Online Teaching and teachers!
Alyson Engelbrecht • April 20, 2020
Written by Caroline Correia
It is safe to say that no teacher ever imagined that online teaching would be their normal. When you study, you are taught and given hints for every eventuality, this was not one of them. I keep thinking of Sophie from the Golden Girls (showing my age) when she says: “Picture this,” no amount of picturing could have readied us for this period in our lives. If you had told me last year that I would be teaching from my dining room table, I would have told you to stop being stupid, and yet here we are. Our new norm.
Teachers are not made, teachers are born. Teachers become teachers for the love of children. Teachers are born to interact, to talk, to listen, to empathise, to be funny and act stupid for the sake of the children in their classes. Suddenly that has been taken away from us, and I can tell you without a doubt that not one of us would choose this way of teaching over interacting with the children in our classes. We miss their smiles, their chats, their hugs, their infectious enthusiasm, but most of all: we just miss them.
When you watch and listen to our online lessons, please remember that teachers are people.
Teachers are by nature creatures of habit. We have our favourite mugs, favourite coffee and even sit in the same chair in the staffroom. Yet, we are also adaptable and lifelong learners. This is a learning curve for us, one that we have embraced wholeheartedly and have changed the way that we teach to bring lessons to the children in the comfort of their homes, during this unprecedented time in world history. I know that the teachers would appreciate constructive criticism, as well as positive praise from you, the parents, at this time. That is how we learn and grow and better ourselves and our product.
Allow your children to try and do the work themselves.
Do not help them complete the tasks, quizzes and assignments.
If they are finding a concept challenging, encourage them to communicate with the teacher.
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