Rian Reed teaches English and World Studies at Laurel High School in Prince George’s County, Maryland, and when she is not brainstorming with colleagues about how to get past technical glitches, she is reassuring students who find distance learning frustrating.
For many teachers, getting lesson plans that were carefully tailored for the classroom to work on platforms like Zoom is like trying to build the plane while flying it, Reed said.
“And it’s going down!” she joked. “The nose is going down!”
Reed said online learning is a mixed bag for her students, who have a variety of learning styles. One student told her proudly that he was doing better work, able to focus better, was more engaged and was really enjoying the class.
Others speak of a different story: Students struggling to adapt to the new virtual lessons email her things like, “I need you to sit right next to me, I need you to be here!”
It is the challenge teachers across the country are facing as schools remain closed because of the coronavirus.
Reed said some of the input she receives reveals the problems generated by the digital divide. She said some students new to the ins and outs of Chromebooks distributed by the school system have called her in near-tears, “because they don’t know how to navigate the technology.”
In addition to facing technological challenges, many parents are nervous about taking on the role of classroom teacher at home. Reed said for some of the parents she works with, it’s very complicated.
“There are some families with multiple kids with disabilities in their home, and some are more severe than others” said Reed, noting the competing needs could prove difficult for parents and their children.
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When she isn’t fielding academic questions, Reed said her students are inquiring about whether they’ll all be together in school again.
Reed teaches ninth, 11th and 12th grades. Her seniors can’t help but ask about prom and graduation, she said.
Will they be back in school to be able to experience those high school milestones? Reed can’t tell them, but in one case, while trying to lift her student’s spirits, she found a recording of “Pomp and Circumstance,” the music played at nearly every high school graduation.
She told her students to visualize making it to their goal.
They pressed her, asking what would happen if they really don’t get to celebrate graduation as a class. She said she told them, “Then, we’ll go back on this live, and I’ll play this song again, and then I’ll call your name at the end!”
Reed said she’s finding that teachers are leaning on each other to do exactly what they ask of their students: to be patient, to ask for help when it’s needed and to let go of what they can’t control.
“And I think that will help everybody with their stress level at this time,” Reed said.
