Classroom management

    I was really struck the other day by how different classroom management is online and face-to-face.  Some of the issues that are constant F2F simply don’t happen online. 

    For one thing, while online at home, students do the work (or not, as they sometimes choose), and then move on to Facebook, games, or whatever else they need/want to do.  F2F – and here I include the computer lab – is a whole ‘nother thing. 

    Whenever the kids are really in front of me, I have to consider the different paces they work at – speedy (but not necessarily well done), focused, highly distractible, and all the places in between.  Some kids finish early and I need to have something constructive for them to do so they don’t distract the rest of the class.  On the other hand, some kids won’t make it through the work by the end of class.  This means that I quickly have students working (or not working) on different things simultaneously. 

    This became so clear to me in my high school tech/computer skills class, where students are simultaneously F2F and on the class moodle.  Unlike in my blended middle school classes, where most of the online work is done outside of school, this class is all in front of me in real time.  Using the moodle to organize and present the work has been a God-send, but I need to plan for a wide variety of both focus and skill. 

    When students are mostly online, keeping them on task is a different equation.  I don’t really care what other things they are doing (and yes, I know they have multiple browser windows open) as long as they are engaged in work for my class.  When finished, they move on and that doesn’t matter to me.  F2F, though, I’ve got to keep the three-ring circus running, which takes extra planning. 

    The extra planning is especially needed because I’ve discovered how useful it is to have a written agenda:  this is what we are doing today, and when you finish, here are your alternatives.  I do find myself tweaking the agenda, and I need to modify it several times a week as we move to new work.  But the agenda is clear.  I get fewer of those annoying “what are we doing again?” questions (you know, the ones that mean the student can’t be bothered to pay attention until the rest of the class has started working). 

    Also, I’ve noticed that students are more on task.  In addition, this makes them less dependent on me, so I can focus on who needs help, not on directing traffic. 

    Kids actually read the agenda online, whereas they ignore the same agenda written on the white board.  Go figure.

Teaching K12 online vs. teaching adults

    As I continue to teach hybrid middle school classes (a blend of online and face to face), I continue to see differences between teaching K12 online and teaching adults.  I’ve just finished reading The Online Teaching Survival Guide by Judith Boettcher and Rita-Marie Conrad; a terrific book, and enormously helpful, but all through it I kept thinking, “yes, but…”

    Adult classes are typically short, often just 8 weeks long.  K12 classes last for around 36 weeks.  This makes teaching K12 online or hybrid very different.

    For example, the planning cycle is different.  I confess that don’t yet have a year’s worth of online activities all ready to go in September for my middle-schoolers.  With an 8 week class for adults, you really have to have everything planned and ready to go ahead of time.  Yes, I have objectives and curriculum, and yes, I have many activities, units, and lessons from the past that support the objectives and curriculum, and from which I will heavily borrow.  But every year I change things, based on what worked – and didn’t work – last time.  Sometimes based on the personalities and capabilities of this year’s kids.  And as I become more adept with Moodle during the year, I try whole new things.  This is a work in progress.

    Another thing: the rhythm is different.  There is an intensive gearing up that takes place with adults because of the time constraints.  You quickly break the ice, break down barriers, help students find common ground, build community, into a crescendo of interaction that strengthens both learning and community.  At the same time, learners are interacting more and more deeply with the content as they fold their learning into their own lives and make it their own. And then it’s over. 

    With K12, yes, you build community, but it’s an ongoing effort that lasts 9 months.  Some kids already know each other, but there are always new kids who need to find a way in.  Kids stop participating and you have to address that.  Kids aren’t so nice to each other and you have to address that.  Kids get sick, have parents deployed to war zones.  Kids have good days and spectacularly awful ones. It’s pretty much all the time, and it’s for the long haul.

    The rhythm in K12 gets wrapped around units and also around activities that weave through the whole year.  A unit starts with interest and hopefully excitement.  Students may dive in or just dip their toes, but there is momentum that builds, peaks, and wraps up; sounds a lot like an adult course.  Then we start again on another unit, and another, all year.   And as with music, the regular notes of repeated activities sound all year.

    I love the intensity of an adult class, but it’s short-lived.  One thing I love about K12 is that I get to work with my students all year.  That time gives us the chance to explore, stumble, figure out, practice, and then practice some more. 

    But for all the differences, there is one big similarity.  It’s all about connections.  When the teacher/facilitator/guide creates meaningful connections with learners, that’s when the learning really goes into high gear.