How are Hands-On Classes Handling Virtual Learning?
Kathy Luu & Salena Cho (10-4)
Photo courtesy of Boston University
It’s 8:16, but the obnoxious ring of the bell doesn’t resonate through the hallways. There aren’t any students rushing around or bookbags crowding the floor. The treacherous four-story climb to advisory doesn’t loom overhead. Instead, students sit clad in their pajamas, waiting in front of their monitor, with their reflection staring at them from the Zoom preview screen. As memories of the last days of summer begin to fade away, and the first leaves of fall begin to drift across the sky, students at Masterman are finding that this school year is one they never could have imagined. Likewise, on the other side of the screen, teachers are also experiencing a change unlike any they’ve ever experienced before. With subjects as hands-on as music, art, and chemistry, being forced to teach while isolated is near impossible. Creativity plays a large part as teachers are discovering new ways around virtual learning.
There is no denying that students might be struggling to adjust. But in these moments of distress, sometimes the efforts of teachers are neglected. Art teacher Ms. Russo describes the school year as “more exhausting than I could have imagined.” Because art is such a visual subject, teaching it behind a screen
becomes a struggle with many factors that are out of the teachers’ control. Fellow art teacher Mr. Koller exclaims “I wanted to be able to show kids in detail what I was teaching because art’s visual. People who don’t teach art don’t understand that.” Ms. Russo adds, “I can’t always see depending on the lighting in their room and the nature of what they’re holding up.”
Additionally, she and Mr. Koller have been working hard to make sure that their students won’t need to buy extra materials during these times. Both art teachers also mention the loss of being able to interact with the students; “I do miss the kind of community we have in the art room when we’re in school” comments Ms. Russo. Mr. Koller concurs, saying “kids are also isolated from their peers to a certain extent.” Without prioritizing the negatives, both teachers are making the best of their temporary isolation.
Another subject of concern is music. It is known for its universal ability to bring people together, but how does that happen when everyone is isolated? No matter how much effort the music department teachers seem to put in, there are some aspects of music that can’t be replicated in an online setting. “It’s really challenging to tune them (referring to violins, violas, and cellos) with the pegs because it’s easy to break the strings and it takes a lot of skill,” notes Mr. Roberts, a strings instructor. Mr. Yarden, who studies music at Temple University and teaches music virtually to third and fourth graders at Isaac A. Sheppard School, comments, “it’s really hard to make music with [his students] because they have to be muted, otherwise it’s just a cacophony of sounds.” With music being an area of study that requires auditory senses, it is a necessity for students to be able to hear notes and melodies in real-time. Due to a lack of instructions, students cannot interpret music together as a whole and must rely on their own expression and individuality when recording difficult pieces. Mrs. Neu, who conducts the high school orchestra and jazz band, has also noticed complications in virtual band and orchestra rehearsals. “It’s especially frustrating with the jazz band. In jazz music, there are so many different interpretations of the same phrase. Everybody sends their recording in a little different way and it doesn’t sound quite right.”
As for Chemistry, a subject that includes labs, demonstrations, and experiments, learning from home could not be harder. Mr. Comfort, the chair of the Chemistry and Physical Science Department, explains that when teaching chemistry in a virtual space, “you have to think ahead and plan extra.” Mr. Comfort has been conducting virtual labs and experiments through online simulators but comments that it is simply not the same. “It would be the equivalent of learning how to drive a car through an arcade game.” He also states that the mental cartwheels that a student’s brain goes through while designing an experiment in-person are much different from designing an experiment online where all the options are laid out for them. “There are areas of chemistry that require people to visualize in the three dimensions and when we’re in-person, we’re building using models, it’s going to be very difficult to bring across in a screen.” As he dodges the obstacles that virtual learning inevitably provides, Mr. Comfort shares that he cannot wait to escape the unresponsive meeting screens and to return to the classroom, even though he, as a science teacher, understands better than anyone else the precarious situation everyone’s in.
Focusing on the negatives of virtual learning comes naturally, but when asked about the upsides of virtual learning, teachers also had quite a lot to say. Besides the obvious hot lunches and shorter commute times, teachers are finding other silver linings. Lesson instructors are discovering a new side to teaching that they couldn’t do before: one on one lessons. Mr. Roberts weighs in, saying, “you’re just talking to one student at a time a lot of the time because you can’t play as an ensemble. Which, in a way, is more effective because one on one learning is better.” Mrs. Neu adds that “it might force people to be better musicians…If you’re with everyone else, you can get away with not playing as many notes right.”
Another factor that the art department faculty has to consider is the prospect of an entirely virtual play production. If all goes to plan, this production could harbor characteristics that loosely resemble a film. Mrs. Neu enthuses, “The director is coming back and he’s very excited. He said it's a really cool thing when you’re directing it…So I think it's actually going to be very neat.”
For teachers like Mr. Roberts, whose daily lessons revolve around fine-tuning instruments and listening to students play, going back to in-school instruction as soon as possible is the ideal move. “I would just prefer just to go in person and socially distance somehow.” He shares that the reasoning behind this has to do with the lack of communication that comes with virtual schooling. While many teachers share the same hope of returning as soon as possible, there is the ever-present concern for safety that holds them back. “As soon as possible that it’s going to be safe, first, it’s got to be safe and if it’s five years before it’s safe, then it’s five years before we can go back to normal,” Mr. Yarden tells us. Similarly, Ms. Russo says, “I guess until things are really safe with the virus, I feel that until there is a vaccine, it won’t be safe to go back without outbreaks.” Many teachers have expressed that their feelings on returning to school have wavered and fluctuated with the concerning trends of COVID-19. “There are challenges with the space and number of students that need to be worked out,” Mr. Comfort elaborates, explaining how the process of situating the students in a small classroom environment would be difficult and require a lot of meticulous planning. Moreover, the poorly ventilated classrooms of the basement could result in a shortage of proper air circulation and an increased amount of dust particles for the students and the faculty. Most teachers came to the conclusion that they would be more than thrilled to return to school if it were completely safe.
As time continues moving, teachers and students are slowly beginning to adjust to the new normal. While the nature of this school year seems bleak and ambiguous, there’s one thing that teachers want the students to know: “We’re all in this together.”