I have the dubious pleasure of writing this article (and its successor) with experience as both an educator who works online as well as a parent with kids “enjoying” online schooling. As a teacher I am very aware of the challenge of engagement and discipline in a virtual classroom. As a parent I am similarly aware of the difficulties of motivating good behaviour and focus.
In this article I hope to set out some helpful general tips for parents trying to manage children learning at home. Every child is unique and these tips will not address specifics and particulars, but may help to smooth an unfamiliar and sometimes turbulent experience.
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Online Classes – Parent’s Perspective
Teachers have training, tricks, experience, intuition and empathy to inform their classroom management strategies. Parents have a related and similar repertoire of tools to manage children at home. For the first time children are a) being given school classes, b) by school teachers, c) in their home environment on a large scale, and both parents and teachers must become collaborators if this state of affairs has any hope of success.
With kids learning online from home, aspects of the educational experience which were typically handled by teachers are now the purview of parents. Environment, engagement, motivation, behaviour, scheduling and discipline are now in mom and dad’s lap. What to do to make this easier?
4 Tips to Manage Online Learners
1. Stick to a schedule
You have a work schedule. You know when to get up, when to go to work, when you have your breaks and when you’re done for the day. You know what’s expected of you and when it’s expected. Young learners also respond to a formal schedule for classes and homework time, and their minds get “into the zone” when they know the zone is nigh. Give them access to a (printed) class schedule, and block off time each day for assignments and class review / preview.
2. Kill the dings, bleeps, chimes and chatter
Think about your work environment. If your boss requires you to read, think, analyse, strategize, listen or provide input, are you at your best with a radio or TV or phone or colleagues or chums competing for your attention? I presume the answer is “no”, and I counsel to not expect more from your kids. As best as possible, let them take their online classes in an environment free of cellphones, TV, toys, clutter, and various household noises. Teachers know that young minds wander and are able to recognize and redirect a distracted attention, but try not to make the teacher’s task next to impossible.
3. Poke your nose in
I can tell you from experience that if a learner decides to pay no attention whatsoever to the online teacher, then there’s nothing the teacher can do. Period. This is where limited parent involvement is greatly appreciated. Not all students need constant supervision, but few young learners exhibit constant focus and attention. If the student is alone at the computer for class, try to look in on them every 10 or 15 minutes to see that they haven’t turned off their screen, or wandered away from it, or have resumed their Lego project or are taking a nap.
4. Restrict non-class software and apps
Related to point 3 above… if the device your child uses for school isn’t dedicated to school, then it has likely got games, social media, web browsers, streaming services and notifications enabled (did I miss anything?). Where possible, disable or restrict access to these services during class time and homework time. If you can’t make these distractions go away, then check regularly that your at-home student hasn’t fallen prey to them.
Managing a classroom is one of the most difficult tasks many teachers face and is a task for which few parents are trained. However, with some preparation and collaboration we can make this less-than-ideal situation much smoother.
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