Last Updated on January 6, 2022 by Brie
This post is part of the Horror Stories of Online Teaching series. The first two posts detail some of the common horror stories I encountered while teaching my first 100 students online. They can be found at Horror Stories for the Working Mom who’s Teaching Online and Horror stories for the Single Mom who’s Teaching Online. For part three I have horror stories for a homeschool mom while teaching online.
I have recorded many of our experiences here on the blog on dealing with the pandemic. As a result of the pandemic, I bridged over into the online teaching industry as a homeschool mom. It is an industry that has been thriving since shortly after the computers and internet began. However, it has become more interesting, and an entire sector is geared towards students between the ages of 4 to 12, which is where I have been camped out for the last few months.
Horror Stories From a Homeschool Mom Teaching Online
I have taught over 200 students online so far as a homeschool mom, and I have had some great students.
However, it is not the great students that you remember. Sure, they make your classtime much more pleasant, and it leads to a great start to the day. But these students are soon forgotten in the shuffle that is online teaching.
Nonetheless, the ones you remember are the online teaching horror stories, which I have now wracked up quite a few. While I can mostly laugh at them, I have to say this is not an industry for those who cannot handle the weird or the critique. Let’s face it. Kids can be cruel, particularly if they don’t want to participate.
Without further ado, here are the horror stories from teaching my first 200 students online (part 3):
Encountering the Moving Camra During Online Classes as a Single Mom
The moving camera is a common problem in online classes, especially with younger students who take their courses on tablets or iPads. Computers are much more stationary. Anyhow. I have had students who move from room to room in their house. I have also had students constantly poking or wiping at their cameras with their fingers as if we teachers are fish in a fish tank.
Furthermore, I have had students who Jiggle the camera up and down as if they are just bouncing their tablet on their lap. Then, there are the bed jumpers. I have had several students who have been bed jumpers. They take their classes on a bed or couch and start jumping on it. The device is bouncing and going every which way.
I have only had one kid have their device take a fall, though. Again, this is far more common with children ages 4-7 who are left unsupervised to take their classes. Out of the students who have moving cameras for whatever reason, I have found the ratio to be about 40/100.
Encountering Students Who Miss Represent Their Age
When students take an online class, they should at least somewhat represent their age correctly. Throughout my teaching time, I have had several students misrepresent their age, and typically, it will be in a way that portrays them as younger than they are. For instance, my cut-off is 12 years old. I had students who said they were 11 and 12. However, when they got on camera, they looked and acted as if they could have been at least older than 15, and that is estimated low.
I have also had students who claimed to be in the range of 8-9 and looked and acted more like they could have been in the range from 11-13.
Very rarely do I think, awe this child is probably younger than what their age says.
Unfortunately, the second company I signed up for is expanding ages to kids up to 17, so I feel I will be teaching some adults who age themselves down in the future.
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The SILENCE When You Teach Online
Have you ever sat there and spoken into the dark abyss before? Wondering if anyone was out there and awkwardly waited for a reply? Sometimes it is not so much a dark abyss, but just the very top of someone’s head, so you can tell there is a person there, but they say nothing at all. Welcome to the silent zone. This is more common with the older students over the age of 9 because they don’t want to be there.
Summary of Teaching Issues Encountered as a Homeschool Mom in the Online Classroom
There are a variety of ways to handle these issues when they arise. From saying, ok, we will come back to you later for kids who do not answer to muting and blocking the cameras of those distracting to the rest of the class. Also, if you control your refund policy, it is nice to offer refunds to kids who need a rain check because they are in the hospital.
Anyhow. Online teaching, just like regular in-person teaching, is an experience. Some highs and lows come with the work. However, I have to say that I enjoy it most days, and I can now look back on these “horror stories” and laugh a bit. There are a few fun supplies you might consider purchasing if you are going into online teaching. These will help you easily navigate your online classes:
Now that you have officially been scarred off of online teaching, go forth and teach!
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Post Updated January 6, 2022
Brie
As a writer on Mommy Daughter Love, I enjoy discovering things to do, children’s activities, digital classroom ideas, online homeschool fun for moms with daughters. If you love any or all of these things, too, and you can relate to this post let’s continue the conversation on Pinterest or in the comments below.
More Resources:
- To find more content and books by Brie, check out her Amazon author page.
- For easy peasy homeschool resources check The Story Based Teacher Store.
- Snag a self care journal to help you with being a single mother from amazon.
- Start a blog today with the help of a bluehost hosting servous.
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