- We don’t want to be forced to always have our cameras on. In the classroom, you are not always looking at us. So, we don’t want to have to feel like we’re always on just because we’re virtual.
- We want the opportunity to socialize with our classmates. When we’re at school, we look forward to talking to our friends in the hallway, during recess, or at lunch. While we understand, there is a lot of work to get done; don’t forget that we need time to connect with our classmates.
- Please stop automatically muting our audio at the start of class. We would like to hear our classmates voices in an unstructured way. It’s great to hear how each others weekends went or what’s going on in our classmates lives. If we narrowly focus on curriculum and instruction, we’re going to quickly lose interest.
- Don’t assume we don’t know how to use the technology tools. Most of us have been using videoconferencing tools for the last several months. While we’re not necessarily experts, we have become quite proficient. So, if we put ourselves on mute or turn our video off to take a break, let us. We’re adjusting to this new normal like everyone else and we would like to have agency over figuring out what is best for our sanity.
- Find opportunities to connect with us individually. In the classroom, we enjoyed being able to have 1:1 time with our teachers. We liked when you would come to our desks to explain a difficult concept or allow us to come to yours to show off a problem set we just completed. While technology is designed for scale and it feels great to have everyone on the same screen or a smaller group of us in individual breakout rooms, we also want a bit of dedicated time with just the two of us.
- Help us reduce anxiety during these difficult times. Many of us haven’t had normal social interactions since the Spring. We’re nervous about how the rest of the year is going to unfold. Let us know that everything is going to be ok even if you don’t yet believe it.
- Don’t automatically disable chat just because we might say something wrong. In the classroom, kids say whisper inappropriate things all the time. Instead of immediately assuming that we can’t handle it just work with us to set the proper expectations of how we should engage. And, if we get caught doing the wrong thing then we understand there will be consequences.
- Provide us with frequent brain breaks. While we can often play video games for hours, there is quite a big difference between that and video conferencing. It’s exhausting to take in so much information about our classmates with all of their faces on the screen. With so much visual stimulation, it’s hard to sit through a full day of instruction. 5-10 minutes/hour of breaks would be awesome.
- Ask us for suggestions about how to make the virtual day go smoother. We know that you’ve been trained as teachers for a long time. And, you likely had professional development prior to the start of this school year. But, we also have some good ideas that can help make things better as well. Let us play an active role in helping construct our learning environment.
- Reach out to us before you reach out to our parents about issues. We know it’s easy to send an email. But, right now our parents are super stressed. They have given us all sorts of advice about how we should behave during virtual learning. If we were in the classroom, you would have a conversation with us before you brought our parents into it. Please approach problem solving in a similar manner so we don’t feel as though we don’t have an opportunity to fail online.
Top 10 Tips for Teachers from Virtual Students
By: Omowale Casselle
Categorized under: virtual learning for kids