Common in students’ conversations over the last few weeks has been the topic of virtual learning. Although students have had to adapt to this new form of schooling, so have teachers, as accompanying virtual learning is virtual teaching. This new way of teaching is a tremendous challenge that teachers all over Montgomery County have had to tackle this semester.
The first of teachers’ priorities during the transition from in-person to online school was learning how to use their new technology. During the summer, teachers spent hours getting to know Zoom and familiarizing themselves with its multitude of features.
Montgomery Blair High School teacher Erik Lodal has spent a lot of time talking to colleagues about “how to get an attendance report based on who was on the call, how to utilize breakout rooms and going through all the submenus of options available in Zoom,” among other things.
Even now, as the school year progresses, teachers are still learning how to use their different technological tools.
“I have about 15 things on my ‘unresolved’ technical issues list that I’m still working on,” Lodal wrote. “There are a lot of little things to know [about Zoom], such as how to optimize a video for streaming so it is actually viewable.”
Teachers also had to adapt their teaching methods to fit an online model. With only two hour-long classes every week, high school lesson times are decreased by a total of 1 hour and 40 minutes each week. Teachers have had to learn how to maximize the effectiveness of their limited time with students.
“I am wary of trying to replicate the standard classroom routines I typically use, as they will lose some of their effectiveness in a virtual setting,” Richard Montgomery High School teacher William Vicari wrote. “There will be a lot of trial and error involved, as there is no real template for us to work from.”
Teachers are also addressing the problem of student disengagement in classes.
“I’ve been deliberately adding some routines to my classroom to make the [class] experience more interesting and engaging, as well as giving students ways to respond (such as having a cat in the office every class to say hi to everyone),” Lodal wrote.
Although most students long for a return to in-person school and some semblance of a regular school day, virtual learning is a challenge we all have to face. It’s vital for the sake of our safety, and teachers are doing what they can to make the most of it.
But, “as our administrators have been saying repeatedly, ‘We are all first-year teachers this year,’” Vicari said.
Teachers are all working through this difficult process one step at a time, and it’s important that students are patient and understanding with their teachers as they adapt to learning in an entirely new environment.
Article by Joy Jiang of Richard Montgomery High School
Photo by May Pham of Walter Johnson High School