Dr. Sarah Bond, who teaches Ninth grade English at IHS, commented, “I would say that teaching asynchronously affects what I choose will be taught the day (days) I am absent. The format might not be what I would have done if I was in the room, but online platforms like EdPuzzle, NewsELA, and CommonLit have helped as they have options for guiding students through the activity/material.” The websites that most teachers use can be a resource for independent learning while teachers are unable to be in the classroom. Along with Dr. Bond, Dr. Schaffrath also had to teach from home but unlike Dr. Bond, Dr. Schaffrath chose to teach synchronously through Google Meet. However, while being able to talk to his students “live” through Google Meet, it still had some challenges. Dr. Schaffrath states, “The most challenging part of teaching from home is that it is very difficult to gauge what students are doing and what their learning challenges and needs are. Some of that can be done remotely, but not when limited bandwidth makes it impossible to have everyone turn their camera on. A very well developed asynchronous set-up might actually be better than an impromptu synchronous approach.” Dr. Schaffrath indicated it is harder to teach online because you don’t get the student engagement that you would be used to as a teacher in the classroom.
When classes are held asynchronously or synchronously, there are potentially extra added distractions that Dr. Bond, Dr. Schaffrath, and any other teacher have to deal with. And with students possibly not being focused on the class, further improvements and adaptations of instruction has had to be adopted and utilized by IHS teachers.
