“Honestly,” I said to my thirteen students from 11 different countries, “if teaching was a job that was only online, I wouldn’t be a teacher. I am here for the relationships. I am here to be with you. I have taken online classes, and I don’t remember the instructors or any of the other participants. To me, that would not be teaching.” This was on Thursday, March 12 as my school ran a practice drill of how school would work if it were all on line. We decided that on Thursday the students would come to school and pretend they were at home working on line, and then on Friday, the 13th students would stay home and do their work online. My students, though ELL, are all boarders, so this simply meant they would be in their dorms.
During the class period the executive committee at my school decided that all boarding students would be sent home. We would close the dorms. The goal was to have all students from 22 different countries back with their families no later than Monday, March 16th. By Monday the governor of Vermont had declared a state of emergency and required the closure of all schools no later than Wednesday, March 18th. On Wednesday, March 18th, we were asked to begin conducting all of our lessons online.
As more schools around the country face this reality, sharing ideas of what’s working, tips on what to do and what not to do seems like a practical way for us to help each other out. With a class of thirteen students I hosted a Zoom class meeting the first day of online school (March 18) All but four students attended. I just asked them to describe going home and how they felt. The conversation lasted forty minutes. We conducted another meeting on Friday, (March 20) and three who had not dialed in for the first meeting attended this meeting. Students compared how their countries were coping with the virus, from economic strife to quarantine to the level of citizens to take the CDC recommendations seriously.
Whatever you can do to keep a sense of community with your students; do it. If I were unable to conduct meetings like this I would be posting videos of myself in our LMS (learning management system.) Recognize that you are not an online teacher. You may never wish to be one. They are not online learners either. Take it slowly. Everyone needs to get used to the new normal. Be sure your personality shows up. Work to keep them connected to each other. In addition to these video chat meetings I post a discussion board where they can share their thoughts. And we are reading a book together in real time. I have recorded audio of myself reading it and they can listen to that or to a professional through audible. Most are choosing my recording. Finally, I am directing them to partake in writing activities that could someday become primary sources; helping them understand that what they write now will help other generations from now understand the severity of the crisis and the unprecedented nature of the time. My class is not be synchronous, nor should it be. They have other classes. Yours is not the only one. Take that into consideration when assigning work. Remember, this is scary and traumatic for most of them, be the helper and keep the safe, connected community you had in your classroom available to them online.
Sandra Mings Lamar, Director of International Programs for a small town academy in Vermont, is a 2016 Rowland Fellow, a returned Peace Corps Volunteer who served in Botswana, and has been teaching second language English learners since 1989.