Since the start of the school year online, much care and attention has been put into ensuring student health and well–being. But we often forget that students are not the only people who have had to adjust around this new school experience. Our teachers do, too.
Online schooling has demanded teachers to step out of their comfort zones and change their usual teaching styles. Some things are easier to adjust to, while it is harder to imitate other components of class through the screen.
“The administration, teaching faculty, and staff put countless hours in their planning and work to continue to provide an exemplary and inspirational learning community during a pandemic,” said Dr. Mark Lauer, humanities department faculty. “Together with students, we all created a respectful and attractive learning environment that is in nature different from working together on campus, but it continues to be an approach that brings people together in a mindful and creative way.”
“The current schedule is admittedly uncomfortable, but the reality is that we are living through an uncomfortable time,” said Ms. Megan Horejsi, arts department faculty. “I can do my part by trying my hardest and doing my best within these constraints—I owe it to my students and to my colleagues, who I know are also working very, very hard.”
As students, we know little about the process behind a successful class.
“The ‘behind the scenes’ coordination of different sections in terms of content and schedule alignment is time consuming, but also very fruitful,” Dr. Lauer said. “Students benefit from the continuing coordination and faculty availability during office hours and beyond.”
One of the major differences that online teaching has presented uniquely to Webb teachers is the repetition of each class; once for those in A-G classes and another for night sessions. Teachers follow one schedule in the mornings and afternoons, but they must continue teaching until late into the night as well.
“[The repeated schedule] gives me additional chances to practice my content and the strategies that I use to teach it, so in the end, I think it is kind of making me a better teacher,” Ms. Horejsi said. “It is tiring when you look at the total number of hours, and sometimes it is hard to fall asleep after teaching late at night, yet I can see that my skills as a teacher have improved since we started teaching across time zones.”
Science teachers have the unique challenge of doing labs and experiments online, which has changed significantly.
“Since times are not optimal for that type of experience we have worked hard to try and find systems and activities, that while not perfect by any means, provide some of the more important skills like data collection and analysis,” Mr. Kays said. “We understand that we will not be able to replicate the past lab experience but the science department has, and continues to, invest many hours a week in trying to improve the lab experience within the many constraints of our current circumstances.”
There are also components of our teachers’ lives that do not include school, such as family and personal hobbies. Like everyone else, planning becomes crucial when there are things to be done and barely enough time to do them.
“Many of us, me included, have children who are currently home and need more attention than ever,” Dr. Lauer said. “In addition, we all worry about family and friends at risk. Life usually never means that one can focus on one thing only (school, work, family, et cetera), but the current pandemic has thrown more balls at us to be juggled.”
We as students appreciate our Webb teachers for their consistent effort. The pandemic has affected everyone in such a wide variety of ways that we often do not think of people other than ourselves.
“Our teachers work very hard, for extra time, to ensure that international students are able to take classes at time slots that match their time zone,” Lucy Liu (‘23) said.
So, the next time you go into class, be aware that the faculty have all been continuously working hard to keep up with the course loads as well as maintaining deadlines. Online learning has presented various challenges to everyone within our Webb community, and it seems like the teachers have found ways to adjust to it temporarily.
