Teaching in person

Here’s a piece by Deborah Parker at Inside Higher Education which describes what it has been like for her teaching in-person this semester. My experience has been almost exactly like hers, the main exceptions being that nobody spoke in Italian in my classes, and that attendance was close to perfect.

Speaking for myself here: teaching in-person has been almost completely normal. It turns out, for example, that once you have met in masks two or three times you stop noticing the masks. Sometime in October I bumped into a student with 3 of her friends on a walk and we had an extended conversation for about 20 minutes. Afterward I realised I had no idea whether she, or her friends, had been wearing masks (I was, but they didn’t have to be) — later she told me that she and one friend were maskless and the other two were masked, but honestly I had no idea. It shouldn’t be surprising that sitting at a distance feels normal – there’s a fairly rigorous social norm already of leaving an empty seat between oneself and the next student if one can. [1]

I would say that teaching in a mask is more tiring than normal teaching: I imagine that has something to do with speaking louder, and presumably getting less oxygen. But the teaching I’ve done over zoom has been exhausting, so teaching in a mask is less tiring than the available alternative. And there are many compensations: one gets to move around, share smiles and laughter with the students, hear the ambient noise, and share a sense of camaraderie.

Our protocols ensured that there were plenty of cleaning materials, and students would clean their chairs and desks before class, despite my observation that, given how little in person teaching was happening, the last person to use their desk and chair was… them!

The following passage by Parker addresses what had been my biggest worry about masks and social distance — small group discussions:

Wearing masks does not complicate speaking up in class, much less in a foreign language. I asked my students if they felt masks inhibited their speaking abilities, and every student said no. Sound on Zoom is already compromised since most students use the default computer microphones and speakers. I simply ask them to speak up. Small group activities are also not unduly compromised: students can address one another across the desks. The configuration is not a huddle, but it works.

That’s exactly right. In the first few weeks I would regularly tell students to speak up, but they got better at it pretty fast. And the small group activities worked at least as well as usual: the configuration is not a huddle, but it doesn’t need to be, because the next small group is at least 6 feet away! They had to speak a bit louder than usual to reach others in their group, but the noise each group produced was less problematic than it would usually be for other groups.

I say small group discussions worked at least as well as usual: in fact, I’d say they were even better than usual, and I think that reflects the pent-up energy and total commitment that students brought to the room. Most of my students had only one in-person class (mine) and for some it was their only synchronous class: they were determined to make the most of it. This Washington Post article talked to a couple of my students. For one: ‘this is her only in-person class. Hands down, she said, it is the academic highlight of her fall. Her remote courses often feel like a struggle in figuring out how to teach herself. “I’m not getting what I should out of those,” she said.’ Many have echoed her in saying that the class they took in person was the highlight of their week.[2]

I’ll write separately about how I managed remote attendance (badly at first, better eventually). But the remote option meant that most class sessions saw full attendance and the rest saw nearly full attendance. Basically students only missed class if they were too sick to function.

And they were extremely considerate. Before the semester began, some colleagues expressed concerns about students coming to class with symptoms, and other expressed concerns about having to enforce mask wearing. I confess to being completely bemused by these worries: my expectation was that students wouldn’t come to the room if they had symptoms, and that they would wear thick masks. I was right. Students who I knew were desperate to be in class would email asking to be included on the zoom, explaining that a friend had tested positive or that even though they’d had a negative test they weren’t confident in it because they were tired. One student, among the most enthusiastic to be in person, stayed home one week because her allergies were playing her up and she didn’t want to make classmates anxious. One non-normal feature of the semester is that I have not, once, heard anybody cough, or sneeze, in a classroom. Another, which really helped with the auditory issues, was that nobody brought food — so no crunching or crinkling.

My own choice for teaching in person was based in 3 judgements. First, and most importantly, that the skills I have would produce more learning, probably a lot more learning, in an in-person class than on zoom. Second, that it would be safe for me and the students, and that if there was reason to doubt its safety the administration would shut it down quickly. And third that students needed to be in in-person classes for their own mental wellbeing.[3] I’ve had plenty of evidence to confirm, and none to disconfirm, those judgments.

In particular, numerous students have expressed gratitude for being able to have one in-person class which makes their lives feel a bit more normal, and that this was the class in which they learned the most. I tell them that I’m grateful to them for giving it a go, because, like Professor Parker, I feel good after every class. Here’s how Professor Parker ends her piece:

I don’t know if I’m brave or more dedicated than others, but I’m happier. I feel good after every class. What I do involves some risk, but I’m also always reminded of other workers who face greater risk. And I feel that there is something essential to what I do, as well

[1] This is a norm that, in normal times, I prohibit students from following, but its a norm nonetheless

[2] If you click the link you can see me teaching in mask and a very loud orange sweater which my wife and daughter begged me not to wear that day.

[3] Suppose a student suddenly has a serious mental health issue. How differently will they interact with you about it if they have only seen you in class over zoom than if you have been meeting them in person regularly, and they have frequently hung around with you and a few other students after class?