Thursday, January 28, 2021

Silent Third


Last week I covered a photography class. They were to read an article on still life and respond to it before taking still life pictures. The teacher had set up a kind of comment page (on something called Padlet) for them to list three things they learned as well as comment on fellow students' lists. 

(Since they can't have a discussion due to the distance thing, this is the next best way to have students communicate with each other.) 

Everything went well first period. At the end of third period, I checked the Padlet page only to find that none of the students had made their comments. Before I dismissed the class, I reminded them that they needed to create posts so that their peers could comment. 

Fifth period. Since things went sideways third, I made sure to start with telling period five about the commenting thing. 

A few minutes later, a student alerted me to a problem. 

For the students to add their comment to the page, they needed to "add a comment" using a plus sign button. The students in period five told me they didn't have that button. 

Upon further investigation, I discovered that the same issue happened to period three. In fact, only one class, period one, had the button to add a comment. 

Deep sigh. 

I won't go into the mess that ensued when I attempted to contact their teacher to let her know. (I'm still rather irked over the incident.) Suffice it to say that the issue never did get fixed. 

But period three... *shakes head* Not a one of them piped up to let me know that there was a problem. 

Usually, there's someone who will chime in with "there's a problem here". At which point I can troubleshoot, or at the very least, let their teacher know that they couldn't complete something due to a technical issue.

Of course, there are some classes that are just quiet. They keep their heads down and don't comment on anything. 

I suppose period three was one of those. If we were in person, they'd probably be the "best" class of the day only to later discover that not a one of them had done any work. 

14 comments:

  1. The joys of teaching and doing it on the computer and not in the class room.

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    1. That lesson would have gone completely differently in a classroom.

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  2. Oh man. You must be having so much "fun" with distance learning.

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  3. It's advantageous to stay quiet when a glitch means you can't do your work!

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    1. True. But they'd have to do it eventually. Although, they don't really consider that part, do they?

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  4. Hi Liz - it must be so frustrating - I hope school gets back sometime soon ... stay safe ... you obviously manage calm! Have a happy weekend - Hilary

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  5. Sounds like a fun class but this is irritating. I find it weird that not one from that one class told you about the inability to leave a comment.

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    1. They thought they could figure it out on their own? It could be the age, too. If they had been middle schoolers, I would have heard about it all period.

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  6. Ugh... Technology can be such a pain.

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  7. It's so frustrating when students don't respond or comment.

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  8. I wouldn't be surprised if the student who would say "Hey, problem!" was absent.

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