COVID : Distance Teaching is The Suck

We're four weeks into the new school year, and I am drained. 

To many, teachers have it "easy" right now, what with few class meetings per week and being able to work from home. But to think that makes our jobs "easy" right now shows how little you know about teaching as a profession. 

Let me preface this by saying that I speak for myself, and I'm sure there are some teachers out there who are playing the system and actually are working "less." But for those like me, who are veteran teachers with integrity and a strong desire to help students learn, the switch to distance learning has been a nightmare exercise. 

First off, good teachers never just throw lessons at our students without reviewing them and carefully considering how to best reach a particular group of students. Even if I've taught something a dozen times before, each group of students necessitates tweaks and adjustments to the lesson. I may kid around about "winging it" for a lesson plan, but the truth is that I know my material and just need to make adjustments to how I've presented it in the past so that my current students can access the information. 

But with distance learning, that "making adjustments" is a lot of work. Presentations need to be re-saved from Microsoft PowerPoint to Google Slides. Animations and slide layouts have to be checked to make sure they survived the transition. Information needs to be updated, reorganized, refreshed. What worked previously? What might need to be added, changed, deleted to reach this year's students? Maybe the Google Slides presentation needs to be imported into Nearpod, and warmups and checkpoints that were previously done as class discussions and "dip-sticking" are now "collaboration boards" and "polls" so that students are still interacting, even as they refused to turn on their cameras or speak out loud in the virtual classroom Zoom session. 

And how about that Zoom session? In my county, teachers and students were issued Chromebooks, and we were told that the only approved virtual classroom is Zoom. We can use Google Meets or other virtual meeting programs for department meetings or meetings with people who don't have county-issued credentials (like parents for a parent-teacher conference), but the virtual classroom must be Zoom. That's all well and good, until you realize that Zoom was never designed to work on a Chromebook. Chromebooks were never designed for the load we are putting on them. They just don't have the processing power to have open Zoom, our learning management system, our student information system (if we are trying to record attendance in live time), and any other browser tabs that might need to be open. A Chromebook was designed as a minimalist workstation, not a virtual office. So, Zoom functionality on a Chromebook is limited, and I juggle sharing my screen with the multitude of students who "join" the class 5, 7, 10 minutes late on a daily basis. And when I share my screen on the Chromebook, I can't see the chat, and students are posting questions, or, in some cases, going off topic if I haven't restricted the chat to just with me. 

And that doesn't even start addressing how demoralizing and soul crushing it is to "teach" to black squares on my screen. I can picture maybe two of my ~150 students in my head right now, because they are the only two who regularly turn on their video. They also happen to be two who regularly contribute to class discussion, so I recognize their voices as well. Look, I get it. I understand that they might be in a circumstance that they don't want to share with the world. I don't blame them, and I wish I had the same luxury. My friends and family will tell you how much I absolutely detest photos and video of myself. I don't get that luxury of leaving my video off, and I have to see myself and stare at myself in that video all the time. If I'm not sharing my screen, I have to see myself all the time. It is absolutely anxiety inducing, and any day I don't have to do video for 3-4 hours, I am better off mentally at the end of it. 

The Chromebook issue is also part of the video issue. As backwards as it may be, it's actually a good thing that most students aren't sharing their video if they are all on Chromebooks. My experience using a Chromebook is that the more videos that are going (such as in a department meeting), the more likely there will be a "CPU usage" warning that affects the video and audio transmission and reception. 

So, just the actual teaching is stressful because of the incompatibility of the Chromebooks and Zoom. You might ask, "Why not just buy a laptop? Or use your desktop?" Well, my county seems to want full access to any device that I use for work. Even if I want to check my work email, or log into the learning management system on my phone, in order to have access, I have to download an app that allows access to anything on my phone. Ignoring the huge privacy issues that opens up, I shouldn't have to purchase a new laptop or a new desktop just because my old laptop died and my current desktop doesn't have a webcam. Even in 1988, when my dad needed to have a computer at home and a modem to deal with work issues that may come up when he wasn't in the physical building, they provided him with a full workstation, including a state-of-the-art (for the time) 2400 baud modem. We already had an IBM PC and a 1200 baud modem, so we weren't hurting for a computer.

(as an aside, I loved using that HP Vectra workstation, and having access to a 2400 baud modem made me the envy of my friends who suffered with 1200 baud, and in one case, 300 baud!!)

I swear, if my dad worked for the county I do, they would have provided him with an Apple II/GS and a 300 baud modem and had the audacity to tell him, "You'll figure out a way to make it work." 

I wish I was kidding, because that comment was made by someone on the Board of Education for my county. 

Anyway, besides the mental exhaustion, and the time needed to work on the lessons and get the materials for the lessons uploaded, there is also the issue of grading. 

Teachers have always taken work home (well, good teachers -- we're ignoring those who only ask student to regurgitate information and don't actually assess learning), and pretty much always worked outside of contract hours to grade papers. That's nothing new. 

What's new is that we have to have Internet access and a computer in order to do our grading. 

That's huge. I can't tell you how many times I've graded things away from Internet access or a computer. I know people grade things while curled up on the sofa. During time on a weekend getaway. Outside by a fire pit. 

But now, without a computer and an Internet connection, there is no grading. Which means more screen time, more sitting time, 

I know that going back into the buildings is not safe yet. Part of that is because too many people can't understand proper mask wearing and hand washing, and part of it is ignorance of symptoms. Three weeks of quarantine in March and April could have slowed this virus to a trickle, but too many ignoramuses decided it was a hoax, and here we are in September, almost October. I still see the ignorance every time I need to run to the grocery store, with people who refuse to wear their masks properly. But I digress. 

Stop saying teachers are having it "easy" right now. We are all reduced to first year teachers with no veterans to lean on with regard to lesson plans and delivery. We are rewriting curriculum, revising things to meet the virtual learning needs of our students, and we are glued to our screens because we have no choice. Some of us are at our wit's end mentally, and we can't even figure out a way to take a day off, because the substitute system is a mess.

Everyone keeps saying to keep our students' social-emotional needs in mind. Who is keeping the teachers in mind?