Reaching Through the Screen

 I've been pretty open and transparent about my concern for the virtual students I serve. Back in December, I designed inquiry projects that I thought were accessible and interesting. I decided that this project would not count negatively towards their final mark, despite it being a significant portion of our time in class and the expectations from the term. If the project improved their grade, it counted. If the project lowered the grade, I commented on the project but did not let it impact the grade. Some students did a fantastic job and their marks rose. Others ... well ...

There's a higher-than-average number of students doing poorly, especially in one particular class. For some individuals, this coincides with what other teachers are seeing. For a few, I'm the only one not seeing the results I had hoped. It's tempting to dismiss it as "it's not me; it's you" but I feel compelled to try something different to lead to greater success without lowering the standards for the age and grade too much. 

I've turned to Kerri Commisso, a conscientious and hard-working teacher on my staff that I've written about before on my blog. I showed her a list of all the main tasks I provided during the first term, and asked her for ways to help the under-performing students to participate more and contribute more evidence that they are learning. She suggested a few things, which I wrote on a list that's posted in my office. Some of the tactics she suggested included keeping a class list and tracking who had spoken during a class discussion, then calling directly on students who had not spoken. I tried this and, although I was able to reach some of the students that usually try to slip under the radar, I had at least two other students complain that this "was taking too long" and was "boring". 

Kerri also suggested small group tasks and Jamboards with the students names on stickies, so that they could see when they've made a contribution. My latest task is to play virtual "hide and seek" using a map of my office. The slide deck gives them a word bank so they know how to type their clue. There are instructions on how to Arrange > Order > Send to Back items so they can be "hidden" on the map. Plus, we've used two class periods so that I could help students complete the task, so they didn't necessarily have any "homework" to complete outside of instructional hours. This task was due on Friday, February 11. When I checked on Sunday afternoon, 57% of one class and 50% of the other class finished it on time. I guess I'll need to make another extension before playing with them online.

The challenge is just as real in kindergarten. Some students are focused and some are distracted. I have been reading the Blue Spruce books with them online and attempting some "Forest of Making" like activities. I never get 100% participation. I thought I'd make it easier by taking the photos of the students and their work myself; it felt frenetic and I was able to capture over a dozen students who, in response to the book Malaika's Surprise, wrapped something from their home and wrote a word on it. (The follow-up goal was to have others guess what was wrapped and then do a version of an "unboxing" reveal, but many students misplaced their wrapped surprise.) 

I really wish there was a way I could reach them more effectively through the screen. There are times where I think that the online version of a task will give better results, but that has not yet been the case. For instance, for my health class, I gave the same type of task to an in-person and virtual class: we played a PBS video game called Arthur's Lunch-O-Matic. The second time we played it, I asked students to record the first letter of their guess. Online students typed the first letter of the object in the chat and in-person students wrote the first letter of the object on a mini-chalk board and held it up for me to see. Questions were things like "Which one of these items would give you protein? Spinach (S)? Chicken Fingers (CF)? Apple (A)? Or Orange Juice (OJ)?" A couple of times, I even showed the explanation for each item, which would often actually directly give the answer. The average score for the virtual class was 4/10. The average score for the in-person class was 8/10. 

At least one success has been our staff professional learning. Last Wednesday, February 9, we had a staff meeting and conducted it virtually. We embedded a SIP-connected activity and it seemed to go quite well.

What are your thoughts looking at these @unlearn_com posters. Open discussions during our @AgnesMacphailPS staff meeting was thought-provoking! pic.twitter.com/biDWBNVAnx

— Jen Balido-Cadavez (@jenabee_c) February 9, 2022

What's the answer? Every time I think I'm close to understanding how to address the problem, my results tell me that it's not the case. Sorry if it sounds like I'm complaining - it's not all that bad, I guess. Students ARE learning online. They are happy and safe. Some teachers are going to extraordinary efforts to engage their students. It's just not easy. I hope that the 2022-2023 school year will be in-person for most of our learners and that we can do it safely.