The Survival: Reflecting on teaching online

I just finished grading the last paper for this academic year and now I think is the perfect time to reflect upon the academic year that's almost over. 

What a year!

I remember the initial days of how we transitioned to online classes so suddenly. So unaware of the fact that this was going to last longer that we'd imagined. I was very nervous and excited at the same time. I was nervous because we'd never done this before and I didn't know how I'd fix the many technical challenges that lay ahead of me. I was excited for the fact that I very well understood teaching online opened up new ways of engaging students and I wanted explore these ideas and activites. 

I attended a few trainings to get some knowledge and skills applicable for virtual classes and it often felt like I was completely new in this profession and I had to start from the scratch. We were making lesson plans differently and finding new ways to assess students and giving feedback. Not all ideas worked. But I had a smooth start to teaching online.

Sharing Session in a platform provided by Empowerment Academy
Sharing Session (With Empowerment Academy)

As the year progressed and I started getting comfortable teaching online, I also tried my hands on designing some projects to make my lessons more interesting and engaging for the students. I had a great team to work with and I did feel that my students responded positively and did pretty good. 

However, as the year comes to an end and I reflect upon it, I cannot help but ask myself the same question again and again....Did I try enough? 

Did I try enough to understand my students better?

Could I have given more prompt feedback?

Why didn't I do as many written assessments as I should have?

What did I do differently for the students who I knew were struggling?

Did I try enough to leave a positive impact on my students?

I may never get an answer to my questions. I will never know how these students might have turned out had we not been in this situation and teaching online. 

But I don't want to be too hard on myself because I know I struggled but I didn't give up. I showed up everyday and did the best I could. I faltered but I didn't stop. I tried my best to reach out to my students and I let them know almost everyday that I was available to talk to them if they ever felt the need. I cracked a few jokes and I saw my students laugh and that's what I want to remember. I want to read the journals they wrote when they learnt about the Great Pacific Patch and how they were so amused to learn about sustainable ways of living. I want to watch the videos of their speech on Flipgrid about discrimination that exists in our society against mensturating women. I want to read their Padlet stories about how they enjoyed learning poetry and writing poems in class. I want to read their essays and letters about how they can bring change in the society, 


Perks of working from home

The truth is I failed at a lot of things this year but I also did an amazing job of surviving a global pandemic and not losing my job and my sanity and I was able to cook, take care of a toddler and keep my house and my family intact and still be hopeful of surviving another challenging year ahead. I never made an excuse to not show up for my class and meet the deadlines. I tried. Every single day, I tried. I may not have succeded at every task but my students showed up for my class and I allowed them a safe space to be at.  

Perfect Picture to sum it all
For all the teachers reading this, you deserve a pat on your back (and definitely some pay raise).  This year has already been too hard on us, you don't have to be harder on yourself. Brace yourselves for another difficult year ahead. 

As teachers, we don't get a lot of appreciation for all the hardwork we do and that surely is upsetting at times but we mustn't forget that nobody but our students should be our judge. If the students felt happy and safe in our class, we have done our job well. 

Kudos to all the teachers! 

 


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