Increasing Student Engagement During this Pandemic
By Jamie Averbeck @AverbeckTech
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As we enter week seven of COVID-19 Remote Learning, many of us (educators) are struggling with student engagement/participation. This post hopefully will share some solutions, including my views as both a tech coordinator and as a parent, the experiences of my sons (14 and 16-year-old), some of their friends, and kids of colleagues, to bring a student view from multiple school districts.
First, we need to identify the problem. My local resource analytics has shown an audience dip of 25-30% over the last two weeks. In As School Moves Online, Many Students Stay Logged Out it is shared that educators from across the nation are saying “some students and their parents have dropped out of touch with schools completely — unavailable by phone, email or any other form of communication — as families struggle with the broader economic and health effects of the Coronavirus outbreak.” NPR shared national statistics in their Coronavius Live Updates that 4 in 10 U.S. Teens Say They Haven’t Done Online Learning Since Schools Closed. We have a problem, whether it is 25%, 40%, or 5% of our students being disengaged, we need to change our practice to see an improvement.
"We have a problem, whether it is 25%, 40%, or 5% of our students being disengaged, we need to change our practice to see an improvement."
"We have a problem, whether it is 25%, 40%, or 5% of our students being disengaged, we need to change our practice to see an improvement."
Relationships Matter!
Relationships Matter!
As stated above, my two boys, their friends, and the kids of colleagues are my local case study. Altogether, they span multiple grade levels from multiple districts. Most of the kids admitted to actively participating and contributing to some of their classes and quite honestly struggling to engage in others. When I asked them the “why” behind their behavior, it comes down to teacher/student relationships. The teachers that took time to build relationships with students before all of this are reaping the benefits. Those that did not build relationships prior are in an uphill battle. If there were barriers to building a relationship in the physical setting, it is obviously increasingly difficult in the virtual setting.
Edweek’s Where Are They? Students Go Missing in Shift to Remote Classes devotes an entire section of their article around the premise of “EVERY STUDENT EVERY DAY”.
“The only way we can guarantee our kids are well is if we’re in touch with them every day. “The idea isn’t just about academics; it’s about connecting every day so that kids know they’re loved,” Chad E. Gestson, the superintendent of the Phoenix Union High School district in Arizona said. “We talk about love all the time.”
We are not going to engage the disengaged through academics. We have to make a meaningful attempt to build relationships with students. They have to feel the love, trust, and compassion for engagement to happen.
"Students have to feel the love, trust, and compassion for engagement to happen."
"Students have to feel the love, trust, and compassion for engagement to happen."
Grading Practices
Grading Practices
A parent of one of the students above receives weekly grade reports and can see exactly what courses their children are engaging in and what ones they are not. One of the students has a subject that historically has been difficult for him/her. When you look at the grade report for this subject, you see 0% for missing work and 50% for late work. The current grade for that course is an N (38%, No grade/No Credit). The student has completed and turned in three out of the four graded assignments (is working on the fourth), watches the weekly videos, and is somewhat participating, but currently won’t receive credit for this course due to grade punishments for late and unfinished work.
I think of a student that isn’t participating at all. He or she would be looking at four zeros in the grade book, 0%. Nothing is more inviting than the message, “we need you to participate in class, please join us by stepping into this 20-foot hole.”
How Has Grading Changed Since Coronavirus Forced Classes Online? Often, It Depends on the Professor by the Chronicle of Higher Education shares their take on this issue that is relevant to all grades.
“Academic pressure, at least as far as my class is concerned, doesn't need to be added to your stressors...Grades don’t actually foster learning, and they do foster a kind of gaming the system,” she said. Although Susan D. Blum’s, an anthropology professor at the University of Notre Dame, is required to assign a final letter grade, that score is based on meetings with students during the semester that assesses their learning. As the coronavirus upends her students’ lives, Blum said, sticking to a traditional grading structure is unfair and unproductive. “To me, it doesn’t really reveal lack of learning,” she said about poor grades. “To me, that reveals life challenges, and we have enough of that kind of inequality built into our system as it is.”
To be fair, we have built this airplane in the air. What is being graded and how grades are determined are huge conversations that happened in a very short time. Similar to the quotes above, I think we need to look at grading as a narrative around the learning overall, not individual assignments that are slowly digging a hole. We need to remove any punitive practices with grading during remote learning. Instead of zeros, fives, or tens, our students would rather see a comment recognizing or encouraging work. Gradebooks should communicate learning, not punish a lack of participation.
"Nothing is more inviting than the message, “we need you to participate in class, please join us by stepping into this 20-foot hole. Gradebooks should communicate learning, not punish a lack of participation."
"Nothing is more inviting than the message, “we need you to participate in class, please join us by stepping into this 20-foot hole. Gradebooks should communicate learning, not punish a lack of participation."
Burn Out
Burn Out
When Governor Evers closed schools for the rest of the year, we all felt it, a collective long exhale from the realization that this “new normal” is just our “normal” now. We have completely redesigned our house. Our den, which was previously a pantry/shoe closet/wasteland is now a home office for both my wife and I. Our living room has a permanent six-foot table in it, that the boys use as their “desk”. We’ve made the most of the situation, family dinners are a thing, we go on walks, have virtual calls with friends and family. We are making it work.
As I reflect on the previous paragraph, my privilege smacks me across the face. Not everybody has what we have, and we are by no means “upper-class”. Even with what we have, I have documented the struggles of my boys with Remote Learning. My wife and I both have master’s degrees in education, we have plenty of resources available, and yet we are experiencing burn out. We would never choose to home school our children, and we would never choose to work remotely. All of us are missing the face to face contact, the relationships, and the STRUCTURE. Everything is gray right now. There is no home-work-home schedule, it’s HORK...all the time!
NBC News posted an article titled Some districts are ending the school year early over challenges with distance learning specific to the challenges families and schools are facing around burn out. The following quotes from 'Mama is tired': After school closures, some families are burning out on online classes. Others are thriving. caused further reflection on what some of our students might be facing.
“Some people are unsure of their next paycheck and some kids don’t have all the tools needed to complete school while home,” Sandra Starling, a teacher in the rural North Florida town, told the Florida Times-Union. “We all need to show a little mercy.”
“I am an educated, successful, level-headed woman and I almost cried today trying to help my second and third graders with their schoolwork,” Brittany Anthony, a Jacksonville Beach mom, said. “I finally gave up and let them play. My children are excellent students, but they are not getting what they need from me as a ‘teacher.’ Their teachers call daily, but they miss the actual instruction.”
The solution to the burnout issue is all of the above-stated solutions from the previous sections. We need to prioritize relationship-building, focus more on learning, and less on graded work. Duval County Public Schools Superintendent Diana Greene is quoted in the USA Today article above states it well,
"Use computer time for rich conversations with students and to encourage them to connect socially and intellectually...There should be no pressure to assign graded work in every subject, every day...We can still have high rigor and expectations, and in this era, more creativity and freedom than ever.”
I think we need to do more with less. We may have to pull back on the number of “assignments”, prioritizing what learning is essential. However, to avoid burnout, before we can even attempt to engage in academics, we have to engage in relationship building.
"Before we can even attempt to engage in academics, we have to engage in relationship building."
"Before we can even attempt to engage in academics, we have to engage in relationship building."
What is our Solution?
What is our Solution?
The solution is a shift from one-size-fits-all content to providing personalization. We have to have conversations with students and parents around individual needs. If we want true engagement, we have to be a resource to all of our students. Realizing that not all of our students are ready for academics right now, or maybe not the same load of academics as some, has to be an agreed-upon realization. Our focus has to be on building relationships and feedback. We need to stop practices that promote disengagement and punish a lack of participation. Rigor and high expectations don’t go out the window, they just become personalized based on what each student needs. Those needs might be academic, they might be social-emotional, they probably are both. At the end of the day, if we want students to personally engage, we need to engage with them personally.
"If we want students to personally engage, we need to engage with them personally."
"If we want students to personally engage, we need to engage with them personally."
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