Last Tuesday was my last Zoom call with the children in my class. Nevertheless, I am glad the Zoom calls have ended because truthfully, Zoom calls and young children are not a good mix. Of course, keeping the connection between children, teachers, and peers are very important during these times, in my opinion, having children sit through multiple Zoom calls per day is not beneficial. Studies even show that web chat calls for young children should not exceed 15- 20 minutes. But, lets be honest, can you even get what needs to be done in a span of 15- 20 minutes? No. Don’t get me wrong, I made the best of the situation, but I do think it is much more important for young children to play outside, explore nature, and do things more cohesive to their development rather than sitting in front of the computer several times per day. Needless to say, I have been doing Zoom calls everyday since March and have learned a lot from doing so as well. Here are a few things I took away from teaching via webcam;
Some parents take their child’s education very seriously and are disciplined about having their child attend the Zoom calls everyday. Whereas, on the other hand, there are some parents who turn on the Zoom and walk away to where the child can now diddly daddly for the whole Zoom session.
In the beginning of this experience, it was new and novel, everyone got a kick out of seeing each other on the screen, but week after week, the numbers of participants dwindled.
Volume control is so important! Can you imagine 28 children trying to speak all at once?! It’s horrendous.
Some children have no interest at all and you see them in their Zoom box playing with toys, jumping on their couches, eating, etc.
Some days were easier than others. I found with my class in particular, Thursday morning Zooms were the toughest. The focus wasn’t there a lot of the time, they were just exhausted, and it was difficult for them to actively participate.
There were some fun times on Zoom, however. For example, we did a bunch of science experiments, and played a lot of games. What works in the actual classroom does not translate to something that works over webcam. I had to tap into the creative side and experiment with new things to do. Some ideas worked really well, but at the same time, some did not. It’s all about trial and error.
The activity I did for the last Zoom call was to create a “hat” out of materials you had at home. All I used was paper, markers, and tape. After everyone created their version of their “hat” we all did hip hip hoorays to celebrate our last Zoom and for the transition back to school.
xoxo,e
