Teachers, the heroes of online teaching

Aishwarya Jadhav, Class X, EuroSchool, Undri (Pune)

“Change begins at the end of your comfort zone.” – Roy Bennett.

Change and going with the flow is the need of the hour. The biggest change which occurred in this pandemic period was the shifting of classroom learning to virtual learning.

Schools and teachers have ensured that the students’ education is not interrupted by this pandemic. Online classes, which we also call the new normal, have been challenging and extremely difficult to adjust, for the students as well as the teachers.

What once used to be simple interactive classroom teaching session has now turned into Zoom meetings and Microsoft whiteboard lessons powered by Digital learning ecosystem.

However, the whole experience of online classroom learning has been engaging and illuminating for me.

It was a new experience to learn from laptops and e-books and to take an online examination.

The initial days were difficult to get used to the online schedule but as time passed I got used to it.

My teachers have been extremely helpful and understanding during this period and they accomplished this task admirably.

Learning through the screens was tough for me and my classmates as well, but it would not have been possible without our teachers’ creative way of teaching.

They also guided us with technology training and equipped us on how to use new applications that we could later use for study-material, revision, and even project-making.

They ensured that our learning process was not held back and that we continued to progress by regular valuation through ‘continuous assessments’.

Helping us to clear our queries, they were always keen to be available through e-mails.

Adapting to the current situation and the ‘new normal’ was tough for everyone but who would have imagined conducting a farewell for the students online?

Surprising indeed! But the teachers had organised an online farewell for the tenth-grade students. This level of planning needs a bird’s eye view to conducting the programme so efficiently, right from the virtual backgrounds to musical compositions, everything was successfully coordinated.

This grand event inspired us. The dedication, commitment, and drive that we saw in our teachers, made us want to study better and work harder.

Planning and executing several virtual events such as Model United Nations, examinations and remedial classes, virtual career counselling sessions and workshops, etc., took a lot of effort by the teachers and coordinators.

These innovative elements in virtual school kept us interested and made us concentrate better as the content was very interesting.

However, in this system it is difficult to ensure that all students are paying attention in the class. But our teachers, kept working untiringly to make the classroom lessons creative and productive. It was heartwarming to see how our teachers over time, developed a close association with other members of our family too, in course of the online classes.

We were not just able to transition from offline to online classes, but also complete our portion in time, without falling behind schedule.

The most important lesson learned apart from the academic lessons is to be a good listener and be patient.

Internet connectivity and electricity issues have taught us to be considerate and tolerant towards such obstacles.

Overall, virtual schooling has been a great support till now in this pandemic.

However, the urge to get back to physical school is overwhelming. The sound of the school bell, the playground, and the classroom is still missed by everyone. I look forward to going back to school soon!