By Donette Sawian
For the past few days, a WhatsApp photo mocking online classes has been doing the rounds. The photo shows a grandmother sitting for online classes while her grandson was playing obviously paying no attention to what was going on in his class. At one glance it brings a smile but the photo portrays other things. The dreaded Corona Virus has put an end to many things we take for granted. Yet among other things, the crisis has not managed to kill the hope of a determined teacher. The physical connection is disrupted but teachers have left no stone unturned to usher in the new normal classroom environment.
The lockdown could not have been expected. And for many teachers it has been an awful experience. But this is not about our grievances. It’s about our efforts-that despite a trying period of education being compromised, new techniques of classroom instruction have evolved. Now, technique for many would merely mean sending notes online or through WhatsApp. For a teacher it has come to mean much more…
Over two months ago, we were given the order to start online classes. A few teachers groaned but many were shocked since they did not know how to operate a computer, let alone conduct a class online. Zoom, Google and PDF were words unheard of by most. Yet we tested the unfamiliar waters, made a thousand mistakes and struggled to prepare lessons in a way we were untrained and unprepared for.
In no time, new classes were running regardless of the fact that we had to unlearn a lot of things to learn new ways of instruction. This was challenging, no doubt but not as much as the criticism that came thereafter. Complaints flew to us in the form of phone calls, conversations at the grocer’s and even text messages. The complaints ranged from too much work for a child to the lack of it. Or the time children spent in front of the computer screen. Or the misuse of a smart- phone by the smarter young adults.
Having been teaching for many years, we have learnt to take the good with the bad when it comes to dealing with children. But this is something new. In what we call a real classroom, a connection is made when a teacher stands in front of the students. But now one has to work harder to establish that same connection to ensure attention and discipline. Furthermore, while many of us know what it takes to guarantee obedience in a teenager at home, few understand how much it takes to command respect from a class of fifty teenagers at the same time. That too while being physically absent from the classroom. Yet few teachers have been credited for this ability.
A lot of teachers have made a Whatsapp group of their class for worksheets and video lessons. Some claim that this is better since it has a wider reach. Children can use their parents’ or guardians’ smart-phones for assignments. But here too lies a problem. For though content is available, the delivery has not ensured proper learning and understanding. Quick to judge parents have complained that notes are difficult to copy from a phone and worksheets sent as images are not clear enough. Will anyone lend a listening ear if we say we correct our students’ work on a screen too?
As we struggle to take control of the situation, we also learn that a class today includes those whose parents take a hundred percent interest in what the child learns and those who have lost their livelihoods, trying to return home or has problems to feed a family. Given this situation, few are interested in their child’s education which results in the child not getting the worksheets and video lessons. But we go on, praying that this maintenance of continuity would gradually bring about productivity.
The desire to maintain continuity in the teaching learning process has however brought about another doubt that has clouded the thoughts of parents’ and students’ alike. An overly anxious father once asked whether this was the way we intended to finish the syllabus. In our sincere effort to continue learning, it is indeed sad to hear about ‘completing’ the syllabus. The goal is to reach out to our students- to ensure that they know we are still here for them and to try to impart learning. Those who still doubt the system should understand that lessons are planned now not to complete the syllabus but to ensure a minimum learning outcome.
Experts today discuss on the potential of virtual classes. We believe them. And while many of us had been using the internet only as a tool for teaching, we are now using it as the only means of teaching. This reflects a commitment. Therefore, arguments on the inability to reach out to the many who can ill afford a smart-phone or a personal computer become unjustified. As educators we have no choice and we are taking a step using the only tool we have in this situation. The gap between the rich and the poor has always been there in education and efforts to bridge that gap are continuously being made. But to say that online classes should be discontinued simply because of their limited reach is to bring up another argument –whether schools should leave their young students astray in the lockdown.
We are among the hundreds of workforce that has been pushed into this new ‘working from home’ territory. Like all parents, we are also uncertain now because our own children too are going through the same experience.. Thus, from coping with late night lesson preparation to telephonically counseling a worried student, teachers have come a long way. We fight to keep our heads above water and we also wonder about our students who are not a part of our WhatsApp group or do not have access to the internet.
What keeps us going is the thought that this pandemic is not permanent, that our schools will reopen, that we will see our students in uniform, that in the hearts of those who say it is not enough- we are trying to give our children hope that this too will soon pass…
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