For the last two years, I have been a stay-at-home teacher.
I am a full time high school English teacher for one of the largest and most esteemed virtual schools in the United States. Published school statistics include more than 90 National Board Certified teachers (myself included) and this year, I believe, we will issue 80,000 credits. It is a bit daunting. Most students are from one particular state but many other students enroll through the global services division for profit. I was an adjunct for two years before going full time. It is a public school but with a corporate structure, for example no union and one year contracts. I will blog some on my association with this entity but mostly stick to my return to a tradition school setting.
It is rare that one has an opportunity to return to a previous version of a vocation (Classroom 1.0). The next few months I will be actively, intentionally, and thoughtfully selecting curriculum, technology, policies, strategies, best practices, and instructional design to best fit the culture, students, and standards of my new school. Too often public school teaching is done on the fly. I have already been hired so I will not be blogging about the job search. For the most part, I would like to reflect about contemporary teaching. What engages learners? How might I build communities? What killer aps should I introduce to my students to prepare them for the world of work or higher learning?
I leave my virtual teaching job with some remorse because it is truly a vanguard establishment. Some people may think I am crazy to leave a teaching job with the flexibility to work from my living room with a cat on my lap, to go to the bathroom when I please, and to take a nap if I need a break. Yes, I work in pajamas! However, the reasons I return to the Brick and Mortar are threefold.
The loneliness is crippling. My husband returns each day from his challenging public high school job exhausted but purposeful and connected to his peers and his students. My children return from their highly functioning public schools after a full day of excellent teaching, interaction, community, and face-to-face communication. About 60% of my job is over the phone so I speak to, speak at, and leave messages a good part of my day. I miss standing in the hallway with my students asking about haircuts, dates, sports, music, and fashion. I miss teacher mailboxes, lunch tables, the parking lot, and even faculty meetings where I could sit by a friend and pass notes. I miss acting out stories, reading aloud, and creating my own curriculum. I miss teachable moments and spontaneous opportunities to connect with teenagers. I know I am an effective virtual school teacher because my survey results are high, my statistics good, and my VS students tell me so. As I complete most students, they or their parents ask, "Do you teach any more classes?" I like what I do. I have opportunities to connect with peers and students by IM, Elluminate (a synchronous presentation tool), tri-annual face-to-face meetings, and daily chats with co-teachers. It is just not the same, for me, as real live people.
The salary is too low. I recently moved to a different state and the local salaries and benefits are much more generous here. With two kids heading to college in the next ten years and a nationwide recession looming, I would be crazy not to take an opportunity to bring a huge pay raise into the family coffers. The state from which I moved is in serious recession and even the cost-saving virtual school is seeing hits. Two fewer months in which to make the yearly credit goal, cutbacks on bonuses, more reconfigurations of staff and fewer face-to-face meetings are on the horizon. Many of my peer VS teachers have young families. When you factor childcare into the mix, teaching for the VS is a wonderful way to have it all- career and quality time with your kids. Paying for daycare when my kids were young was cost prohibitive.
The workday does not stop. When a student calls, I have learned to answer that phone especially if it is a student I have been haranguing to submit work. He or she needs me right then and my family, my meal, and my activity must be delayed, put off, or rescheduled. The job does not stop. Vacation time follows the corporate model so traditional-school teachers have more time to rejuvenate themselves away from the workplace with their families.
Thus, I invite comments and advice as I research, think, and blog about building a hybrid virtual/traditional classroom of the 21st century. My first step was to post a comment to the teachers on the Teacher 2.0 blog a query about blogs. I followed several respondent bloggers’ helpful advice and started this one on Typepad, the blog hosting site that my new district uses. I also joined Twitter to see if I could find a use for it. I would appreciate some comments regarding its functionality.
