“So how do you manage your time and be available for students without feeling like you are permanently ‘on’?” asked Jennifer Tickle (@Jenntickle) on Twitter.
I did not think I was in any better position to answer this question. We were in our second week of online teaching and it does feel exhausting. Synchronous communication is desperately demanded and everyone wants an answer right away. I have become very responsive as everyone is seeking attention and requests immediate answers. I hit my keyboards so ferociously and two keys came out of my laptop keyboard. Not sure if I should blame Apply’s butterfly keyboard design or my own intense behavior. I began to think about Jennifer’s question over the past few days. One or two synchronous chats are doable, bu when you have multiple synchronous communication going on, plus emailing back and back, it consumes my energy and creates frustrations that I can’t respond in time. It is draining and stressful. Is online teaching going to cause me to burnout? I begin to wonder how teachers might develop emotional competence to build resilience and boost productivity in this long journey of online teaching and learning? Eric Hudson’s (@ejhudson) response, “communication routines and boundaries help: this is when modules are published, this is when our synchronous class are, this is how much time I need to respond to messages, etc.” really resonates with me. In my opinion, to build our resilience and be productive, we can benefit from building a system to manage online teaching and make a deliberate effort to keep a good work-life balance. Creating a system can help us streamline our vision and provide us with clarity and a structure.
I reflect thoughtfully on what ‘system’ means in this online teaching situation and what actions I can take to keep my sanity while continuing to enjoy what I do as an educator. Therefore, I have created a SYSTEM for myself for teaching online!
Sensemaking is a term introduced by Karl Weick, which refers to how we structure the unknown so as be able to act in it. (Ancona, 2012) Assessing the situation and identifying the direction of where we are going makes sense to me. A plethora of web tools and resources are shared widely to support online learning. But we must be mindful of how these tools are used to enhance learning. It’s important to remember that Maslow first, then learning, and finally technology. Instead of trying out different websites and tools, it is paramount for us to first think about intentional instruction design principles and then explore how technology can support learning. Thinking holistically, we need to:
Jennifer Abrams mentioned in her book, Swimming in the Deep End, on airplanes, flight attendants say, “put on your own mask first before helping others”, but in schools, we don’t apply this concept of taking care of ourselves so that we’re able to care for others as often as we need to. To avoid teacher burnout, I think it is really important we take good care of ourselves and spend time with our love ones. Additionally, when dealing with any crisis, it’s important to reflect on our core values and think about what our core values mean to us and how they influence our decision making. I would also like to advocate the importance of engaging ourselves in physical exercises as it is a way to build our mental and physical strength. Here are some of my actions:
We encourage students to create a daily schedule and monitor their progress. Teachers also need to do the same and create a system to track their productivity.
We are living in a very stressful time at the moment. I am grateful that I have a comfortable living condition and my family members are all healthy. It is important to be that “glass half full” person and appreciate what I have.
What a great opportunity that our students can design their own learning schedules and complete tasks at their own pace within the due dates! Instead of focusing on using different technical tools, We can leverage our pedagogy and increase student autonomy by designing deep learning and engaging students to think, collaborate and create through meaningful and purposeful technology integration. If we are solely thinking about the tools and websites, then we are missing the point of learning.
Many teachers are doing their first time online teaching. In a way, many of us are prototyping our online teaching model. In the process of prototyping, teachers, as designers, need to be empathetic of the user experiences, seek feedback for improvement and continue to revise their prototype and test the viability of their ideas.
You can click the image below to download the PDF file.
German by Joachim Dieterich
wie_organisiere_ich_lernen_online__lehrer_Abrams, Jennifer. Swimming in the Deep End: Four Foundational Skills for Leading Successful School Initiatives. Solution Tree Press, 2019.
Deborah, Ancona. Sensemaking : Framing and Acting in the Unknown. SAGE Publications, 2012, www.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/42924_1.pdf.
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