Home
Log in / Sign Up
    Private Messages   Advanced Search   Rules   New User Guide   FAQ   Advertise   Contact Us  
Forum -> Chinuch, Education & Schooling
Curious to hear why you think kids can't learn on zoom
Previous  1  2  3  4  5



Post new topic   Reply to topic View latest: 24h 48h 72h

amother
Khaki


 

Post Mon, Oct 26 2020, 5:16 pm
As a teacher, I will tell you it very much depends on the kid, and a bit on the home situation.

I had some kids who thrived on zoom- They felt too pressured by their peers in the classroom and loved getting out of the environment. They loved the ability to chat their questions instead of having to ask out loud.
I had some who bombed- whether the ones who couldn't manage to show up at all. Or the ones who could show up to class but couldn't stay focused on the screen more than 2 minutes, and I couldn't stand next to them to find the page like I could in school. The ones who come to school for a bit of time focused on their learning, but at home were constantly being asked to babysit during class also lost out. And some kids just suffered without the social interactions.

Some kids are great at self paced learning through assignments and would hand in assignments as soon as I gave them, and others handed in half the semester's assignments the night before school ended (and never handed in the other half).
Back to top

Rosemarie




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Oct 26 2020, 6:19 pm
amother [ Periwinkle ] wrote:
I don't believe the parents who have sent me complimentary emails about my teaching and saying how pleased they are with their child's learning, are lying. I have had several, since the school year started. And many of them are either working from home (in the same room, I can see them) or are SAHM who are in and out (the first week or so they sat with their kids, now they have eased off) so they have a pretty good idea of what's going on.
Is it perfect? No. I do have one (bright but probably ADHD) student who is struggling to focus and work independently. I have another 1 who doesn't log on regularly to classes. But that is 2 out of 22 kids.

Therein lies your answer. Your class seems to be unique in that it is made up of mostly stay at home or work feom home moms, whoch allows these moms tons of flexibility amd they can sit into your classes and help guide their kids. I'd venture a guess that those mom's also don't have a large number of kids, because you can only sit with one child's zoom class at a time unless you have a clone.

So you're basically saying zoom class works if the parents help. Most parents are not able to do this. If all your parents are able to do this, if venture a guess that you teach at an upscale school... (don't bash, just a guess. ) nobody in my circles can sit with all their kids, whether because most families I know have 2 working parents, and even those that don't have large families...
Back to top

amother
Periwinkle


 

Post Mon, Oct 26 2020, 6:38 pm
No.
I have around 4 or 5 SAHM. The rest are mostly working at home parents, due to covid. A few have babysitters. (Probably not that different than the breakdown of a typical class in a frum school). At least two are in very chaotic homes with a big multi generational family, with tons of noise whenever they unmute. No, these aren't huge families but there are definitely little sibs coming in and interrupting etc. I can also see (and sometimes hear) older sibs sitting at the same table doing their own remote learning. Somehow, it just works.
I don't know why people are so desperate to try and put down my experience. I get people want to schools to stay open. But it doesn't mean that if schools need to close, it has to be a disaster. On the contrary, it can work quite well.
Back to top

dancingqueen




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Oct 26 2020, 7:16 pm
keym wrote:
I think it shows that when a parent chooses to set up their lifestyle and expectations with online school and then choose the most ideal school, program, and platform or combination, then it can work well.

What we are all dealing with is nothing like that.
I'm talking about childcare while having to work, schools with hybrid situations, teachers that are expected to teach live and remote at the same time, parents that are not thrilled about the amount of screen time, schools who feel the pressure to increase learning time to excuse collecting tuition, and the disappointment of children who are missing the education and experience they were really used to and wishing for.


I’m living through this too, I get that it has NOT been an easy year. I’m just saying that I didn’t think zoom school was a total disaster, the way my kids school did it. I think real school is more ideal obviously.
Back to top

amother
Salmon


 

Post Mon, Oct 26 2020, 7:23 pm
amother [ Periwinkle ] wrote:
No.
I have around 4 or 5 SAHM. The rest are mostly working at home parents, due to covid. A few have babysitters. (Probably not that different than the breakdown of a typical class in a frum school). At least two are in very chaotic homes with a big multi generational family, with tons of noise whenever they unmute. No, these aren't huge families but there are definitely little sibs coming in and interrupting etc. I can also see (and sometimes hear) older sibs sitting at the same table doing their own remote learning. Somehow, it just works.
I don't know why people are so desperate to try and put down my experience. I get people want to schools to stay open. But it doesn't mean that if schools need to close, it has to be a disaster. On the contrary, it can work quite well.


Because people like you keep putting down the experience of the 99% of people for whom it doesn't work just because you got lucky. And insisting that obviously someone must be doing something wrong, because hey, it worked for you. Well guess what, it doesn't work, and schools need to be open, or we will be seeing disastrous long term consequences among a generation of destroyed youth.
Back to top

amother
Smokey


 

Post Mon, Oct 26 2020, 7:44 pm
Just chiming in with our own personal experience.
Zoom was a disaster for my elementary sons last Spring. We therefore (among other reasons, too) decided to homeschool them for this current school year. Homeschool is TOTALLY different from zoom school. On zoom, there is no accountability. The child can completely space out and the teacher will not know, or worse, the child can just walk away. The inhibition that gets kids to sit in their seats and be quiet and listen to a teacher in a classroom setting does not exist on zoom. The only way I can see zoom have some true benefit for your average student is in a very small group; maybe 2-4 students and the teacher can truly interact with them. Otherwise, it is garbage, in my mind. Homeschooling is one-on-one, so by definition, the child is fully engaged in the lesson. Of course, it's not for everyone, but for us it is BH working well, so far.
Back to top

amother
Blonde


 

Post Mon, Oct 26 2020, 8:14 pm
As an adult taking a part time university course I have found zoom learning very challenging, so I don't see why I should expect my children to find it easier. A university lecture is probably a much easier format to adapt to zoom than a regular classroom, but just sitting in front of a screen making notes does not work for me.

Last year was a scramble, and over the summer the university really did a lot of work so that this year it works a lot better, but I just don't like the format. Most teachers ask that we leave cameras open, but don't make it a rule. Anyone asking a question has to open their camera so that there can be some dialogue, rather than speaking into an empty screen. It's still much harder to have any kind of discussion, and interaction between classes just doesn't happen. As soon as a class is over, everyone is rushing to deal with their children and we don't get those breaks just to chat or clarify point from the previous class.
Back to top

amother
Lavender


 

Post Tue, Oct 27 2020, 2:11 am
We had a fabulous zoom experience in one school, and meh to awful experiences in others.

WTA (Westchester Torah Academy, Modern Orthodox) have been absolutely fabulous. The school is constantly innovating, soliciting feedback from parents, kids and staff, and evolving.
I'm calling them out by name because they're head and shoulders above our other remote schooling experiences.

Some of the things that have made WTA remote schooling so great:

- There is a single organized and simple website with all the information that each child needs. It's updated daily, on time, so kids have a single, consistent, easy to use starting point every morning. In the other school it's a huge mess. There is a website, but login is annoying, the information is a bit disorganized, it updates during the day, the links change, the formatting is inconsistent because each teacher dumps a laundry list of links and random instructions into their page, etc.

- Children were taught the skills they need to navigate remote schooling independently. They know how to get to their class homepage, where to see the schedule, where the zoom links are, how to use zoom, how to mute, unmute, share screen, etc. This isn't magic. They know because the teachers taught them, and the staff made sure the whole experience was well designed so that kids wouldn't get lost. Most of the parents in the school work, either in home or out, and have more kids, so the school made independence a priority.

- The kids were doing computer learning even before the pandemic started. It wasn't hours upon hours, usually ~20 minutes a day. But the programs were already in place, the kids had been using them since they started first grade and the teachers knew how to understand from these programs where each child is in their learning. No random worksheets that you have to photograph and email, no piles of links to a million practice sites. That made a huge difference.

- The school made sure every child had their own device to use during school, loaning laptops to those that didn't have.

- The teachers and staff are amazingly dedicated and willing to spend the time to learn new technologies. In a different school... 8 months in to the pandemic, my child's teacher still doesn't know how to mute all or disable the chat and she wastes time yelling at the kids to be quiet and stop using the chat.

Obviously it doesn't work for everyone, and there are definitely kids that can't deal with the hours and hours of screens. Face to face social interaction is very hard to give up. But so many of the problems *can* be solved by a dedicated and thoughtful staff and supportive parent body. For my first grader, it really worked. She went from level 1 easy reader books in March, to beginner chapter books by the end of the year. Trust me, it wasn't because we were working with her. She just had a successful school experience.
Once you see it happening well you understand that it's doable.
Back to top
Page 5 of 5 Previous  1  2  3  4  5 Recent Topics




Post new topic   Reply to topic    Forum -> Chinuch, Education & Schooling

Related Topics Replies Last Post
I love frum fashion for kids
by amother
149 Today at 12:03 am View last post
Some kids don’t thrive in a school setting 33 Yesterday at 7:54 pm View last post
Are all kids like this??
by amother
4 Yesterday at 11:49 am View last post
Belati Kids
by amother
0 Yesterday at 8:05 am View last post
I think mattresses are outdated
by amother
28 Yesterday at 5:08 am View last post