Teachers Trained Online: Are They Ready?
Learners of all ages are experiencing a massive upheaval in our education system. From remote classes held on Zoom calls to socially distanced classrooms with the pandemic still lingering, nobody is learning the same way—and some students have checked out entirely. For college students majoring in primary education, this drastic change is more than just a tweak in curriculum.
Education majors are expected to do their fieldwork by student-teaching a class, alongside a cooperating teacher. This experience helps them build confidence and character as well as bonding with children in the classroom, which is an integral part of their final year in college.
Max Hodson, a fourth-year undergraduate art education student at SUNY New Paltz, is teaching both online and in-person at a middle school in Newburgh. His cooperating teacher runs a very tight ship in their school, which gives him limited freedom to do what he wants. As an art teacher, this can be restrictive.
Hodson has expressed dismay at the morale of his students in their school work and especially in Zoom calls where young middle schoolers are expected to pay attention to their screens like they would in a normal classroom and submit their homework online. He described a disconnect in his students having to sit in first thing in the morning and stare at computers all day, which isn't conducive to the normal creativity students should have in order to create art. He believes that it's not a realistic standard and definitely not one for young pupils. He often has to do volume control or ask repeated questions like; "Students, what do you think?" or "Can you read this?" or even "Can someone just say anything?" echoing his own voice with no response. Parents don't want to risk their child attending classes in-person, he says, so only a few show up while the rest of the seats are barren. "There are kids that don't come at all, like their parents said no, they're staying home. And I understand that."
“He often has to do volume control or ask repeated questions like; ‘Students, what do you think?’ or ‘Can you read this?’ or even ‘Can someone just say anything?’ echoing his own voice with no response.”
Hodson is also expected to record his lessons, come up with lesson plans and know tech-savvy things like various formats of Google programs and their applications. "There are so many different forms of Google I didn't even know existed."
He describes seeing CDC guidelines first-hand in place in school. Lunch time is mirrored like class with desks spaced six feet apart and a Netflix movie playing on a smart board in the front of the cafeteria. "It was the weirdest thing I've ever seen," said Hodson. "Some even had their school laptops open." When discussing their mindset, he said, "I think the word my teacher used was shell shock. I mean, a bit of an overkill, but still pretty accurate to how zombie-like these kids are."
Original artwork by Austin Kong.
Whereas kids in gym are more light-hearted than usual; "It was interesting to see them goofing around and talking amongst themselves because it's like they're still kids and not these really sad robots."
Pivoting to online classes is no easier for the teachers than it is for education majors. Diana Di Rico has taught at Baruch College Campus High School as an English teacher for 16 years. She agrees, like many others, that "connections between students are hard to foster or maintain. Many of them feel extremely isolated from one another and they're having a very hard time opening up."
Di Rico had to shift the dynamic of her classroom entirely because her students weren't always comfortable with having their cameras turned on in Zoom classes or even speaking through the mic. For students who are struggling due to a weak internet connection or being on a different part of the globe, she has had the realization that some might fail. Thus she's had to become increasingly flexible as an educator. "Fostering accountability isn't different now. How to hold people accountable while being flexible and meet them where their mental health remains front and center, is what's different. It's something on my mind as a high school teacher."
In one instance, she describes how disconnected she feels from her students where they can recognize her but she doesn't know any of their faces due to the greyed out boxes she sees in her Zoom class. As she was collecting paperwork in her school, a young man, who never usually attends in-person, entered her classroom and recognized her but she didn't know who he was. It was only until he said his name that prompted a jolt in her memory and she came to a realization that she knew him, but had never seen his face. That was the first time they actually met. "I've never seen this young man who, on my end, he sees me everyday."
"There's also no opportunity [for students] to be silly, to joke, to flirt, or to meet someone new," she said.
Despite all of this, she tries to remain resilient and puts on a positive face everyday. "I think a lot of the reason people stay in teaching is because it can be extremely rewarding. And the rewards have largely been taken out. So, to sustain it, I have to constantly look to see where it's been working."
“I think a lot of the reason people stay in teaching is because it can be extremely rewarding. And the rewards have largely been taken out. So, to sustain it, I have to constantly look to see where it’s been working”
While education undergrads like Max have had a more extensive teaching experience with both online and in-person, some others were not so lucky with that opportunity.
Scott, a SUNY New Paltz adolescent education major, who preferred not to use his complete name, had his entire teaching placement stalled for about a month with nothing to do during the beginning of his spring semester. Currently, he's now teaching at a BOCES school (Board of Cooperative Educational Services). He said, "Having to wait without really being able to ask anything has been a bit stressful because you know that you're being told, well - it's COVID."
Scott knows it's no fault of the school. "At the end of the day, it is out of your control." He also explains the dilemma of fieldwork in this time; "How could they allow a college student to come to their school and be in a classroom full of kids, and not add to their COVID-19 risk when they already have a high one because it's a school?"
Despite his early frustration in a long waiting period, he's optimistic about the outcome of his placement. Even if it's virtual and he doesn't happen to see any of his students in-person, he finds that being online works to his benefit regardless. "I'm still working with my cooperating teacher and making lesson plans while he's showing me how to put lessons together and everything. I'm gaining the experience I need to gain."
Pre-pandemic he would make slideshows for a lesson on U.S. imperialism, along with some help from his cooperating teacher who would send several links that he could use. This type of lesson plan can be done online, yet he admits it can be limiting. "I have a good amount of resources as it is, but I'd be able to do more traditional lesson plans if the pandemic didn't happen."
When asked if he'd prefer being in-person over online his response was "I think it'd be a smoother transition into me taking over if it was in-person. But at the same time, I'm not mad, given the situation, at being virtual because it's safer for everyone."
While some students are feeling that their online fieldwork is enough training, college professors like William Hong, who teaches filmmaking at SUNY New Paltz, aren't entirely sure. When asked if he feels that students doing their fieldwork are adequately prepared for a future as an educator he said, "No. I'm not an expert in training teachers, that's not my field, but again there's something that is vital. I think that if it is not part of the equation, if there isn't some kind of in-person component at some point — Well, I don't think anyone on this campus would be a teacher if it was a 100% online."
Sophie Herman, an education undergraduate with a concentration in art history, feels more positively about her experience, but that in part might be due to luck in her placement. She gets to teach in-person at an elementary school in Marlborough. "I'm one of the lucky ones. I get to come in four days a week," she said.
Yet in-person teaching can prove to be quite challenging. In a Kindergarten classroom, she's not allowed to touch the students or even give them guidance. "Kindergarteners are very tactile and their motor skills are still developing, like learning how to hold pencils and when you can't use playdough or sensory tables because everyone else is touching it too, it can be challenging. So I don't know if kids are going to be stunted in that area."
Even though Herman's limited due to the school's strict no-touching policy, she feels optimistic because she found ways to excel in other areas. "There's a trade-off too," she described. "I don't get the traditional experience, but now I'm awesome at creating slides."
A socially distanced classroom on SUNY New Paltz campus. Photo by Austin Kong.
Stepping up to be a teacher can be strange for someone who hasn't put in the years. That transition can be nerve-racking especially for a college student. "All of sudden, you're an adult or an equal and that's super strange because you're stepping into their territory," she said of filling the role of a seasoned professional. "I compare it to almost like a stepmother, so that my students won't be too surprised."
Maya Projansky has experience with both K-12 and college level learning. She is a fifth grade teacher in New York City at a public institution called The Earth School. She has taught in an elementary school for 17 years and at a graduate-level teaching course at SUNY New Paltz. For online learning, she feels that this isn't normal, especially for her fifth graders. "There's a neurological need to use the hands when teaching elementary school," she said.
The biggest challenge for Projansky in this climate is the inability to build proper relationships with students. Online learning has now shut off all the little things that instructors take for granted in a normal classroom. "We rely on being able to read facial expression, to catch the tone of voice, the look of an eye, or even body language. And when students don't have their camera on, I feel like I'm teaching with one arm behind my back."
“We rely on being able to read facial expression, to catch the tone of voice, the look of an eye, or even body language. And when students don’t have their camera on, I feel like I’m teaching with one arm behind my back.”
She also notes that "online learning should never replace face-to-face, person-to-person, learning." Yet her admiration goes towards her students. "I would say that at first, the transition was difficult. It was hard and I'm proud of them. I'm amazed at students of any age to make the shift to what's expected now."
Projansky believes that the effects of the pandemic have completely shifted the way educators like herself view normalcy now. "I don't know that we'll ever return to normal. And I want to say that, in education, I don't know if we should return to a full normal," she said. "A lot of our education structure is built on the Industrial Revolution as a model, rather than the reality of life."