noise? That would not be an effective use of anyone’s time.
Because of these limitations, both of these teachers are finding innovative ways to engage students. One uses weekly online chats through the Google Classroom “Question” feature. This allows students to pose content-related questions and answer each others’ inquiries in a chat format. The teacher writes responses in real time as students post their ideas. Students can participate during the appointed class time, or drop by to post their ideas whenever they’re available. This way, the teacher still has interactive engagement with the students, while managing her own noisy household. “It’s been great” she told me when I asked about these online history chats. “We’ve had some really great conversations and debates.”
Another teacher-mom carefully designs Google slides — embedded with video scenes and excerpts of texts — with questions for students to respond to. Then, once her kids are in bed (her husband is also a middle school teacher, so options for “covering the kids” during the day are limited), she can leave responses, feedback, and encouragement for students. It’s not LIVE, but it sure is interactive.
MCEA sought limitations on live lessons because there is no sense in requiring teachers to do things that they cannot do. Teachers are stressed and depressed because we WANT to have conversations and interactions with our students. It is what we miss most of all. However, the reality of teachers’ home lives must be considered when we start airing our disappointment with the online learning provided.
PRACTICAL LIMITATIONS — BANDWIDTH AND CASELOAD
In addition to family responsibility, secondary teachers have large case-loads that are overwhelming their personal home internet connections — connections they are sharing with everyone else in the home. With my husband working from home, and my two secondary kids completing online assignments, I often have lags during Zoom lessons; my sound and video cut out for a minute or two and I have to repeat and try again. And it turns out, I have it much better than most.
A Spanish teacher colleague says that her WiFi “can’t handle live instruction with more than 7” students and that is only if “everyone has their video off”. So, she is now scheduling 20 minute sessions of 6 kids at a time so they can practice speaking Spanish. However, not all caseloads make this possible: another colleague teaches 172 students; So scheduling 6 kids at a time for 20 minutes would take…580 minutes — more than nine hours. Not practical.
Another teacher manages to get everyone from one class online together, but “everyone has to have their sound and video off’ or the whole thing crashes. Kids “interact” by hitting the “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” button in the app. It’s not that different than if she’d just recorded the lesson ahead of time for students to watch on their own.
And that teacher friend whose husband is also a teacher? Well, she and her husband “can’t Zoom at the same time because it constantly kicks us out.” If live video-interactive lessons are not going to function properly given connectivity issues, then are they really the best way to reach and educate our students?
LIVE LESSONS — NOT THAT LIVELY!
No one is enjoying the stay-at-home order, no matter how fully we believe it is necessary. We are ALL worried about our children and their mental health. However, live lessons are not the cure we are wishing for.
Internet limitations aside, it is important to remember that every adolescent feels socially awkward approximately 163% of the time. As a result, Zoom sessions at the secondary level are often not all that interactive. Even without connectivity hiccups, my students frequently do not turn on their video or their audio unless I beg them to. Even then, only three or four out of the 20 or so kids who attend the session opt to show their face or turn on their microphone.
And live sessions sometimes have a counter-effect on mental health. A very popular science teacher at my school has cut down on live Zoom sessions because he says, “doing live instruction actually brought me down a peg emotionally. All those kids who I had great relationships with…hardly talking.” Many students and teachers find it more fulfilling — emotionally and academically — to engage in asynchronous lessons that allow for non-live, but authentic interaction.
Governor Cuomo asked a few weeks ago, “why, with all the technology you have” do we still have kids going to school in buildings with teachers leading a classroom? I hope we are now realizing what we are missing with schools closed. All the technology in the world cannot replace the value of the collective experience of in-person, public education. It seems logical that live lessons would come closest to replicating in-person school. If you ask a teacher, however, you will find that it’s not anywhere near that simple. Parents are frustrated and worried. Teachers are frustrated and heartbroken, unable to fulfill their life’s purpose every day. We need to be realistic about what is possible for teachers who, as it turns out, are actual people! They are dedicated to both their students and their families, but like many of their students, also have limited resources and only so many hours in the day. Any conversation about the struggle with online learning must include the educator’s real experience and perspective.