“I miss seeing the students' faces,
the banter, the fun in the classroom.”
- Sydney highschool teacher
4. How do you think your students have adapted?
I teach high school students and so the majority of students have been able to adapt quite well with remote learning within my subject area. However, I am worried about the weaker students in my class who cannot get the same support as they would get in an actual classroom. It works for many but not for all. I think what has been hardest for students in general is missing the social aspect that going to school brings.
- Sydney highschool teacher
5. How much work has it been moving your classes online?
It has been an enormous workload to move classes online. I don’t think I have ever worked so hard. I can honestly say that in the first two weeks I was working from 7pm to 1am every night as well as being online for each class every day with a full teaching load. Not only preparing work but checking attendance and homework for each student and ringing home for defaulters took up the majority of the time.
Scanning exam papers and sending them to students one at a time for senior classes is an added effort as well. It’s trying to do the same as what is done in a physical classroom but moving all these processes online just increased the workload immensely.
- Sydney highschool teacher
6. What do you miss about teaching in person?
I miss seeing the students’ faces, the banter, the fun in the classroom. It’s certainly easier teaching face to face as well.
- Sydney highschool teacher