A hastily planned day of emergency training aimed at providing York Region District School Board teachers with additional support in dealing with the challenges of hybrid teaching was bogged down by technical difficulties and network delays, which That left some educators solving problems for hours or out of sessions altogether.
All of the elementary and middle school teachers who attended, or attempted to attend, the one-day training on Friday said that constant technology problems only highlighted the impossible nature of what teachers are asked to do every day in their schools. classrooms: dealing with technology issues while teaching. students online and in person at the same time.
“The training failed,” said fourth grade teacher Emily Leon. “There were major technical problems even logging in. It took me over 20 minutes to test with two other devices. Many other teachers had the same experience or could not enter ”.
“The irony was not lost on me, as my hybrid students have technical problems every day and I take time out of instruction to help,” he added.
YRDSB is not the only board that implements hybrid training in the province, but it is the only one that does so at the elementary level. Most of the other boards have implemented the hybrid in high school, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, to help students have more flexibility to move from face-to-face to online. YRDSB’s decision to implement it in elementary schools, where approximately 12,600 students are learning online, was made against the advice of its own internal staff.
The decision to adopt a hybrid system has caused anger and burnout among 8,000 teachers at the province’s third-largest board and has upset parents who say the teaching method is difficult to maintain and that their children learn remotely. they will eventually be left behind.
On Tuesday, members of the elementary and middle school union along with dozens of educators protested outside the board’s offices in Aurora over ongoing issues surrounding the hybrid model.
To allay the concerns of teachers, the public, and trustees, the board quickly put together a training program in a few weeks (normal event planning can take six months to a year), but both teachers and staff intern criticized the training, saying “it fell short” and that it was simply a “bandage solution” to a problem that cannot be solved.
“We think the board is trying to sell something that requires more drastic action,” said elementary teacher Raymond Leung.
“I feel like the board is trying to tell parents that teachers are kind of experts now, with this day of training. But the reality is that teachers feel more abandoned by the board, ”he said.
“I feel like the board didn’t think much in terms of the day. They put some consultants in the situation and did not recognize that the hybrid situation is causing this stress, ”he said.
The day’s sessions began with a six-minute video of school board director Louise Sirisko defending the board’s decision to go hybrid, staff told the Star.
“I know that the shift to hybrid learning has been another new challenge,” he said in the video obtained by Star. “The most important principles… are the continuation of learning for students and their connection to their home school. This allows students to stay connected with teachers and peers. “
In an interview, YRDSB Associate Director Steven Reid said the training was organized quickly because “our educators were asking for this professional learning now and we wanted to deliver it as quickly as possible,” he said.
Reid said there were more than “20,000 broadcasts” that were recorded during the course of the day, which he said meant that at some point all 10,000 educators, including teachers and principals, were likely tuned in. “Based on those numbers, we think we have a large number of people who participated,” he said.
But several teachers and staff who spoke with Star said that the problems with the training day started even before the event started:
- A comment form intended to help shape the day was intended for elementary teachers, but was instead intended for secondary teachers. Therefore, few teachers had time to give their opinion on what they would like to see on the training day.
- Teachers were informed that the sessions would be streamed live and thus there were few opportunities for two-way interaction other than asking questions via a Google doc after the event was over.
- On the day of the training, several teachers told the Star that they were having technical difficulties and either registered late or were unable to log in at all. As a result, the school board established problem-solving tips at 10 am, after the first session had already concluded.
- The sessions were led by consultants, essentially board staff, who admitted that they had no real-life experience with hybrids and recognized the challenge of implementing the training lessons in real-life practice.
And a report obtained by Star that included feedback from central staff, including those tasked with setting up and organizing the one-day schedule, said there were concerns about how the plans came together.
“We worked to unreasonable deadlines to create content that was meaningful to our colleagues. We were forced to deliver this learning in a way that did not make pedagogical sense, ”wrote a staff member.
Another said: “The short notice was overwhelming for the facilitators. There is not enough time to digest the amount of information that was communicated. We rose to the occasion, but at what cost?
Reid said that much of the overall feedback he received was positive and helpful, giving the board ideas on what they can work on in future professional learning sessions.
He said that despite some of the challenges that came with planning and executing the day, it was important that the sessions take place: “We know there are challenges, this is a response to a pandemic. We do not expect teachers to be experts at this time. This is a learning journey. What we want to do is continue providing training for them to develop their practices slowly and incrementally ”.
A high school ninth grade science teacher, who asked to remain anonymous to speak freely, said that while there is no good way to “hybrid teach,” the way the board has done it has proven disrespectful to teachers. and the personal.
“If they had given the training a little thought, it would have made the staff feel more appreciated, rather than now where all they tell us is: we know the staff is stressed; it is a learning curve; they will figure it out, ”he said. “But he is not willing to listen to staff comments, or to include us in the discussion and ask for our opinions.”
Leon, a fourth-grade teacher, says the way the board has conducted its decision-making process around the hybrid and the most recent training has left her and her peers even more frustrated.
“I feel like we’re drowning and now someone asks if they can maybe help us learn to swim, when what we need is to be pulled out of the water,” León said. “I think the hybrid is something that our system will pay for for years to come.”
Reference-www.thestar.com