Today we held our second class on Zoom so we could do some peer conferencing in small writing groups. I spent hours over the weekend researching the best way for students to share their work. While I really wanted to use Google Drive, our campus uses OneDrive, so after several back-and-forth emails with tech folks on campus, I set up shared folders for each small group. Receiving feedback can be scary for new writers (and old writers, too!), so I always take care to establish comfortable norms and procedures for peer conferencing. While the sense of community isn’t quite the same in a world of masks and Zoom meetings, I felt confident that students were ready to interact in this way. Because I’m teaching at a Christian university, I have the freedom to incorporate some faith perspective during each class. Today I encouraged students to use the chat box to share a one sentence prayer. “God can read your chats. Are you convicted” I joked with them. “Lord, thanks for waking us up and keeping us healthy,” one student wrote. Another added, “I pray we not take for granted the opportunity to learn, even though our circumstances are different.” Nearly every student added something. Sometimes tech is better. Our use of breakout rooms went fairly well. I gave students instructions to read and comment before moving to a verbal conversation about each piece of writing. I modeled how to use the commenting feature in OneDrive shared documents, and then I sent them to their groups. Normally at this time, I would be walking around the room to monitor each group’s progress. Instead, I have to magically pop in to check on each group individually. It quickly became clear that the entire process was going to take way longer than I had anticipated because of the technology issues different groups had at the beginning of their breakout room time. Despite some tech glitches, though, the entire process seemed to work well. I went back through students’ essays after class to see rich, worthwhile discussions about their writing. Most writers made a list of action points at the end of their essay as they start their next phase of revision. Hearing from their peers was helpful; we don’t learn in isolation. During my second class, I shared my screen and modeled the norms and procedures for several minutes before one student commented in the chat: “I don’t think we can see the screen you’re trying to show us.” Sometimes tech is not better. Ugh. I was so embarrassed and still have no idea what they were looking at that whole time. I’m working with a dual monitor system that feels clunky and awkward for me. Am I Luddite? Probably. (Today I had to look up how to switch audio so I could still hear my music from my laptop when I plugged in the extra monitor.) I got them sent off to the rooms when one student reentered our meeting to ask me some questions about the feedback she should be providing. Then we both struggled to figure out how she could put herself back in her breakout room. “Technology is not my thing,” she confessed. I laughed and pointed at myself. “Well, clearly it’s not mine,” I said as she was whisked back to her breakout room. At least we are learning together.
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Learning new things feels awkward. And then it gets easier. That happened this spring when I started making face masks. I looked at several patterns, measured, messed up, took out stitches, remeasured, tried again. It took forever! Now I can whip one together in minutes. I reminded my students that learning can be frustrating today when we tried to write three-story thesis statements during our Zoom session. We were meeting on Zoom because most of our class today consisted of small group work, much easier and safer online than in our classroom. Most of their experience from high school classes focused on five-paragraph essays, and now we move beyond that to a more organic style. Starting with this kind of thesis feels strange. I answered several questions during our sessions: Am I doing this right? Is this working? Can this be improved? I also needed that reminder today. It was my first day using Zoom breakout rooms, and several times I had to ask my students for feedback because I felt uncomfortable and clunky. Is this working? Are you seeing the screen I want you to see? Is it strange when I join up with your group? By my second class of the day, my tech use felt more fluid. I remembered to have them introduce themselves and do some informal sharing in small groups before digging into coursework. It got better with time. I'm hopeful that will be true with each additional Zoom class. This was also the first day of Distance Learning 2.0 for my sons. They are both in high school now, and today was hard. They were tired when I woke them at 8 after months of staying up late and starting their mornings leisurely. We had forgotten to connect one new iPad to the WiFi, and one son had to continually be reminded that he needed to have lights on in his workspace, that it wasn't nap time. The schedule was new; the setup was different. Am I doing this right? Is this working? Will I ever figure this out? I'm giving my students, myself, and my children some extra grace today. This is a new educational world we are venturing in, and the learning will feel different. It might be painful. We will mess up. But we will be make it through. Because I don't know what the alternative is. I’m an Enneagram 2, a Helper through and through, but today I saw how the self-sacrificing and people-pleasing components to my type 2 might be detrimental to in-person teaching during the Times of COVID. As I was walking to my classroom today, I saw a student looking lost outside the door. A perfect opportunity to help! She asked me if she was in the right classroom for Spiritual Formations. In order to help her, though, I needed to look at her schedule on her phone. That required being much closer than six feet. Thankfully we were both masked. I felt the healthy “buzz” I get from helping someone, but it came with a side of discomfort from the physical proximity. Another Enneagram 2 weakness of mine is an inability to set healthy boundaries. You can see how this might be a problem as we cram 23 adult-sized bodies in a classroom space. That also means, though, that my desire to be liked makes it hard for me to assert myself. Again today I had to remind a student to make sure his bandanna was covering his nose. This feels like the old days of monitoring cell phone use; now I monitor proper face covering use. And while this might not be Enneagram related, I’ve always made it one of my first priorities as a teacher to build a sense of community. I didn’t feel like that really happened on day one this year. I didn’t let my students introduce themselves or discuss our freewriting activity. Their seats face the front of the room, so I am on display in front of them and on the screen. This is not my teaching style at all. As I read through their introduction letters in Moodle, I noticed that many students mentioned that they were happy to be together on campus, that they missed community through discussion. So today we ventured into discussion. Using quotes about critical thinking and revision, we engaged in some freewriting before discussing. And nearly every single student in both of my classes had thoughts to share. I heard so many voices! They are hungry for community, ravenous for connection, starving to hear their own voices -- even behind the masks. At times I found myself moving around the front of the room like I did in days past, getting closer than I should have to students in the front. And then I forgot the student joining us on Zoom, having to check a couple of times to make sure she was still with us and wanted to add to the discussion. It was better, but not perfect. And all of the talking feels dangerous. Too many aerosols? Too much time with shared air? I’m trying to remember that keeping students safe and healthy is ultimately the most helpful choice I can make. That requires a cognitive shift for me...and way more time spent planning than in previous semesters. I forgot to ask Julia if she listened to her song yet. I’ll check on Thursday. During my first class today, I complimented a student who was wearing Stan Smith sneakers like mine. Then after the fact I realized that he might be embarrassed to have the same footwear as his middle-aged professor. If it makes him feel better, President Obama has them, too! |
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September 2020
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