Hey there! It’s Allyson from OnlineTeacherAllyson.com – where stay-at-home moms learn how to teach online so they can earn an income from home even if their children are in tow. Today I want to get into how online teaching, or online learning, affects students. There’s positives and there’s negatives! So today I’m only going to address the positives. We’ll get into the negatives next week because there are a ton of positives! So today I’m going to get into that, and I hope it just really inspires you.
PS: This is also a YouTube Video! If you’d rather watch, you can find the video below.
PPS: This is also a podcast episode! If you prefer to listen, you can find it at the veryyy bottom, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Just search for Simple Tools for the Online Teacher!
For today I really have no formal scientific evidence, so I want to talk about the online learning of 2020. People tend to cringe and have really negative feelings and emotions when they think about this because it was an awful time. I can’t think of anybody who thought “Yeah 2020 was just overall a great year!” When I look back on 2020 I think there were some ups and some positives. One of them was learning how to teach you how to teach online! When I think about what was going on just worldwide – yeah, right? So parents think about their students having to log in, in some places over an entire year. California, I know they were virtual learning for over a year. So when parents think about virtual learning and online teaching that’s kind of where they go. But this isn’t where we’re going today. If you caught last week’s video I did talk about what online teaching is and how there’s two tiers. There’s the tier where you are in the classroom and then there’s the tier where you and I fall in which is the fun stuff. If you want more information on it go ahead and check it out, I’ve got it linked. Hopefully that clears that up for you. So, no scientific evidence – just my observations.
Smaller Class Sizes
Okay, as a non-classroom online teacher we’re not talking about the classroom. We’re just talking about the extras that students do for home from home because it’s fun, because they want to, or because they’re homeschoolers and they like the flexibility and that’s the class they chose. You have more choice here. One of the biggest positives is it’s a smaller class size. When I think about the classroom, my classrooms that I’ve had, I’ve had anywhere from like 21 students ish – I can’t remember the exact number – to like 30 something. Those are massive class sizes! When you think about the kids that really need that extra special attention it’s really hard to give it to them. Or, you give them all that extra special attention and then the other ones don’t get their extra special attention. So I do want to say right now I recognize that online learning is not a good fit for every student. I realize that and I understand that. That’s going to fall on the negatives so we’ll talk more about that next week.
So for today this is where it’s really the kids that are loving it. The kids that are thriving and that are really getting something from these classes, and look forward to it. So first and foremost a smaller class size, you can have a smaller class size as number one. You can charge more if you do a one-on-one class. One-on-one tutoring tends to be a little pricier because you don’t have other students filling that cash bucket at the same time. Your sole focus is on that one student for however long the class is: 30 minutes, an hour. If you do a small group class, let’s say you only want five kids in there, those tend to run a little less expensive because if you have all five kids you might make more than if you made that hour tutoring one-on-one.
ESL Platforms
But, there’s also the ESL platform, which I talk about a lot because it’s where I have my main experience, and that’s one-on-one for the most part. There are some classes, on some platforms, where it’s not; like Palfish. I’m not even sure if Palfish is still around, but Palfish was very much small group. When you think about VIPKid, they were kind of moving that direction. They had small groups as well. When I say small group I only mean like three three to five. Five is really the higher end of a small group. So these kids that need this attention or thrive in smaller groups really benefit from these online platforms because they can find a teacher that resonates with them and has a class size that fits for them. I always thrived better in small group environments even as a kid. Big ol’ spaces I always have to hype myself up for it. I have to know it’s coming. In the classroom I always spoke up more than it was a smaller group and that’s the same for some of these kiddos as well. They have that empowerment and that ability to learn the way they learn and to learn how they learn and to kind of make that notice about themselves.
Learn How to Connect and Communicate with Others
They also learn how to – I’m looking at my notes over on my other screen – they learn how to connect and communicate with others from different countries and backgrounds. If you think about a small group, let’s talk about Outschool – they’re global, you could have students from everywhere. I always like to use the first couple minutes of class just to kind of do some introductions, and if i’ve had these kids before I like to have them talk about their day, or something they’re excited about. That gives them a chance to share about who they are and their culture as well. If you have a student from the states in a class with a student from the Middle East we can talk about favorite foods, we can talk about the weather. The weather in the Middle East can be vastly different from a student living in Washington State. So I really like to kind of bring these in while maintaining as much privacy as possible. Always remember to tell your kids “Hey, do not tell me your city. Do not tell me exactly where you live, but I would love to hear about your state! I would love to hear about the vacation you’re excited about!” That especially is really good because it doesn’t give anything, right? “I’m going to Disneyland and here’s why I’m excited! Or, I’m fasting because it’s Ramadan and this is what that is. These are great times to learn about other cultures and how to talk to them as well because they’re not scary, even though you’ve maybe never met someone. They’re kids too, they’re humans too.
So I think that’s a really big positive is you get this opportunity. You get this opportunity to talk to students, kids, your age all over the world. And as the teacher you get to facilitate that. Once you see it it’s amazing. They get these excited eyes to come to class every day and they’re so excited to talk to their new friend halfway across the world. Sometimes even parents chime in and ask to share some personal information like an email address because they want to be pen pals. That’s something for you to facilitate and for you to decide, especially on different platforms. It’s just a lot of fun watching those friendships blossom even if they’re from different cultures.
Students Get the Opportunity to Learn Skills They Wouldn’t Get to Otherwise
Another point that’s really positive is they get to learn skills that might not be prevalent in their area. I think about where I live, I live in Oklahoma, it’s kind of rural. We live pretty close to Oklahoma City but we have to drive into it, so we’re kind of in a rural community. So when I think about the skills that I need for the city, they’re different to the skills I need here.
Let’s talk about New York City. On a massive scale they have so many things I don’t have! The first major one: the subway and ferries. Oklahoma is landlocked and we don’t have anything like a subway so I can learn how to use the subway. I can learn how to take the ferry to the Statue of Liberty. Online I have these opportunities to learn and study from someone who is an expert. Maybe from someone who lives there rather than just trying to pour over maps that are online. As a kid that’s great! I know kids aren’t going to be probably looking at subway routes and times and schedules but you get the point. The students are learning something that they’re not going to find anywhere near them.
I’m thinking in my neighborhood I can’t think of any cooking classes. If I wanted to learn how to cook I can find a class. You can teach how to cook cannolis because you’re Italian. How cool would that be to make an Italian-based cooking class! Just desserts like cannolis and tiramisu; whether it’s for grown-ups or kids! You see what I’m talking about? Find your expertise and go for it because that is not prevalent where I live.
Control Over Extra Curricular Activities
Another one: you can give students control over their extracurricular activities. Schools are pretty limited on their extracurriculars and the smaller the school the less availability. So my high school was brand new when I started. My freshman year was the second year open. I was it’s first full class. I think about my electives: I had apparel, home ec, sports, obviously if I was into sports. But I’m not because I’m teaching online right? I think about, sports especially, we didn’t have wrestling at my school and we turned into a giant school by the time I graduated – we were 5A. So you think about where you are in school is limited. If I wanted to get into wrestling – that’s the first extracurricular I can think of off the top of my head we didn’t have – I couldn’t because we didn’t have anything for wrestling. We had a technical school that had things for if you wanted to be a hairdresser, or a cook, or a lawyer, or a teacher, which I did, but we didn’t have any wrestling.
If I wanted to learn wrestling I would have to go online and find a class. When I graduated 12 years ago online learning wasn’t a thing. Online learning is booming now and it would be so much easier to find wrestling now than it would have been 12 years ago. Students have the option to really customize their extracurriculars. Even though they’re taking these extracurriculars at school, and those still are probably mandated, they can find something extra to do on their own time – like friendship bracelets! I’ve told you I taught how to make friendship bracelets. You’re not going to learn that at school. You might learn it at summer camp but I never went to summer camp. I learned it from one of my friends. That’s exactly what teaching online is. You are taking your expertise and teaching it to your students – your friends if you will. This gives them the chance to pursue passions that might not ever get the chance to get checked out otherwise. Especially if they live in really small towns and they don’t have those opportunities close by, it’s too far of a drive.
Students Can Find the Online Teacher that Best Fits Them
Finally, your students will have the freedom to find this to find the teacher that fits them. It’s a hard pill to swallow as a teacher to recognize that you’re not going to be the greatest fit for every student. Some teachers really like to lecture and that’s their teaching style but not everyone learns that way. Some teachers really like group work but not everyone learns that way. Some teachers are really hands-on. They have hands-on things that students do with their hands but not everyone learns that way. So you have to recognize as a teacher that you are still great, you are a good teache,r even though little Bobby might not be learning from you as best as he could.
That’s where the challenge comes in as any sort of teacher, especially as an online teacher. You have to recognize that little Bobby might be a visual learner and you’re doing a lot of just like lecture based teaching. That’s when you kind of tweak your already created lesson, if you haven’t done this already, and you haven’t pre-planned for it. You’re new, it’s okay! That’s when you add something visual for Bobby: something he can print out, something he can create to help him learn. That’s how you appeal to the masses: you really think about all the different learning styles and how you can cater parts of your class to each one so they all get something beneficial to them. The freedom to find their teacher is just the most freedom in the world.
I want you to think back to college. When I was in college every time I had to pick a new my new semester schedule I scoped Rate My Professor. Let me know if you scoped Rate My Professor. Let me know in the comments or shoot me an email or something because I know I can’t have been alone. If there was a teacher that was known within my major for being like a hard nose or like known on Rate My Professor then I kind of tried to avoid that teacher. It wasn’t perfect, I couldn’t always but that’s what it is. Why can’t we grant these little students the same thing? Let me tell you, that made my college experience so much more memorable because I got some really good teachers. I think fondly on some of my professors because I just learned so much from them even though they didn’t always teach to my learning style. They were awesome in and of itself and that’s what you want to be. You want to be the Rate My Professor where everyone’s like “Yeah, she’s really fair.” or “She really noticed me.” “She creates her lessons so that every learner is recognized and that’s great.” That’s how students find the teacher that fits for them.
All right, I know that was kind of rambly but as you can tell I love online teaching and I just love watching these kids learn and grow. That’s a lot of the positives I’ve seen and there’s no way that this is all-encompassing but it is some things I’ve seen pretty prevalently. I have had some students come back to me for over a hundred classes so I’ve gotten to know some students and how to teach them and I’ve gotten to watch that change in their eyes. It’s really great. Stay tuned next week because we are talking about the negatives. It’s kind of yucky to talk about but it’s important that we talk about it. I want you to make informed decisions when it comes to whether you want to teach online, or whether or in your interactions with your students and how it could be negatively affecting them, and it helps you plan as well. I hope this gave you something to think about! Chat soon!
