On Friday, the academic year came to an end. Over the next few days we have a faculty meeting and have to finalize our grades. By Friday, after I head in to clean my classroom, I will have officially complete the year and my contract.
While this is not my student, I get the impression more than a few felt this way during our time at home.
What comes next? Too many questions as we await a plan on reopening the building, enrollment figures, class assignments, and new contracts. Some of those answers should make themselves clear tomorrow while others will reveal themselves between now and mid-August.
My students did pretty well, most adapting without too much complaint. I think it helped that as a faculty, we limited the number of online resources to teach with along with uniformly posting assignments by 8 one morning, with the work due the following morning at 8. Once a new rhythm and routine was clear, people could adapt.
Across my six classes, the majority dutifully did their work and submitted it. But they also chose not to join in the weekly Google Meets or engage much in anything beyond the work. I assigned it, they completed it, and maybe they would have a question. The rest of the time, I had no idea what was happening with them.
By using Google Classroom, I was able to easily add comments and private notes to the students, sometimes sharing an anecdote or asking a question. Most of the time, they may have been read but precious few actually responded.
The switch to home meant those who didn’t deliver in person, didn’t deliver online so little changed. But, there were others who seriously stressed and struggled. I would learn of issues at home from parents or our guidance counselors, rarely from the students themselves. Those, I would try and check in more regularly with mixed results. One mother reached out and asked me to set up a video chat to energize her daughter who was deeply behind and ready to give up. I guess it helped as she was in more regular contact and caught up on her work.
Those who did join the weekly calls did so more out of boredom and a sense of obligation, They didn’t really have much to ask or say and sometimes the conversations were awkward, as I coaxed them to tell me things. Every ow and then, the right mix of kids got together and there was free-wheeling chatter and laughter.
I missed the chatter and laughter. In the final weeks, it became evident how little I knew what was really going on in their minds. Yes, they did the work, but what did they really think of The Old Man and the Sea or 1984 or The Great Gatsby? Did they make interesting connections, have observations to share, have visceral reactions to the material. Too often it was hard to tell. Occasionally, a student would say something on a paper and I was wishing we could discuss the point as a class.
However we resume classes for the next academic year, there has to be more interaction, more give and take. I’ve already resolved to schedule one-on-one calls for everyone so I could go over work, offer advice, or just hear what’s on their minds.
I honestly cannot tell how many “learned” by doing the readings and completing the assignments. I suppose we’ll see when they return in August and they show off their skills and smarts. We’re entering a period where the unknown looms large and where we were nimble in switching to online, now we have to be deliberate and considered in what comes next.