Week 3: My journey to online teaching

I was new to online teaching when I started incorporating ed tech to assist student with their learning. I had just started a new classroom contract in Grade 5, which was a big change from full time high school. The fall of 2020 began with meeting my students through daily hour long Zoom classes. Students slowly transitioned back to the classroom by being grouped into cohorts of 5-6 and more face-to-face instruction (6 feet apart, ppp masks and intense sanitation rules). Providing instruction to small groups every day was repetitive and I found that student engagement was low because my students just wanted to enjoy each others company. We never factored in just how social isolation affected our students.

Online learning had many, many challenges: routines had to be established, instruction time was staggered because of internet accessibility, digital divide with multiple learners sharing a laptop, time adjustments had to be made to fit in with family/home schedules, no opportunity for one-to-one instruction, lack of homework completed and structured support in the home. Teaching media literacy skills became part of every Zoom class and took away from instructional time. I felt my students frustrations and tried my best to accommodate each situation. A specific example I can share is having to drop off homework packages because of internet problems.

Fast forward to 2022 when I returned to full time high school teaching and was met with the challenges of online learning. Tech-assisted learning in my school looked like students sharing a device (laptop) or using their personal devices (cellphones) in the classroom. Finding the balance between using tech for instruction and the world of social media is a continuing struggle. I think that as I grow more comfortable and confident with online and blended learning, the outcomes in my classroom will improve. My perceptions of this model of instruction and learning have changed over the years. As I embrace the online/blended model, my students benefit from my instruction. They become confident with tech the more we use it in the classroom. I am excited to take part in this EC&I 834 class because it will help me develop more instructional skills. Thank you for reading!