Teaching Behind the Screen

By: Mt Chu

Earlier this year school’s all over the U.S closed because of Covid-19. It’s been a few months now since distance learning has started. A lot of students have complained about the increase of homework and assignments but what’s it like for the person on the other side of the screen, the teacher?

Lisa Chu, a 9th grade biology teacher at Skyline HS in Mesa, Arizona provided some insight on what it's like teaching during a pandemic. She described how,”It was a rocky start, but once everyone got into the routine of being online classes ran smoothly”. But that doesn’t mean that she wouldn’t run into any issues in the near future.

Teaching already comes with many challenges, and having to teach online adds even more to the weight that teachers have to carry. Since teachers now have to teach in front of a computer screen instead of a classroom, that results in many problems that are out of their control. Since students cannot participate in hands-on activities teachers have to rely on online resources instead. “I had to film lab demonstrations instead of having the students run the experiments themselves,” she explained.

But that those types of issues are manageable, unlike some others. For example, she described, “with distance learning, many teachers and students run into technology issues, with their computer or Wifi, and this often disrupts class.” Teachers can do nothing about technology issues except for hoping that the problem fixes itself.

Another problem that comes with distance learning is communication. Before the pandemic, teachers had the ability to speak to their students face to face but that isn’t the case anymore since online school started. “Most students require help, but they do not reach out to the teacher to get it,” she said. And even when teachers try to reach out to their struggling students, they are still reluctant to admit that they need help.

Communication with the parents of the students can be even more difficult. Parents only really know the information that their kids give to them, because a lot of them are too busy working to attend parent meetings. When teachers try to get in contact with parents to report missing work or behavioral problems it sometimes ends in arguments or them getting ignored. “Parents respond to emails slowly, and they almost never reply to phone calls,” she expressed.

With online meetings it’s hard to monitor the students you are teaching. I myself have noticed a trend with students being very reluctant to turn on their web cameras, but what must that feel like to teachers? “ It’s awkward and a bit disheartening to not be able to see my students when we are all online” she said, “The kids do not stay engaged, and they barely talk. Teaching online basically consists of talking to a screen with no faces to look at all day”.

Even during hard times like these Lisa still finds motivation to keep on pushing forward. The real reason why she wanted to be a teacher in the first place is because of her previous experiences. She said how, “I loved and respected the teachers that I had back in school, and I’d like to be a teacher that has a positive impact on my students as well”.

She went on to say that, “I really care for all my students and I hope for the best for all of them. If I can be a part of their journey and help them out in some way, then my hard work as a teacher is worth it”.

With all the negatives of online schooling, there are also positives. Online classes teach students how to,“learn how to organize their schoolwork on their own, write down due dates, review for tests, and keep up with assignments,” she explained.

Teachers and students should work together, we should reach out to other for help and cooperation, and just communicate more. Everyone needs to put in effort so we can get through these unprecedented times.