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Hybrid Instruction Is An Absolute Mess
I tell one student to put their phone away. I tell another who has his head down to wake up. On the computer, I have to specify I’m talking to one student instead of another, but of whom look up when I say their similar-sounding names. The wi-fi drops and I get kicked out of Zoom. Students tell me I’m frozen and they can’t hear me. We spend the next 10 minutes figuring out how to get back on Zoom to not waste instructional time.
Welcome, my friends, to a day of hybrid instruction.
I don’t mind teaching fully in-person, and I don’t mind teaching fully virtual. But having the expectation for teachers to do both is crazy. And the guidance for what constitutes hybrid instruction is changing rapidly as CDC and public health guidelines change. Teaching in person and teaching virtually at the same time means I walk around the room checking on my students in person, making sure they’re on task and giving them much-needed support. However, this compromises the quality of instruction and the help each student attending virtually receives.
My state is pushing for the option for full-in-person classes this fall, as well as maintaining a virtual option. But the fact that there’s an option means many students will come in person, while others will remain virtual. I am all for giving students and families choices for what works best for them during this tumultuous time, especially students and parents with health concerns.
But I am also for a division of labor — having teachers teach in-person and virtual, simultaneously, is an unfair ask and asking for miracles, and not fair to students either. In-person and virtual students are not getting the attention and quality instruction they need from a teacher who has to juggle a hundred things. Lola Duffort says “hybrid learning is less effective and twice the work,” a sentiment I completely resonate with. In the classroom, this means teachers have to engage in a million responsibilities.
For me, hybrid has been a nightmare. It’s asking me to be simultaneously in charge of classroom management and virtual learning. I can’t imagine what it’s like for my colleagues at the middle and elementary school level, but imagine what it’s like to…
