Teaching in a Time of Covid-19

This is a reflection on teaching public education during the 2020 pandemic.

First year teacher here. I work at a middle school in a small school district in a town in Western Oregon. For context: our school, like many, is making do with what we have. We don't quite have the budget for school sports (all ours are through an outside organization) or to have 1:1 devices for the students. We do have a makerspace, a shop with 3D printing and robotics, computer design, a fantastic art program, and a really caring and wonderful bunch of people who work there. People are encouraged to take risks and work together, making for a supportive and innovative atmosphere.

My empty classroom in June 2020.

Quarantine Begins

When the pandemic starting gaining momentum in Oregon, we shut down a week early for spring break, thinking we'd be back in a couple weeks. Then it was extended to over a month shut down. Finally, to the rest of the school year.

My new online-only classroom!

We were more prepared than many schools for distance learning. Most classes already had a Google Classroom component where teachers upload worksheets, videos, quizzes, and more for students to work on in school. Now we had to trust (and nag) students to do that work on their own, at home.

Many studies have been done showing that online college courses have comparable, or even superior, outcomes to those in the classroom. There is less research on this issue in K-12 education, but it overall agrees with the findings from college-level courses. Nonetheless, my expectations were not that high. I was expecting perhaps 50% participation. From my experiences, much of the motivation to do schoolwork comes from the teacher and from peers. Being physically present in the classroom also provides structure and visual reminders, and instruction can be adapted based on what the teacher sees happening in the room. I anticipated a strong dip in students participating in schoolwork, and planned out the next two months accordingly. Work needed to have simple instructions, provide choice, be able to be printed out for packets, and have a low floor (for kids in challenging situations) and a high ceiling (for kids who are motivated and/or high-achieving). Ideally it would also follow a logical flow of concepts and be engaging and interesting for the students.

Fig 1: Preferential choice of reading and video activities

Here's how I structured my newly online-only class: on Google Classroom, each week was organized by topic, and had a lesson plan (I added verbal instruction files as well after Week 3) and 2-3 tasks to do. Based on results of student choice early on, I included a reading as one of the tasks each week, and made sure there were alternatives to any videos for those with slow internet. Students on individualized education plans and any that came to a teacher because they were struggling at home got tailored materials and requirements. Each day I cleared my inbox of notifications, questions, and comments, and was available for video chats. Each week I updated grades, gave feedback, and badgered my advisory kids to check in with me.

What were my findings from distance learning?

Fig 2: Displaying the ~3-week lag in work completion.

For starters, way more kids participated in distance learning than I was hoping for. If I was expecting about half of them, I was very pleasantly surprised to get 75-90% participating in some way most weeks.

Fig 3: Final results for participation in distance learning.

The number of students participating did slope off after Week 1, losing an average of 3-4 students each successive week until Week 8 (sudden drop off of 11 students likely due to the approach of summer break). There was also about a 3-week lag (see figure 2) in some students getting work in, so that my percentages for participation continued to increase with each passing week, albeit slowly. Reminders and warning emails towards the end of the term also helped increase the amount of work getting in.

Some of my lower-achievers excelled in these new conditions, turning in higher-quality and more complete work. Some who suffered from an intense apathy towards education and usually turned in nothing or almost nothing were now completing each week in a timely manner. To me, this speaks to the importance of one-on-one support. Many schools are short of educational assistants, and with one teacher in the room for 30+ students (up to 50% with individualized plans and needs in any one class), it's very difficult sometimes to give specialized attention to all the kids who need it. I was happy to find that some had it at home.

In contrast, some of my higher-achievers were now turning in work far below their usual quality, or missing assignments completely. I can speculate two main causes for this: Their usual real-time positive feedback from both teachers and peers was absent. Also, all grades during distance learning are Pass or No Grade, so there was no way to measure against peers or past work. Why put in the effort? In one telling interaction, a student said essentially that distance learning didn't matter, since they just got a Pass regardless of the quality of their work. My efforts to correct this attitude with positive reinforcement, targeted feedback, and gentle guilt-tripping were unsuccessful.

This is not to say that this reversal of effort was always the case. I still had lower-achievers staying the course and higher-achievers continuing to do well, and everything in between.

There are also benefits to students doing schooling at home. In one early assignment, I gave students the option to build a volcano-proof house using the game Minecraft, and to post a screenshot of their work. This is not feasible in the classroom for various reasons (cost, inevitable distractions, etc), but students were able to really shine by using the game as a tool. One student spent 3 days creating a detailed lava-proof house complete with an emergency victory garden and simulated ash on the roof! For another project I had students texturing and describing the soil at their home. To explore biodiversity, students had lots of options, and some created a species list for their home, dissected a flower from their garden, or played a game with family members. Many of these options would be harder to do or have less impact in the traditional classroom.

The students themselves got a mixed bag, depending on individual circumstances. The comment I got most often, especially early on, was a complaint of boredom. They were stuck at home, unable to see friends, without much to do (at least before distance learning started up). Some students have good homes, internet access, and family support in these difficult times. Others were in the middle of moving, or changing custody, or have limited WiFi and one device for four kids to share. Some had it much worse. We teachers and our admin did the best we could to check in with each student individually at least once a week, and help those who needed it.

From a learning standpoint, many students stated that they found distance learning easier for a variety of reasons. These included having fewer distractions, being able to work at their own pace, and, heart-breakingly, not having to deal with mean kids at school and being able to spend more time with family. Others found distance learning more challenging or less preferable, mainly because they found instructions confusing and communication difficult. Over time some of these problems were assuaged; students adapted to each teacher's online instruction, and the district was able to help connect families with WiFi or get printed packets out. In any case, the grading procedure for the quarter means that students who didn't adapt as well or had other challenging circumstances won't be punished with a failing grade.

Selected responses from students to the question: What is good/bad about distance learning?

From a more personal standpoint, as a first-year teacher who does not have young children of my own, distance learning was a welcome break. The first couple years of teaching are expected to be tough, and I had been running on empty before the quarantine. Creating most of my own materials and lesson plans (my choice, I know) and managing a hundred and twenty hormonal pre-teens each day would take it out of anyone. The cohort I taught also happened to be the toughest group that anyone could remember.

Most of the other teachers I interact with adapted readily but unhappily to quarantine teaching. Teachers go into this profession because they're extremely compassionate and love working with kids each day. Distance learning meant a lack of interaction with students and the loss of a dedicated workspace, not to mention the additional burdens and new requirements placed on them. Many also had to juggle childcare, and at least one had to learn how to use the online platform from scratch. I feel relatively fortunate. From my quarantine desk, I had a harder time reaching my students, and helping them when they needed it, but I also had time to make really good lesson plans and materials that I was happy with. I had time to give personalized feedback to every student, on every assignment. I missed the good interactions with kids, but definitely not the ...challenging ones. I had time to breathe, and to reflect. I feel refreshed and ready for another school year.

Which is all for the best, especially since no one is sure yet what next school year will look like. But I think we'll be better prepared than ever to handle it.

Empty room on a school day during quarantine.

Thank you to all teachers, administrators, food service workers, custodians, and licensed professionals who helped guide us through teaching during the pandemic of 2020.