After teaching online for two weeks, there are some things that are finally starting to feel normal. I have more of a routine, and I'm getting better at knowing what to assign and how to explain it. But no matter how "normal" teaching online gets, there will be some things that are will forever be true, and maybe just a little weird.
There is no separation between work and life
When I was teaching in person, I made sure that I would do my work AT work, and then I would come home and just try and relax. But working from home, it's harder to draw that line between work and home. If I'm sitting around doing work for school, and don't really change locations, it's hard to turn off the school brain.
No matter how well you explain things, someone won't understand
The majority of my time "teaching online" is actually spent answering emails and trying to clarify my directions and what I expect them to do. Day one, I spent three hours straight trying to explain what I meant. Every since day one, the number of emails has gone done, but I still sit around and wait for people to ask me questions about what I want them to do.
My students don't know how to use email
They've grown up with so much technology, and yet these kids seem to not fully understand emails. I received an email where the entire message was in the subject lines. Or others where I've responded and asked them a question and simply gotten no response.
The freshman might have more of a grasp of email than their older peers
For whatever reason, the Freshman can't format emails to save their life, but they at least will respond to me when I have questions, and often I get a thank you in response. With the Juniors and Seniors, I respond to their emails, and ask follow up questions, and never hear back, or hear back days later. I didn't expect the freshman to be great at responding to email, but I didn't expect to have to hunt down older students for responses to my emails.
I love emails where I can see their personalities
The hardest part of not being able to teach in person, is not being able to get to interact with each student. It's hard to sit in front of a laptop and just respond to general emails. The unique ones are the ones that make my day, including the student who was asking me to overlook the fact he turned in an assignment last because his mom would "eliminate" him from the household.
There's no easy way to communicate with them
They like to reach out via Remind, but it's something that I forget to check consistently. They seem to not check their email enough for me to be able to email them and they respond in time. I've been hunting down to do certain assignments for the week, and every time I respond with a time, they respond after the date has already passed.
Unless you started with online teaching, you're still trying to figure this thing out
I still feel like I'm figuring out how much is too much, and what makes sense and what doesn't. There are some days that I feel like I've finally got the hang of online teaching, but the truth is there is still so much to learn and to figure out until it's perfect.
Sometimes technology just isn't your friend
With everyone working online across the country at the same time, some things don't load properly, or work at the time that one of my students was trying to access them. Even worse is how my video call set up, where I can only use my work computer for the camera, and have to enter the chat in another screen in order to see my students and view messages they may send me.
There are so many free resources
The nice thing about everyone going through a sudden change to online learning is that so many other teachers are willing to help out and share resources. It's nice to know that I am able to find things that are pre-made and are ready to go for online learning.
There are too many free resources
At the same time, there are so many things that could be tried out, and at a certain point, it's overwhelming. It's really easy to feel like you need to use everything that's available to you, and that if you don't go through everything, then the perfect resource will be out there and you'll miss it. It's hard to know just where to stop, but I've tried to stop looking at content unless I know I need something. I didn't use a ton of resources from other people before, then why should I start having to follow other people's work now?
Online grading is the worst
I love grading. It's one of the most calming things for me to do. Online grading is a whole different beast. The first day, I screwed up giving out information and gave all 110 of my Spanish 1 students the same code, so when I went to grade, I had 100 responses waiting for me, instead of the 30-60 chunks that I was used to. It took me two days to even start grading, and now I'm even more behind than before.
And just like grading, it's more difficult to teach online
Teaching online is exhausting. When I was teaching in person, I would feel like I wanted to come home and take a nap if the day was particularly long and exhausting (aka the day I was stuck with the kindergarteners) but about halfway through the day of online teaching I'm ready to take a nap, and I do take one.
Online learning works better (?) for some of my students
I have some students that I had to push to do work in class, or that I had to help a ton through assignments, that now turn in everything that I assign, and some of them are the first ones to turn assignments in. I'm not totally convinced that they're learning better than they would in person, but from a numbers standpoint, online learning is going better for them.
There is nothing more awkward than silence on a video call
It is so hard to have large video calls, but also run video calls that aren't required to be attended. I get a lot of kids that just want me to feed them answers, but I also get a lot of kids who want to learn and work through the problems together. Because of all of these factors, I have a lot of video calls where I ask questions and just have to sit there and wait for an answer. The silence is worse than the silence in a classroom. At least in a classroom, you can see that some students are thinking, and the eye contact will normally push them to respond. With a video call silence, I'm left to sit in front of my computer, staring at my screen, and wondering if any of them are actually listening to me, and wondering how long of a pause is too long.
Online organization is key
As someone who has stuff stored in three different Google Drives, online organization is something I know I need, but don't necessarily take the time to do. There are files that I start under one account and realize that I need them in the other, or files that are shared with both accounts, just so that I can access them no matter which account I pick to open. The most important thing I can do is keep the Google Classroom organized, even if the Drive that all the material comes from is a nightmare.
I live and die by my planner
With multiple computers, calendars, and Google accounts, it's nice to have one planner that I can put everything into. I make sure to write down the things that I need to do, mostly grading, and what my schedule for the day looks like with different calls I need to attend, and what I need to plan and post.
On the bright side, some students do benefit from it
I have a couple of students that because of personal reasons, missed a bunch of days leading up to the school closure. But luckily, since I'm not working with 30 students for 50 minute chunks for most of the day, I'm able to help catch those students back up with one-on-one learning, which is something I would never have the chance to do in person.
I constantly feel like I'm behind
I don't know if it's because I'm new to teaching and don't have enough resources or previous knowledge to make this transition easier, I just never feel like I'm ready for more than 24 hours in advance. It's hard to keep on top of planning and grading and emails, even with the support of other teachers.
I've finally managed to perfect that 15 minute nap I could never take in the teacher's lounge
The best part of my day is when I take a little nap right before I have a call. I'm normally tired of looking at emails and just being able to take a little nap makes my day better. Working from home means that I don't have to try and nap in an uncomfortable chair in a shared room.
You've gotta let some things go
The first week, I graded for completion if there was even an attempt made at the assignment, and I told myself that it would only work that way for the first week. And then week two rolled around and I didn't feel like it was fair to my students when I know they're dealing with so much more. I've had students email me with problems with technology and told them not to worry about it, it isn't worth the time or effort to try and fix. There's only so much that you can control right now, and trying to treat every little thing as a normal learning situation isn't fair to you, or your students.
We all will appreciate in-person learning after this is all over
I think my students enjoyed learning online for a day or two, but now even the ones who didn't love school want to go back. I think after this, no one will really complain about having to show up for school every morning, even on the worst days.