Our entire district has been on "Zoom school" since March. No one has set foot in a classroom yet. I don't think school is as effective in Zoom, but I don't have to worry about my son being exposed. I don't think teens think or worry about germs that much, so not as hygienic as an adult would be. Tough times.
Since you bring it up.. here is my open ended list of musings on the Virtual Home Classroom experience:
-Classes are not at school... so the teachers are not there to look over the student's shoulders
-Classes are at home so the responsibility has shifted to the parents to look over their student's shoulders.
-The parents are not in the loop on anything, unless you stick your nose in and ask.
-If you stick your nose in and ask you are in danger of treading into 'Helicopter Parenthood'
-If you ask anyway, some teachers take it as an affront to their teaching style.
-The teachers are clueless how to work within the online class structure they are supposed to provide. so they make it up. They are doing the best they can.
-The administrators are only slightly less clueless as to how work within the online class structure the teachers are supposed to be providing. With each teacher making it up, they are herding cats.
-So you ask each teacher and administrators anyway... and see what you get back.
-Parents are told to monitor the district student portal where all grades and assignments for each student are ultimately posted... but not all teachers keep it up to date with the same currency.
-Parents are also told to monitor classwork through the Google Classroom (GC). But not all classwork is done through the GC. Some use it more that others, some use email, some use sharing. Imagine doing a PE class through GC?
-There does not seem to be a Parent Portal backend to GC, so parents are expected to login with the student's credentials to review the student's progress. And if the parent accidentally messes up their student's GC assignment... the student claims my Dad ate my homework
-It is up to each teacher to decide if they want to turn on the Guardian Summaries in GC so the parent can receive a daily/weekly progress email... I only got one teacher to comply, one declined and two ignored the request.
-Not all Teachers are tech savvy.. YMMV there; It took one teacher a week to figure out how to log into her own virtual classroom, while the students stare at a black PC screen. Another teacher posted a 20 minute video for parents to review about how her class will run this semester, but only gave us a 10 minute time slot to view it.
-Students are continually frustrated by having to deal with the tech hurdles.. so they shut down and ignore it. To quote my son after spending an hour trying to log into Virtual Back to School Night... "Dad, do what we do and give up."
-Students are multitasking at least three things while in the virtual classroom, usually more: The Class, The teacher's virtual chalk board, The group text session with their buds in that class, The online game they are playing with their buds in that class, The social networking sites their buds are posting to while playing an online game while in that class, Breakfast, The dog licking his butt on the bed, the parent sticking his head in the room to check and see if their student is focused, and if there are any time slices left in his noggin; homework.
-I have come to revel in the irony of receiving absence notification emails from the attendance office for my student.
-One teacher recommended I contact the district IT department if I have any questions... does she really want me to open that Pandora's box? Sure.. send an IT guy to talk to tech support about his son's education?!.. I guarantee it will be messy.
-...
I reserve the right to add to this list as I see fit
M