At the outset of the tumultuous, 2020-21 pandemic school year, I was asked if I preferred to teach at my district’s virtual school rather than return to the classrrom in person.
I declined, for two reasons. First of all, I did not want to put myself in a position in which I could be assigned hundreds of students because virtual school has no physical space restraints to stymie a ridiculous overload. And second, I did not want to risk losing my position (including my physical classroom and my particular course responsibilities) at my current school.
However, even though I declined, when I was asked if I would like to teach virtual school, I assumed the request entailed actually teaching— meeting students virtually for class at a set time, and assigning my own class assignments via computer. It seems that such an expectation is also in line with guidance from the Louisiana Department of Education. Some key requirements:
- Teacher-led instruction with student-teacher interaction (e.g. live teaching, pre-recorded lesson, office hours, individual instruction, small group instruction) is a regular component of student instruction.
- Teachers regularly provide and set clear expectations for opportunities involving student-to-student interaction in a virtual setting (e.g., discussion boards, responding to peer assignments, live chats, etc.)
- Students have daily communication with a school staff member regarding academics (e.g., a check-in phone call, teacher-led instruction, email exchange, teacher feedback on student work, small breakout groups, chat, messaging applications such as Remind, etc.)
- Teachers have opportunities to collaborate to plan virtual instruction and adapt and annotate materials for the virtual classroom.
What I now realize is that the teachers who are working at my district’s virtual school are not teaching– they are supervising “caseloads” of students who are expected to complete a canned curriculum, Edgenuity, mostly “independently.” From the St. Tammany Virtual CONTINUE READING: La. Virtual School’s Whopper Course Sizes, with a Side of Edgenuity | deutsch29: Mercedes Schneider's Blog