Making Lemonade from Online Instruction

Taking the lemons of pandemic instruction and transforming them into new tools

Like many of us, I spent most of 2020 and 2021 teaching classes online. Even when our school returned to in-person instruction in January 2021, half of my students were still online and scattered all over the world in a hybrid classroom model. Through our little Zoom cubes, we got to peek into each other’s lives in an unprecedented way. Because I work at a boarding school and the students are international, an everyday English class online turned into a mini-tour of the world. We got to gaze out of skyscraper windows at the skyline of Kuala Lumpur while a Malaysian student shared her work. We got to experience the frequent power outages of Jamaica. We got to see home décor differences (and similarities) between homes in Montana, Uzbekistan, and Japan. And despite my frequent annoyance that students were not paying attention or leaving their cameras on, I also enjoyed the ongoing chat threads between students commenting on each other’s pets and laughing at parents making cameo appearances on screen.

Still, all that I and my colleagues wanted these past two years was to get back to “normal” classes. But after we all returned from our online teaching adventures, I think many of us saw “normal” a little differently. We had discovered some surprising benefits of an online classroom. For example, all the students were suddenly in the “front row” on a computer screen. Chat features, polls, screen sharing, and breakout rooms made entirely new types of peer response possible. Digital platforms provided convenient and exciting new ways to collaborate.

So, now that most of us are back in our physical classrooms, how can we reinvent some of the things that made online sort of fun, despite the very stressful circumstances? Here are a few ways I have been trying this out…

Flattening the Classroom: Ways to Encourage Inclusivity & Participation...

The best thing about teaching on Zoom for me was that every student was in the front row. Everyone felt equally present and equally close to everyone else (when they had their cameras on, but we did the best we could). The online classroom created an egalitarian space. There was no back row to hide out in or front row to grab the teacher’s prized attention. Students who normally relegated themselves to the outskirts of class discussions were inescapably always in the middle of the conversation. This online flattening of the classroom creates a great opportunity for more inclusive discussions and peer response activities.

To keep this spirit alive in person, I tried rearranging the seating of my classrooms into a circle or horseshoe shape. Just like the online space, this eliminated the back-row effect and put everyone on an even playing field. Of course, different classroom sizes, desk styles, and chair options will limit the possibilities with this, but you can try to mimic the flattened dynamic of the online classroom by getting creative with desk arrangements that might promote collaboration and inclusivity for students.

When facilitating peer response groups, classroom seating arrangements can also intentionally deemphasize the teacher as the focal point. Clustering desks can refocus the space on small group work. Alternatively, a circle places the teacher as an equal participant within the whole class, or even a fellow writer rather than a sole authority. Having flexibility with your classroom seating is always a bonus because the arrangement can be changed to emphasize or deemphasize collaborative versus teacher-led learning.

Chatting On: Keeping the Conversations Going...

One thing my students say they miss about Zoom classes is the chat feature. While I know many teachers disabled this feature to keep students focused – and understandably so – I usually left the feature on because I could sense how badly students needed the social connection. I also loved the chat feature for peer response because of the private messaging and poll options. In a regular classroom, when we ask students to chime in on a question, only a few will raise their hands, or we might call on a reluctant soul. On Zoom, everyone in the class can direct message the teacher their thoughts on a prompt or chat to the whole group. I have noticed that even the usually quietest of students will share wonderful insights this way.

Because Zoom saves the chat at the end of the meeting, I can go back after class and easily compile comments. This is also very convenient for tracking participation because I can clearly see if everyone chimed in. Since many students now have access to Chromebooks or other personal computers since the pandemic, there is no reason that we can’t still use Zoom to discuss work via shared screens, give feedback via the chat feature, or use digital polls to survey the room. I have used the Zoom poll feature in my classroom to play a “game show”-style quiz where students work individually or in small groups to answer questions, and the results are tabulated real-time. Padlet is another great digital space where students can post ideas and comment on each other’s work. Our students are already used to chatting digitally, so why not bring their fluency and comfort with this medium into our classrooms to encourage more conversation?

Collaborating More with Digital & Online Platforms...

Many of us discovered great digital learning tools during the pandemic. Some of my favorites to use are Google Slides for collaborative presentations, Padlet (as mentioned) for compiling student work and resources, Canva for collaborating on graphically sophisticated presentations of all kinds, and WhatsApp for sharing large media files like videos or audio files. If anything great for teachers came out of the pandemic, there is an abundance of online teaching tools that we can just as effectively use in both online and live classrooms.

Educator Dave Stuart Jr. advocates for using audio and video recordings to cultivate online connection with students. I think these tools can build connection just as well in person. We are all getting used to the idea of reels and short clips on social media to share with others how our day is going. With an increased focus on social-emotional learning, try having students check in on their feelings with individual and collaborative social media-style posts as a way to build connection, teach conventions of social media as a writing genre, and model healthy uses of social media. Students can share the posts they create to a Padlet or Google classroom as a sort of shared digital collage diary.

In my English classes, I teach a speech unit where students are required to make a speech to the class on a topic they care about. Several students I had this year were terrified to a disabling degree by public speaking. So, I provided all students with the option to record their speeches using video software of their choice. Students still got the benefit of writing and delivering a speech without the anxiety of doing it in person, even though I required them to show their videos to the class when it was their turn. The feedback I got from students who tried this option was that it helped them get over their fear of public speaking because it was a baby step toward having to present live. We also used an online discussion forum for students to post feedback as they watched one another’s video presentations. These digital and online learning options help students with technical fluencies, which are now just as critical to academic success as speaking and writing skills.

All things considered, I certainly do not want to go back to Zoom classes only with my students. I want to see their faces in person. I want the unmatchable energy of a classroom filled with students, even if now I have to battle to keep them off of their devices. However, what I do want to keep from those days of online isolation are the little lemons that turned into unexpected lemonade. Do you have any tools that you discovered through teaching online that you have found creative ways to keep using?

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