Welcome back to school, teachers. Whether you’ve already had your first week of school, or you’re deep in preparations, I hope it’s going well. Are you teaching virtually this year? What’s your plan? Whether you’re teaching virtually, or just plain ‘ol rely on that internet (who doesn’t?), I’ve got just the solution for when the chaos erupts and it all hits the fan. You know what I’m talking about. You wake up to teach, and a storm has knocked out the power. You’re in the middle of a lesson and your internet service provider experiences an outage. Your puppy chews your hardline that’s wire into your router (true story). You’re traveling and the hotel or Air B&B wifi just isn’t cutting it. So, what do you do? How do you still deliver a lesson that makes you exclaim that your brain is better than everybody’s in Sheldon Cooper style? Check out my reel all about this on Instagram if you missed this! You can find me at Teacher.Allyson. Fear not, teacher friend. From someone who has been there, done that, I have some solutions for you.
Hey teachers, I know fall tends to be slow month weather wise, but with the hurricanes and tropical storms affecting Florida and New York, I wanted to get a jump start on this episode. Because winter brings freezes and snowstorms and spring brings thunderstorms and tornadoes. If you’re anything like me, you like to be prepared and ready for anything. One common stress among teachers I’ve spoken with is that technology doesn’t work when it needs to. While I can’t help you with every outage, I can help you with the outages from home. So whether you’re teaching from home in quarantine, or this is your full time classroom this year, I have a few different solutions to help take you from stressed to “I got this!”
Option 1: Hotspot
Grab your cell phone, teacher friend because this very well may be your best friend during your state’s severe weather season. Most phones these days are equipped with hotspot capabilities. If you don’t know what a hotspot is, a hotspot is your phone’s ability to supply an internet connection to a nearby device just like you would to your home or building’s wifi. In my iPhone, my hotspot is found in my settings under the “Personal Hotspot” tab. It’s one of the top ones. I can toggle it on and off right there in my settings tab and it is ready for my computer to connect to it. When you are connecting to your phone’s hotspot for the first time you will be asked to input a password. This will be shown on your phone and you can customize it to one of your choice.
To connect to your hotspot for internet connection, you will click the same icon you click for your normal internet connection. Your hotspot will be the same name as your phone – so mine is Allyson’s iPhone. Yours may be the brand of the phone, or something you’ve chosen. Once you’re connected, you’re good to go!
Keep in mind, the hotspot is not a perfect solution. When phone connectivity is low due to storms, your hotspot will likely not work. A good way to look at is: If your phone is running slow on it’s own, it probably won’t be able to support a second device, too. However, if your internet service provider is just experiencing a random outage not related to weather, or they’re down for maintenance, your hotspot is likely up to the task. A word of caution: using a hotspot through your cell phone will drain your battery quickly. If you are anticipating the need, make sure that your phone is fully charged, or that you have a charging cable nearby (and the power to charge it).
Now, you may be asking, Allyson, this sounds great, but exactly how much extra is this going to cost me a month? I’ve got my budget set and I don’t want to redo it for a “just in case” scenario. Well, my answer to you would be, nothing. How does that sound? Most phone plans come with a set amount of hotspot data you are allowed a month. So, if you’re only using your hotspot as your backup plan, you shouldn’t need more. However, if you live in a rural area, or will be relying on hotspot for your main source of computer or tablet internet, I 100% suggest talking to your phone provider to talk about adding more data onto your plan. And on that note, that brings us right into option 2.
Option 2: Built in Internet Access
How many of you have a tablet laying around the house? Most of us do. How many of you have one that is 3g compatible? Or better? If it’s compatible, and you feel like you might be adding hotspot onto your phone plan, an alternative is to add 3g connectivity onto your tablet. This will provide internet to your tablet the same way it is provided to your cell phone. Again, this option will only work if phones are working as planned. In the event of natural disaster, or just a nasty storm, don’t count on this option working. For example, living in the south, I’m no stranger to nasty thunderstorms and the occasional tornado threat. When we are in the thick of the storm with the shelter in place sirens blaring, my phone won’t load an internet search. It won’t send text messages. It won’t load Facebook. My phone won’t do the most basic of phone functions, meaning, it’s not up to the task of supporting an online learning environment. So, what can you do in the event of a storm? Well, I’m glad you asked.
Option 3: Generator
Scenario 1: Your area just experienced a major storm or hurricane. The danger has passed, you’re fine, your home is fine, your family is fine, but you still have no power. You still want to teach, so how do you do it? Well, this is an investment, but investing in a generator will allow you to power your computer, phone, lights, and anything else you think you will need to teach your lesson. Trust me, Don’t forget the lights. I once taught a lesson in the dark with nothing but the light from my computer screen. It wasn’t ideal, but I was penalized for canceling. Here’s where a generator would have been helpful.
A generator would have allowed me to power lamps and floor lights to help brighten up my at home classroom. It would have allowed me to charge up my dying phone so I could have used the hotspot longer. I would have allowed me to also charge my computer so I could continue to use its energy to teach my classes. It would have fixed a lot of problems. Generators generally run from $300-$500 dollars, so they aren’t cheap. But, if it’s an investment you and your family are willing to make for your job and the coffee maker, TV, noise machine, etc. this may be worth it.
Option 4: Use Family and Friends
Not loving any of these options? No problem! Got family or friends nearby? Well, here’s an option for you. Now, assuming weather conditions are safe for travel, you can teach your lessons for the day at a family member or friend’s house if you are welcome. Many teachers have packed up their classrooms and taught their lessons at a loved one’s house in a pinch. THis option works best if you know ahead of time your internet will be down, and of course, they have internet. This scenario will be much more likely if they have a separate internet service provider from yourself. If the closest option isn’t all that close, or the weather is unsafe, please cancel your classes for the day. There are just a few things that are worth your life, and a day’s worth of lessons aren’t one of them.
I say this with love, because as teachers, we have a tendency to bend over backwards in order to just get it done. Think about it: How many times have you just taught while sick because it’s easier than creating sub plans? How many times have you painstakingly created your own resources because nothing was exactly what you were looking for? How many hours upon hours of your uncontracted time have you spent grading, lesson planning, creating, conferencing, and the list goes on and on…I know I’m guilty of it, and I’m willing to bet you’ve been guilty of this too. So please, teacher friend, if conditions aren’t safe, don’t risk it.
Option 5: Free WiFi
So, on a more chipper note, that brings us to our final option – option 5: free wifi. Take a moment and think: what’s available in your town? Which of those places have free WiFi? You’re likely thinking of places like Starbucks, McDonald’s, Walmart. As a last ditch effort you can teach from your car in one of these parking lots. Pro tip? Park under one of the street lights if it’s early morning. It will help your lighting. Another option is to invest in one of the USB powered lights. This will help your car setup as well.
Again, if you’re in an internet pinch because of a natural weather event, please don’t risk you safety by driving into town. Your students are probably on the same internet provider you are if you teach where you live. If it’s a wide spread weather event, your district is probably canceling school anyways. In 2020, Texas and Oklahoma got slammed by a record breaking snow storm. At my house in Oklahoma, the snow came up to my mid calf. I shoveled snow for the first time in my life. My parents live a couple hours south in Texas. They lost power over, and over. They were slammed with snow. We were both in sub zero temperatures. I say all this to say that districts will cancel. Your administration will understand. We are human. The weather is out of our control. You are doing the best you can without risking your life.
What’s your backup plan?
So teacher friend, which option do you like for your backup plan? Are you a hot spotter, or somebody who likes to crash somewhere with free WiFi? Is this something you will even invest time and possibly money into at all? Internet outages are a common stressor among online teachers, so I wanted to take some time to address alternatives. Even if you don’t need this for school, maybe it will come in handy for your homes. Let me tell you how difficult temper tantrums were when the internet was out and I couldn’t play my son’s playlist on our Alexa device. Sound off in the comments, teacher friend. Which one will you be using? Any tips of your own?
