Teaching in a Remote Environment

First, contrary to other opinions I have seen out there, remote delivery is NOT the same as in-person teaching. It is almost the complete opposite. Delivery methods are different, engagement is different, trying to ‘read the room’ is VASTLY different. Secondly, not only are you dealing with your own technology, but you also now must deal with the technology of 20-30 additional people. Internet connections can be spotty, understanding of technology can be questionable, hell, even the power can go out. It happens!!

Trying to engage 20 or 30 people, kids or adults, is difficult to begin with. Now picture those same people in their own rooms with all the distractions that one could even imagine. You no longer have a hostage environment (people in a classroom environment that don’t really want to be there), you have a semi-hostage environment where all those hostages have several keys to the cell. Imagine trying to keep those people engaged in a topic that they are not interested in. Sounds like pure hell to me! 

I recently spoke to a fantastic group of middle school teachers about teaching in a remote environment and most of the questions were about engagement. How do you keep the kids engaged? The answer in a lot of cases is HUMOR. Tell a joke, make the topic funny, jump out of your chair, do something to make them look back at their screen. But you must remember that the jokes are not the engagement tool. It is a distraction from the distraction. It brings their focus back to you, but it is your job to reengage them once they are there. I always recommend that teachers and trainers always have an arsenal of bad jokes in their pocket. Once you see that you have lost a couple of people, tell a joke, do something funny, regain focus, regain engagement, and continue with your lesson.

To sum this up, the teachers that were LAUNCHED into remote teaching with ZERO training are doing a great job. It is a learned skill, and you did not get that ‘learning’. You had to learn the art of remote delivery and the technology around it in a timespan of what seemed like a few minutes. Maybe it was two weeks. Either way, it was not enough time. So, keep up the good fight and keep giving our kids the great education that you know how to give.

Let me know what remote learning topic you want me to write about next!!!