Year 11 – Week 22: How I Teach In-Person Students and Remote Students...At The Same Time

Last summer, when we were planning for the fall of 2020, there were a couple of options on the table.

• All the students are in-person.
• All the students have remote instruction.
• There is a hybrid of in-person and remote teaching (e.g., Math class is in-person and art is remote).
• Students choose between in-person and remote instruction

All of these options had advantages and drawbacks. The only one of these I had done was having all students have remote instruction. I had never done in-person during the pandemic.

The hybrid model seemed to have potential, but that was also an unknown. I was leaning towards the idea that students could choose between in-person and remote instruction. Families have very different situations and different levels of risk they are willing to take. I felt early in the process that families should choose remote instruction.

I never imagined that I would be teaching students in-person and students who were remote at the same time.

I assumed that our students receiving remote instruction would somehow have a different remote instruction experience. So, I was surprised when our administration presented their plan. I had no idea how this was going to work. However, it didn't really stress me out as the school year started. I was already stressed trying to figure out how to teach music class without singing and what to do with band students since we couldn't have band anymore.

Since the start of the school year, I've taught in-person and remote students simultaneously. With my 4th and 5th grade pods of nine students, the most remote students I've had at a time was three.  With my middle school classes, I've had as many as six remote students in a class of 18. It varies from class to class. 

I cannot speak to how well this model is working with students in grades JK-3, as I only teach students grades 4-8.

On the best of days when I have a well-planned lesson and have meaningful ways for the students on Zoom to interact and participate, it works well. I'll have a student on Zoom on an iPad with a stand sitting at an empty desk. I'll move this iPad around during discussions and the student experiencing class, which is not all that different from for students in the room.

I clearly remember a great discussion as I sat in the front of the room with a desktop computer in front of me with six students on Zoom. I called on them as I did with the students present in the classroom, and the conversation felt organic and comfortable.

Teaching students who are at home while teaching students at school feels different, and there is a learning curve to getting used to doing this. It felt weird having students on a screen, some of whom had their cameras off, and trying to engage them with the students in-person at the same time. It felt awkward repeating things other students said throughout the discussion so the remote students can better participate in the discussion. And it felt horrible when early in the year, I would forget to actively involve the remote students. All of these feelings have passed, and this new norm at this point is not something that brings me stress or anxiety.

Would things be better if the remote learning students had their own individualized remote learning plan and the school did not integrate them with the in-person students? Some things would be better. The lessons could be better designed to be remote and likely be more effective.  However, these students wouldn't be a member of a larger classroom room. Most importantly, they wouldn't have a seat in the room.

Some families at my school have chosen for their children to be remote for the whole year. Others have had their children be remote for short periods and then switch to being in person. This has happened for various reasons. For example, if a student is exposed to a person outside of school who has tested positive for COVID-19, they can still have school when they are quarantining with the same teachers and same classmates.

Having a place for the remote students expresses that there is a place for them if they choose to be in-person. It's an optimistic view that we will be altogether at some point, and when that moment happens, we have a seat waiting for you.

If a school wants to go with the plan to have teachers teach remote students and students in-person at the same time, there's a couple of things that need to happen:

• Academic freedom: Teachers need the freedom to modify and change the curriculum to make lessons work for remote students and in-person students.
• Technology: Without a good laptop, a fast internet connection, an iPad, an iPad stand, a working projector, and cords and adapters to hook up my devices TO the projector, this whole type of teaching would be impossible.
• Cooperative parents: Families need to understand that the remote learning experience is different than if the entire class is remote and is willing to be a partner in making this work.
• Student-teacher ratio: The class size allows the students/teacher ratio to be 1:9 for lower graders and 1:18 for middle school and upper school grades is essential for making this set-up work.
• Teacher assistants and technology staff: There will be issues with the best set-ups. Having support staff is essential in helping solve problems so that teachers can focus on teaching.
• Prep time: Teachers have to learn a whole new way to plan, instruct, and assess. They need more prep time. One way to provide this time to have school days shorter. 
• Grace, patience, and support from administrators. 
  

It's interesting. All of the things listed above are things that teachers need all of the time. When the administration asks teachers to do more in this time of crisis, this list becomes more urgent. With all of these things I listed above, what I'm doing is really difficult, but it's possible, and it's worth the effort.

When there are no remote students, and I can focus on the students in the classroom, the class is easier to teach. However, when I have a class with in-person students and remote students, I feel proud to connect with my remote students and bring them into the classroom. It's not perfect, and sometimes it's a struggle, but like the nightly calls between my mom and my son, there can still be meaning, purpose, and joy in the imperfection.