In my post yesterday I spent a little bit of time answering the most frequent questions I seem to get about my job; for those of you who don't know, I am an online teacher for a wonderful public school in Texas. Last year I taught eighth grade Language Arts, and I expect to teach the same this coming school year.
I helped a little with the interview process for a few of the open positions this year and the applicants seemed to ask me pretty much the same questions. What does my day look like? How is it different than teaching in a traditional classroom?
I think today I will begin by talking a little bit about how the position is different and tomorrow I will try to paint you a little picture of what my day teaching from home looks like.
How is teaching online different than teaching in a traditional classroom setting? Of course there are the obvious differences - I am at home and the kids are at their homes. But when you reflect on just that piece of the equation alone, it accounts for a lot of differences. Once I drop my son off at daycare, I am pretty much alone each day (physically that is). I don't have people popping in my office or classroom to ask me questions; I don't have my classroom phone ringing; I don't have the intercom blaring information at me or bells ringing. It is me - somewhat unstructured and uninterrupted. I am going to guess it is similar for students. Although a parent is usually with them during their school day and perhaps siblings, the interruption of fellow classmates is gone - or at least takes a different form (perhaps via emails, etc.)
So, that being said my discipline problems are pretty non-existent. Last year I had to re-direct some students to get them back on track in my virtual classroom (they were chatting off topic) and I had a couple of cases of plagiarism to deal with. Honestly, I can't say I had tons of discipline problems in the traditional classroom either, but the lack of focus on classroom management is definitely different.
I have a much more flexible schedule. Now by that, I don't mean I can work whenever. I have set hours from 8:00-4:00 with a lunch break in there somewhere, but during those hours I have a lot of flexibility when I do what. In a traditional classroom I had class periods, and I knew which students would be in each section on which days. That isn't how it is set up in my online world. I have set live teaching times (2-4 a week depending on how many students and preps) and I have set meeting times (usually in the mornings from 9:00-10:00 when they are scheduled) and then the other time I structure around what I need to get done and who I need to talk with. I like the flexibility and being able to structure my own time around the tasks I need to complete and the needs of my students/families.
It is much easier to differentiate instruction in an online course. All students are given the same curriculum to complete, but I can make additions or deletions to their assignments based on their needs. Students are also able to work at a different pace. They have a minimum of work to complete by the end of the semester, and I provide them with some pacing information, but students can choose to spend longer on one lesson than another. In my opinion, this is one of the biggest advantages of online instruction.
Teaching online is also very transparent. In a traditional school, I went in my classroom and taught and what I did with my students was not very visible to those outside of my room. Sure, I had visitors sometimes and my observations, but that was pretty much where the visibility stopped. In my online classroom, I record my live teaching sessions and post them for anyone to view. Grades are viewable by teachers, admin, students, parents, etc. What I am teaching is visible and how I am teaching it is visible. Reports can be run to see how long it takes me to grade and return feedback to students (we are given a window of time in which grading should take place). Call logs show how often I speak to families. Email logs show what I say to students and families. I am accountable for my teaching and interaction with students/families and it is all visible. I am good with that; in fact, I am GREAT with that.
And probably the most important difference I have seen between my traditional teaching experience and teaching with TCAH is parental involvement. In the brick and mortar schools where I taught, it was always such a chore to get parents interested in what their students were doing or learning in school. In my experience teaching with TCAH, the students' education is more a collaboration with the family than just me and the student. It is a partnership where the parent works at home with the student, and I assist them all in helping the student learn a concept and be successful. Parents are able to log in and view the students' lessons and grades at any time. They know what the student is learning and are involved in the process. I LOVE that.
As I see it, those are the major differences between teaching online and face-to-face. I hope you noticed that I didn't spend much time focusing on technology or not physically seeing the kids. To me those are given and neither make much impact on my teaching. Good teaching is good teaching - online or off. Building relationships with students is something that good teachers do - online or off.
Come on by tomorrow and I'll give you a peek into my day as an online teacher. As always, if you have any questions, please ask!
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