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Sure, I teach 4th Grade, but do I really know what it's like? 

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Sure, I teach 4th Grade, but do I really know what it's like? 

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On Tuesday, April 27th,  I decided to shadow a 4th grade student while my colleague taught lessons the entire day.  I purposely chose a day that had a lot of zoom meetings to really get the feel of the max level of instruction. I also decided to shadow a student that had recently switched to remote-only instruction because I knew this was a new transition. Finally, this day was actually a light load of independent work because other remote students were going into the school building to take ELA state tests.
Well, what did I learn?
Zoom is exhausting for adults AND students.
The first period zoom the student was entirely engaged and participating. The days start out as a morning meeting and the student knows the routine. There was a 5 minute break in between the first class and second one. During music class, I noticed her participation slow down. She frequently turned off her camera.  I did private message her just to see if she was still there and she would respond how she needed to walk away or hide her background of her siblings. It seems like she had so many external distractions, it made it a lot harder to learn online.

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Following the first two zoom lessons was the time for students to independently read to learn about the American Revolution.  I logged onto her account and saw she opened up a book but didn't read it through. I wondered if this independent time was enough time for a struggling reader to decide to read a book AND complete it. After all if she was physically in the school building there would be someone there to help her. However, virtually this is very much a hands off time.

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By 4th period, it was time for the math lesson. Which was just a review/preparatory lesson for upcoming math state tests. She knew the material and participated in the lesson. The students were dismissed for their 5th period instructional lunch, in which they would have to complete more independent work from a practice packet. However again, she did not complete her independent work in time for her next class. Which was art.

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Well, we try to stress to the students that their speciality classes ( art, dance, theater, physical education, etc...) are core classes as well. These classes matter and are part of their school learning experience. The art teacher posts weekly projects instead of daily assignments. This week the students were focused on STEAM/lego building. The student didn't have legos at home and stayed with her camera off the entire zoom lesson. I know the art teacher tried her best to get all the students engaged and cannot control what materials each student has.

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I thoroughly enjoyed being a student again and following one of my students from zoom to zoom and private messaging her to check up on her. I feel like our teacher to student relationship has become stronger now that I've experienced a day in her eyes.
but...
I couldn't help but feel sorry for the amount of work we expect a 10 year old to do online. I know that as teachers, we are trying to keep our fully online students on pace with instruction. Yet at a future leader, it is my belief that nothing can duplicate the full experience of going into school.  There's no breakout room or virtual library that can make up for talking in person with peers. I know we've entered this space in response to a pandemic and I am proud of educators of the work we have done. I just truly hope virtual elementary teaching becomes a thing of the past, in the near future.