It goes without saying that taking on a new adventure comes with hurdles that we might not anticipate. However, when it comes to online teaching challenges, enough have gone before you that the path is littered with guides, tips and advice. Here is my own collection of wisdom to dissipate some of the fog, particularly for independent teachers.
Table of Contents
Personal Boundaries
Start Small
I know that many teachers want to jump in with both feet and ideally have their online teaching efforts become a stable and sufficient household income as well as be personally fulfilling. However, easing in to the role will allow you to become comfortable with the technology you’re going to use, the material you’re going to teach, the administrative tasks that are required, and the parent-teacher interactions that are inevitable. Though your bank account might suffer from adding only a few students per month to your schedule, your long-term competence, confidence and endurance as an online independent teacher will greatly benefit.
Set Your Boundaries
In tandem with not biting off more than you can chew, all independent teachers need to find and maintain balance between home time and class time. Whether you work online or in-person you need to set reasonable boundaries in regards to:
- availability – train your students and parents (and yourself!) that you are not available around the clock to answer emails, messages or calls. Setting work hours can help you maintain focus, commitment and balance.
- work environment – if you’re working at home, train your family or housemates that your work area is off-limits and noise should be kept to a minimum during class times. Try to keep your work area physically separate from your living spaces.
- expectations – it’s not unusual for students to contact teachers needing “just a little help” with a school assignment or upcoming test, or for parents to contact teachers to request an extra few minutes class time or drastic shift in curriculum. Every teacher must determine for themselves what they’re willing to give away or indulge but always remember that it’s very difficult to restrict accommodations once clients become used to receiving them.
Professional Considerations
Curriculum
Whenever I’m doing an initial assessment of a prospective student, I’m always sure to ask about previous extra-curricular classes, what materials they’ve used, what their study habits involve, what their goals are and what exposure they get to the course material (if any) outside of a class setting. If fortune favours me, then I have access to classware that the student is already familiar with and can hit the ground running. Typically though, I use the information provided to establish an appropriate curriculum, workload and pace with the material I have at hand. Don’t expect that you’ll be able to meet the needs of every client who knocks on your door, but if you stay nimble you’ll find most students are highly adaptable too.
Administration
All that bureaucracy that you may have resented when working for someone else? It’s in your lap now! Everything from student information, evaluations, curriculum sourcing and acquisition to billing, payment processors, business and tax filings, records maintenance and marketing… it’s all yours!
Depending on your level of comfort with various technologies as well as your budget, you can opt for an all-in-one solution or plug-in for your web site, or you can make do with a variety of spreadsheets and databases on your own computer. If you’re just starting out and have a rudimentary comfort with office applications, then you can manage just fine with:
- Microsoft Excel / LibreOffice Calc – for keeping billing records, timesheets, student personal information, class records
- Calendly + Google Calendar – class scheduling
- Email / WeChat / Messenger / etc. – student and parent communications (I prefer to keep written or video records of interactions and so avoid phone discussions)
- a notebook – I find nothing as convenient and reliable as good old-fashioned paper and pencil. I use a notebook for scheduling my day, setting to-do lists and reminders, and making quick notes during classes. I never have to boot it up, plug it in or charge the battery.
Business Development
This where things get dicey. How do you promote your business? How do you book new clients? This is an entire topic series of topics in itself, but what you should prepare for is that for every hour you spend teaching or administrating, spend as much time moving your business forward. Whether it be writing blog posts, contacting schools / parents / organizations to offer your services, recording videos, designing flyers and posters… it needs to be scheduled into your workweek.
Technical Issues
Platform
Just as your curriculum will be dictated by what you have and what your students need, so to will your platform. Independent teachers who strictly work in-person or on-location need never use a computer or smartphone, though both of these tools vastly facilitate asynchronous work. If you teach students at a distance you’ll need to determine what online teaching platform best serves your student’s needs.
Hardware – You and Your Student
Bandwidth, Internet access, national firewalls and computer / smartphone capabilities are all issues you may face when teaching at a distance. If you serve students where the Internet infrastructure is limited by either cost or technology, you might have to consider pre-recording video lessons, using voice recordings or even email to deliver classes.
No matter how you slice it, all the benefits of being an independent teacher are also your burdens. Being able to set your own work schedule becomes self-discipline. Working from home entails a quiet and dedicated work space. Banking 100% of your course fees involves payment processing and tax implications. Teaching what you want demands curriculum material. The online teaching challenges go on, but so do the rewards. Are you up for it?
References and Further Reading
IndieTeach Links for Educators
https://indieteach.com/resources/resources-for-educators/
Advice to those about to teach online
https://www.tonybates.ca/2020/03/09/advice-to-those-about-to-teach-online-because-of-the-corona-virus/
Teaching Online Focus Paper
Nicky Hockley, Oxford University Press
Images by
Seema Miah on Unsplash
Chris Montgomery on Unsplash
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