Teachers- how bad is 'distance teaching' during these times?

[ourbabygirl]

I've been applying to teaching jobs, now that DD is going to K this fall. :praying: However, the recent threads have me worried about how difficult and unenjoyable it is to be teaching through a computer, basically. I would be teaching a world language to middle or high schoolers, which seems very hard to do this way.

Has distance learning as a teacher been miserable? If you could quit, would you? How does it work to be at home supervising your own kids' learning and trying to teach your classes at the same time? If schools are back in session (to some extent) this fall, will you need to coordinate being at school while they're at home? (My kids will be in a different district than wherever I end up getting a job.)

I've been home for a long time, and we need the money for house projects, retirement, college savings, etc., but I'm not sure how to work the logistics if my husband and I are both out of the house (I don't think I can trust my 6th grader home with my younger two all day).

Thanks, in advance, for your feedback!

[PZMommy]

It wasn’t the worst thing I’ve had to do, but it wasn’t fun either. I wouldn’t quit over it, but I did have a few melt downs along the way. There was one week where the district made us to 10hours of PD plus our normal teaching, and the PD platform wasn’t working. Plus I was trying to teach my own kids. That week I about had a breakdown. Most other weeks were doable. My husband teaches high school, and he seemed to have an easier time than I did, but again I was doing the brunt of teaching our own kids.

My own kids were in 3rd and 5th. My 5th grade was pretty independent. My 3rd grader thought he was on summer vacation and trying to get him to work was very challenging. However, they both could occupy themselves long enough for me to zoom with my class. This past semester teachers were not required to zoom. I was teaching a TK/K split. I zoomed twice a week with my class. I’m not sure what this upcoming semester will require. It did require careful scheduling, as despite upping our internet and getting a new router, we couldn’t all zoom at the same time. I planned my zoom times around my kids’ zoom schedules.

My biggest concern is if my district goes to a hybrid model where teachers need to be in the classroom 5 days a week, but kids are only attending two days a week. My kids are too young to be staying home by themselves. If my district goes to this kind of model, I will have to bring my kids with as there are no daycares for their ages. However, it looks like my district will mostly be online, so I should be okay.

[zukeypur]

I teach college, so not a full time 40hours in the classroom. Still, it was incredibly difficult “reinventing the wheel” in a weekly basis, trying to keep two programs afloat, and managing my own kids’ education. Luckily, my own kids are responsible and the district was lenient. I have already decided they aren’t going back in the fall, but I don’t know how I’m going to manage teaching all of my classes and managing the 5th grader as well.

[pinay]

I'm a HS teacher and was prepping my students for their AP exams during distance learning. It wasn't terrible, but some days were better than others. I was thankful that DH was off on Mondays when I had live sessions with my students so that he could be in charge of the kids. DD1 just finished 7th grade and she basically managed her schedule on her own, but DD2 definitely needed more supervision (she just finished 2nd grade). I was somewhat fortunate in that I had already taught most of the curriculum that I needed to by the time we left school in mid-March, but it was hard transitioning to online learning when we really had no way to hold kids accountable to doing the work necessary in a timely manner. Obviously that will be different if we are in an online environment in the fall, but that was probably the worst part for me- I had to spend a LOT of time tracking down students to get assignments turned in and it was a lot of administrative record-keeping rather than teaching and interacting with my students. My district has said they're offering an on campus option and an online option, but we don't know yet what it's all going to look like. If it's safe, we'll probably all go back on campus in the fall, but I think my kids and DH and I would struggle if they have to do distance learning next year.

To be honest, if I wouldn't lose seniority/permanency, I would consider taking this next year off. I'm not looking forward to the chaos and uncertainty that we are bound to be dealing with in this next school year.