This past school year created a challenging environment for student learning. Most children learn better in a physical school, taking into consideration the support and social systems inherent in a school setting. Are there exceptions? Absolutely. In my experience, however, even the independent students suffered from the realities of online learning. Many of the complications of this learning mode center on the sheer fact that children are children—and will behave in a manner consistent with their stage of development.
One the of the first issues to arise during the implementation of the school year involved the diversity of home environments. Some students enjoyed a parent or two at home who may or may not be working, and some students were left home alone to learn on their own. Frankly, positive circumstances depended on the student’s personal discipline and the helpful participation of the parent, regardless of whether the parents were home or not. When left to their own devices, students would often converse with other students (via phone, messenger, etc.), play video games, or watch movies during class, resulting in a lack of attention to the lesson. When called upon, students did not know where we were in the lesson, often citing “technical difficulties.” The expectation of attentiveness—something managed in class—diminished due to distractions at home. Not only class time was wasted; students were not learning.
Evaluation of student learning was also made difficult. While testing lessened during the year, the ease of cheating proved to be an unavoidable draw for most students—even the “strong” ones. Students would take the test together, sharing answers as each worked on different parts of the test. Students would “google” answers, often copying verbatim from the site (using vocabulary they did not understand, and higher concepts yet to be taught). Basically, they could have their books, notes, computers, phones, parents, siblings, and neighbors at their fingertips to “help” them complete a test. On one occasion, I questioned a student on an answer and was told, “I didn’t know we couldn’t google answers.” Students who were in school were testing on a normal curve, but online students did extraordinarily well. This often led to some parents wanting their child to switch to online learning—because they were too “stressed” to come to school. It is the unusual student who places honesty first when all his or her friends are cheating. It’s a developmental issue, not a character flaw, and sadly, there are parents who have no problem with cheating; they are more interested in a good grade.
While I would encourage all parents to teach their child to ask the teacher for help, middle school begins the transition from a parent’s complete involvement in learning to a student’s initiation into self-management, meaning the student takes more responsibility for his or her learning. The nature of online learning prevents the give and take of informal conversation between the student and teacher, whether before/after class, at recess, in the cafeteria, or before/after school. While students were given the opportunity to set up individual Zoom calls outside of class, very few would take advantage of the opportunity. There was not enough class time to talk individually to students (aside from the fact that everyone would be a part of the conversation), so the checks and balances students receive during a normal school year were almost nonexistent.
Many more obstacles presented themselves during the past school year, some visible in a limited number of students. There will always be parents whose children “are better suited for online learning”; however, most students perform more favorably in a school environment because they lack the maturity and development to learn on their own, and many do not have adequate support systems to manage online learning. Also, the relationship teachers build with the students is just as important, and nothing can compete with seeing them face-to-face. What was the overriding takeaway for 2020-2021? Students need to be in school.
Designs on Life 