Zoom takes its toll
Due to the monotonous nature of distance learning–five to six hours of computer usage with breaks after every 40 minute interval–school days are now duller than ever. With the mind-numbing nature of the way we go about our school days and the lack of effort from students, some of the more passionate members of the DBHS teaching staff have been facing challenges as well.
Many teachers, including most of my own, have coped with the difficulties of online learning by assuming the worst and, in turn, giving students an increased workload. Teachers are also quick to assume that the decrease in student engagement is directly in relation to the increased technology usage. What they forget, however, is that it takes two to tango. Despite being over halfway through the school year, one of my teachers is still completely unaware of my gender, much less my English name.
The same said teacher also starts off the day with check-in prompts, and, when they go through them, almost always hints at how their distant learning struggles are worse than ours— at one point even deflecting blame when I subtlety tried to correct his misgendering of me.
However, there are teachers that genuinely do their best to alleviate the extra stress of online learning, despite their own struggles. Some of my teachers have made it a point to make lessons more at-home friendly— opting for hands-on reviews and at-home scavenger hunts relating to the lessons, while juggling with their own issues.
While teaching in-person can be difficult at times, online-learning has proven to have its own set of problems, ones that many teachers are ill equipped to deal with. Having to be judge, jury and executioner with students over late attendance and technical difficulties in addition to teaching material in the limited time frame given, times have been stressful for both parties.
A few of the more understanding teachers have since opted for more hands on lessons with the help of interactive software and set up extra tutoring sessions with students on top of tutorial time to accommodate students and virtual learning.
At the end of the day, most of us are trying our best and have different ways of coping with our current predicament. It’s understandable why teachers have doubts when it comes to trust in students and treat us like grade school children, but the demeaning way in which most go about schooling us leads to a no-win situation. The more we’re treated like toddlers, the less we’ll feel inclined to help in any way to alleviate their work burden.
With our rushed schedules and unpredictable Wi-Fi issues, it would be nice if some teachers were a bit more understanding with the mountain of work they toss us, but for the ones that sympathize and do their best in adjusting to help us, the effort should be better appreciated.
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