Intro

 Module Three:  Who's teaching online?  I thought he was on first base! 

• What did I learn?

To make sure you can check all my boxes, here is my Padlet. And if that doesn't work, here is my Padlet-

https://padlet.com/wvalexanderg1/xy4lzk4b7x23m0ka

Quick thought on that- SO much easier for me to use, process, and access (if that makes sense) than the popplet!  I hope it is ok that I switched tools.  I've never used Padlet before, so good to learn new tools!

On to the deep thoughts...

Well,  I am teaching online!  That's me!  

But how is this even happening?  How do I know what I am doing?  That is were Davis lets me know what I am doing.  

"Virtual Schooling," as it is referred to in the article (a phrase I HATE- makes it sound like it is

#fakeschool) is another magical place where, 

"students ... get access to advance placement options, flexible

time and place benefits inherent in many VS courses make

possible credit recovery that enables students from the other

end of the spectrum to complete coursework and graduate

from high school."

But wait!  There's more!

"" Online learning can also serve an important

educational access opportunity for students

who are placebound or displaced "

Oh the stories of homeless students popping opening their shiny MacBooks everywhere makes my heart skip a beat in sheer joy!  Thank god I have my pacemaker to keep me from keeling over.

I know it is important to examine biases, and understand viewpoints individuals may have and why they possess those ideas, but it is difficult for me to believe these magical places exist.  I mean, they must exist somewhere, but my experience (BIAS) is different.  Highly motivated students who are able to maintain discipline and focus and effectively self-regulate can indeed be well served via online learning options.  I believe that there are places where students are allowed to learn online at their own pace, in their own place, engaged in meaningful inquiry.  I believe that there are online learning options that offer students a breadth of options not available to them based on their geography.  I believe that online learning can afford students with disabilities or deficits an opportunity to show mastery of content in a profound way that might not otherwise occur for them.  I believe that is what online learning should be all about.

What I have seen, and Archambault documents it, is teachers being assigned very large classes because it is cheap and easy to have 40 students in an online session.  I have seen teachers using cookie-cutter curriculum because it is what is the simplest (probably cheapest) option to provide materials to students.  I am seeing in this first week of my own online teaching an expectation to take online learning and smoosh (it is an industry term) it in to the framework of a traditional school day because that is the simplest way to do it.

I am not a TOTAL Eeyore.  I did take away some hope from Archambault. 

My experience with online teaching can be described as...challenging.
I don’t believe that the role of an online teacher has been
defined at this time. For example, high school teachers are often
expected to carry student loads far and above that that would be
allowed in a traditional classroom––especially at the high school
level––because the technology can replace certain roles a traditional
teacher fills. However, individualized communication with these students
is disproportionate to the time a traditional teacher spends in
communication."

So even though this teacher was clearly frustrated by the super-sized class, this person identifies the problem- how is an "online teacher" going to be defined? I think a challenge facing online learning in this immediate moment is the expectation for teachers to do what they have always done, just do it online. However, we have been strongly discouraged from having individual video conferencing with our students, but we are told it is vital to online learning to get to know our students. There are only so many times a high school kid is going to respond politely to being asked what kind of ice cream they would be and how does that represent who they are...

• Why is it important?

Here I go again, blurring the lines of my responses when I am trying so very hard to keep things properly delineated for my sake, and for your's, dear professor. It seems to me that being an online teacher does need to be clearly defined- expectations need to be determined rather than viewing online teaching as simply a change in geography. How should class sizes be set? It seems from the readings and videos that an advantage in online teaching is the ability to work one-on-one with students, where they are at. But if a teacher goes from a class of 28-32 students to having 40-50 students, will teachers really be able to give students that one-on-one time? Additionally, how will the curriculum be determined? Will there be "pre-made" modules that online teachers guide students through? Will teachers have the flexibility to be creative and leverage the powerful online tools and experiences that exist, or will administrators try to keep online teachers in lock-step with F2F teachers? And post-pandemic (please let there be a post-pandemic time when we move from this not-new-normal to a new-new normal!!!!), will online teaching continue to be a widespread option for students and teachers alike?

Are we there yet????

• How can I use this information?

We can only control what we can control and we can only change what we can change. Think about that for a minute!

Rather than bemoan my aching back and hips from sitting in front of a computer for 80 minutes at a time with 30 students not speaking back to me and probably 20 of them asleep or doing something completely different, I need to focus on what makes good teaching good teaching. What does translate from F2F that I can use to connect with my students in a meaningful way? What does not work, and why does it not work? How can I dial down the cynicism I feel towards Davis and take her ideas and make them part of my teaching practice? How can I use the lessons from the data that Archambault collected and analyzed so I feel empowered to be the best online teacher I can be, rather than the most disgruntled curmudgeon? I know I turned 50 this summer, but I feel like that is still a little young to be yelling at those whippersnappers to get off my lawn. I have a responsibility to myself to be the best I can. I have an obligation to my students to engage with them, support them, and hopefully even teach them something about reading, communicating, and thinking along the way. So, I will work on my organizational skills, and I will work on my understanding of different tech tools to create engaging learning opportunities for my students, and I will work to continue to connect to my students so they know they have someone they can (virtually) trust when they hit their inevitable teen angst speed bumps. That's about as Zen as I can be!