Virtual Teaching Experience

10

I had to remote teach during COVID, and I miss it sooooooo much!

Classroom management was a breeze, and I could mute and run to the bathroom whenever I needed to...

If I could return to fully remote teaching again, I would in a second!

4

u/ConsiderationLast335 1d ago

Me too but now I want to know what it’s like currently. I LOVED it when we were remote during COVID!

2

u/IllustriousDelay3589 Completely Transitioned 1d ago

I did it from 2020-2024. I liked the teaching part. The bureaucracy is still there. I still had shitty admin. I still had ridiculous class sizes.

One year I had 30 students. I was teaching 3rd grade. The 4th grade teacher was fired and I was stuck with 15 of those students. It became impossible to teach.

When I taught for Stride k/12, I had 60 students. They were split up in chunks so I would see each student for like an hour a day.

Still had micromanaging. Still had ridiculous meetings. Still had in-person obligations. Still had walk throughs. Still had them play favorites(I was granted ADA accommodations and a Kindergarten teacher complained so I was told I couldn’t have them).

1

u/ConsiderationLast335 1d ago

Did you enjoy working for Stride or would you not recommend the company?

2

u/IllustriousDelay3589 Completely Transitioned 1d ago edited 1d ago

The pay was horrible. Granted I live in Az which is horrible anyway. I was paid about 48,000. Huge pay cut. I was working on a brick-and-mortar school where I was among 60,000.

Now, it also depends on directors and admin too. State attitude about education. They are charter schools. They speak horribly about normal public schools, which bothered me. I spent a lot of time advocating for funding. I also spoke out against ESAs.

I can admit by the time I took Stride, I had one foot out the door. I was ready to leave teaching. My attitude could have been better, but the first time they wrote me up due to a kid who flashed the class. I started to make an exit strategy.

2

u/ConsiderationLast335 1d ago

Flashing the class and holding YOU accountable for that is wild! I hope you have since found happiness! But you’re so right it all depends on admin, they’re not all created equal.

2

u/IllustriousDelay3589 Completely Transitioned 1d ago

Yep I am a student success advisor now. I still get to work from home and it’s a lot less stressful.

2

u/moodyjudy123 1d ago

How did you find that job ? I’m looking into those roles as well🤥

1

u/ConsiderationLast335 1d ago

That’s awesome! Is it with one of these virtual schools or a local college?

2

u/AnnaNimNim 1d ago

It depends who you work for. The company I work for my kids drop in as needed, where I’ve got friends who hold online classes.

What is a little bit awkward is getting used to just seeing kids on a square. We are used to eye contact being across the whole room or were you look around but on online you kind of just see them from the head up and so it’s you’re almost like you’re too close physically, but also disconnected if that makes sense. When I first started teaching online, I actually was tired from the unusual eye contact. I also found myself talking too loud loudly because I wanted them to hear me. One of my biggest challenges now is that my kids won’t get online and I know they’re messing around with their phone when they’re talking to me so often I feel like I’m talking to an empty room.
again, I’m really lucky because I don’t have to hold actual class classes, but I do have to directly work with Student students and explain concepts.

I also recommend you get at least two additional screens beside your laptop and make sure your laptop and screens are high on a stand. Otherwise your neck will be in pain!!

Pay for the extra lightning speed Wi-Fi as well. Have a high-end, external keyboard and mouse don’t rely on the laptop one.
If you transition to online, make sure you’ve got a good headset, speakers, good light ensure that when students see you, they can see you and you’re not dim or back. You gotta make sure your camera doesn’t show anything weird in the background.

1

u/ConsiderationLast335 1d ago

What companies would you suggest or recommend?

2

u/AnnaNimNim 1d ago

Not sure what state you are in, but Stride Learning is one. Realize they pay significantly less than a traditional public school.

Everyone wants to go online.
I will probably have to go back to Brick + Mortar as much as I love my current job, but I genuinely cannot afford it as a single person. And it’s gonna impact my future retirement as well, but that’s I’ve been lucky to be able to do it as long as I could.

1

u/ConsiderationLast335 1d ago

Right! That’s a huge con…pay and benefits. Other than that, do you enjoy it? How much live virtual teaching do you do on a weekly basis?

1

u/AnnaNimNim 1d ago

I am SPED and work all day with students as needed. I teach multiple subjects and levels so it is often a circus with kids in my room, or it is a ghost town.

1

u/ConsiderationLast335 1d ago

Oh goodness! So how much on an average day are you face to face teaching students? Do you receive a salary or only pad depending on the number of attendees for each session?

1

u/AnnaNimNim 1d ago

I work for a public charter, so I earn a flat teachers salary.
Your questions are unusual. I’m curious what is your goal here. If you are working from home, you are still working. You have to work with students all day. You are still a teacher you’re still teaching.
Most online teaching jobs pay less than going in person into a brick and mortar so you have to decide what you want. Good luck.

1

u/ConsiderationLast335 1d ago

So some virtual teachers don’t provide live instruction daily, the students will do asynchronous on one day, teacher will provide feedback and then live instruction on 1-2 of the other days. Some virtual schools have students to do live instruction a few hours and then students complete their assignments independently. Some virtual schools operate where students are face to face with the teacher for 4-6 hours straight, with lunch breaks and specials breaks. I’m just trying to understand what each program does, that’s why I’m asking. The goal is to ultimately understand what virtual teachers do and how they like/dislike it. I enjoyed it during COVID but I haven’t taught online since 2022. I haven’t made any decisions yet, just brainstorming, that’s all.

2

u/AnnaNimNim 1d ago

Um Kay.

2

u/Twictim 1d ago

I did it last year. I was teaching virtually high school ELL. I had six one-hour classes each day (8am, 9am, 10am, 12pm, 1pm, and 2pm). I lesson planned weekly, created a year long pacing guide, had Google slides with an icebreaker, the lesson and an activity, and hosted office hours 3-4 days a week. Because of the type of high school, students were enrolled in the class but did not show up (it wasn’t mandatory that they attend but mandatory that they show up on the roster). Most of the time, I had one or two kids a day with a roster of about 200. But, the state did monitor the EL program that year and there was a day that they joined my Google Meets lesson and thankfully I had students at that time. The lesson and audit went well. Overall, I enjoyed the experience and the staff and my Principal were amazing. I left the school at the end of the school year because my family moved out of state.

1

u/loteria3 1d ago

Sounds like an interesting gig. How did you find it and how was the pay?

2

u/Twictim 1d ago

My former principal recommended me. $48k.

1

u/ConsiderationLast335 1d ago

This is awesome. I taught adult ESL and loved it! I’ve never heard of a school district offering this for students!

2

u/Ok-Sweet7532 1d ago

I did curriculum alignment and crosswalks for Stride as a second job. I loved doing that. It was contract work, though. I never had a time when I didn't have a contract, so it worked out really well for me.

That job has zero student or parent contact.

1

u/ConsiderationLast335 1d ago

That sounds awesome!! I’m sure those are far and few between though!

2

u/chikenparmfanatic 1d ago

I did it one time for a private school and absolutely hated it. The kids were awful and admin had all sorts of ridiculous demands. Another crappy thing was parents would sit in and record classes, which I thought was totally wrong and shouldn't have been allowed but admin was scared of them so nothing happened.

It was nice to work from home but I was literally on a screen all day and that just felt unhealthy and draining.

2

u/ConsiderationLast335 20h ago

Omg that is awful!! See this is the kind of things I want to hear because yes there’s pros and cons but being on camera all day for kids is also A LOT!! When there’s asynchronous time, that helps to buffer some of that.

1

u/addyingelbert 1d ago

I just started teaching at a stride school this year after 4 years in brick and mortar. It’s been sooooooooo much less stressful. Now granted we’ve only barely gotten into the swing of things, I only had my first live class meeting today. But I have 3 class sections that each meet for an hour a week, plus a few extra required office hours, small group sessions, etc. I have like 100 students. I teach high school ELA and all the curriculum for the whole year came preloaded in canvas. Half the assignments are computer graded. I still have to make lessons for live class but I’m not responsible for selecting every text, creating every assignment, deciding on pacing, etc. There is basically no opportunity for students to misbehave lol.

I took a really big pay cut however. Last year at my public high school I made like $68k (4 years in with a master’s plus a few thousand dollars stipend for working at an understaffed school). Now I’m making $50k, with the potential for a bonus and/or raise depending on my performance and how well the company does that year. The benefits are solid, it’s just me on the health plan and it’s like barely $100 a paycheck for medical, vision, and dental. Decent insurance plan.

It was certainly a trade off but I was miserable at my old school. I was completely burnt out and operating in survival mode 24/7. My old district just started their second week and I would have already cried many times by this point if I was still working there lol. I don’t feel stressed at all and I have plenty of energy to do other stuff on weeknights and weekends. My friends who are still at my old school are already dealing with so much chaos and bullshit and I’m so thankful I don’t have to deal with it anymore. I feel like I made the right choice.

You are about to leave Redlib