If you read the headline of this column, you might instantly recognize lines from the iconic movies Back to the Future and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. In this era of distance teaching and learning, I’ve experienced some of those moments already, and it’s caused me to reflect on communication, including where we’ve been and where we are now.
Ben Stein plays the teacher in Ferris and one can’t help but laugh at his portrayal of what taking attendance might be like as he calls out last names, waiting for responses from each zoned-out student. Taking attendance in a Google Meet can be somewhat similar, especially because students are grouped by first name, not last. A teacher might call out a name and have to wait as the kid fiddles with their microphone. Luckily, a grid view extension is available to make it easier to see all the kids at the same time.
Talking to students through a screen is trying at best. It’s hard to form the relationships that educators know are so important when you’re not with the kids. It can be difficult to read facial expressions and to appreciate the full humor of a moment when you’re not in person. At times, it’s like being a stand-up comedian performing in an empty club. I might have thought what I said was uproariously funny, but with no mics on, I have to rely on facial expressions to see if they got the joke.
Communication is a two-way street, and we’re suffering in our world today from being on a computer with others so much. Of course, some people just zone out while sitting in a classroom or a business meeting and don’t provide the other side of that two-way street, but it’s happening even more online. Distractions are all around you at home, and it’s easy to understand the lack of focus.
However, I’m pleased that we have so many ways to communicate, especially with parents. For school, parents can look at their children’s grades on JMC and can see all the assignments; past, present, and future; on our Schoology platform. There are no surprises if a parent is willing to take the time to look at these forms of communication.
E-mail has been with us for decades now, but I also consider that a two-way street. It’s not that I need a response from every e-mail I send home, but I do need people to read their e-mail. Certainly, inboxes have been flooded over the past month or two with e-mails from the school and teachers about all the changes in education during the pandemic. It can be hard to sort through everything and discern the most important information.
I am a frequent e-mailer with parents and students, especially at the beginning of the school year. Last spring, I sent weekly e-mails, summarizing what would be happening that week. I received positive reactions to that; parents appreciated knowing what was happening in class, especially as we were treading in new waters. I may keep that up this year and work to continue to encourage parents to be active participants in the educational process.
It’s a challenge to work with students and try to have them check their e-mail at least once a day. That’s the easiest way to get messages to large groups. Our JMC program allows me to pick classes or even specific students/parents in order to prepare an e-mail. Still, some kids just don’t check their e-mail, and when I ask if they got what I sent them, it’s a blank stare. “Well, I haven’t checked my e-mail in a week.”
This needs to change. We need to form these habits of checking a regular line of communication. But some see that their parents don’t always check their e-mail either. I’ve had numerous parents tell me they only check their e-mail weekly or even monthly. I can’t even imagine what my inbox would look like at that point! Even if you don’t like e-mail or grow frustrated by spam messages, our world today dictates checking it at least every 24 hours. Schools and workplaces count on you doing that. If you’re not going to, just drop your e-mail, so we know to contact you in a different way.
I’m sure if I could text my students with information, it might have a better chance of getting to them, but that’s not the case. Yet. Still, we’re a long way from when I started teaching in our ability to communicate with both students and parents. It used to be a complete shock to parents when they would arrive at conferences to see how their cherubs were doing. Now, if they take the time, they might even know how their child is doing before the student sees it!
With online interactions on the rise, we still need to sit back and talk to people face to face at times, even if it is from six feet away right now. One reason I will always try to be in my classroom, even while teaching distantly, is the human interaction I get with my co-workers. It’s nice to see my neighbors, Mr. Ferber and Mr. Larson, every day and talk and solve the world’s problems.
At the end of the day, even as technology allows us better ways to communicate, the old tried-and-true methods of conversing will always be best. Seeing someone’s face when you are talking is amazing. Being able to see that face six feet in front of you is better.
Word of the Week: This week’s word is verbigerate, which means obsessively to repeat meaningless words and phrases, as in, “The students’ response to their teacher’s desire to verbigerate the phrase, ‘If I were you, and I’m not, but if I were,’ showed they had heard it too many times.” Impress your friends and confuse your enemies!