Lockdown Learning - a Parents' Helpfile

Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay 

(Image changed due to objection raised by "Child Activist" in comments section)

[Last time it took me a week of deliberation to decide to publish the article on 'Quaranteaching' but only another day to come up with this help file for parents.  Blame yourselves, parents. You asked for it. The flood of responses to my mailbox asking for help, can't be ignored. So here it is, my views on how parents should manage the online teaching, learning or fun!  As usual, you need to leave comments in the article itself for this to move forward. Even if you comment as "Unknown" you can leave your name in the text of the comment.]

One of the earliest and most meaningful memes that popped up on Facebook at the start of the lock down went something like this: 

Parents, now is your chance to show us what you can do! 

Your kids are all yours! Signed, Teachers.

It was obviously meant to be dripping with sarcasm and born of years of teachers being told how to teach - I know I went through that too. But I believe these days parents are more "educated" than back in my days and they know everything about their usually single kids.  That, in itself is fodder for another book on the topic of primary socialization.  So, I am going to skip to the whole point of this article - how do parents manage online teaching and learning?

All just prisoners of our own Device

After my last article on the issues that confront the world on online, distance education, quite a few parents contacted me with pleas like "What about us?  How do we manage?"  I am sure there are problems aplenty. For one thing, the reduced availability of your device, which has now been monopolized by the kid online.  Thank God for the single child.  I have no idea how my dad would have managed online learning in the days of five of us.  Or for that matter, my own three, born close together, we would have never have enough devices to go around.  Can you imagine the logistical nightmare of sharing the household computer with three different class levels, three different teachers all at the same time? I'm not going to address that here - for the sake of convenience let's assume you have but one child planning to attend online classes conducted by her teachers, one at a time (Got out of that easily, right?)

Work, the four-letter word

You still have to deal with your laptop or mobile phone being commandeered for the morning, and some evenings too, by the child. Worse than that, you have a boss who e-peers into your device to see if WFH actually means you are working from home.  I'm really unsure how to handle this - it's an LBW - Leslie Bereft of Words.   But I've been told there's a way out.  You need to convince the boss with multiple choice (a) let me work flexi-time and deliver by objectives, or (b) give me an office computer so my kid can use the family one.  Option (a) means you work nights now! Option (b) means you can't be around when your child's online (yay!).

Your house-spouse (being gender-neutral here) would of course be most frustrated by the lack of access to the social network of WhatsApp (online learning in overdrive) and Facebook (Dr Feelgood, come alive) or Instagram (our only hope of seeing people looking decent these days).   And at the worst possible moment.  Possibly the best time to see the teachers onscreen and actually observe your precious little angel attending class; a golden opportunity to prove how terribly teachers handle the kids.  And no other device to discuss your observations and opinions with the other parents!  Criminal obstruction of social interaction!

Everyone's learning

I had a most delightful experience today when some kids with whom I interact wanted to tell me about their classes online.  One was very effusive about how systematically her school had organized classes in such a way that all learning was done during normal class hours. And all on Zoom - the teachers had been oriented towards the software and the program. Another explained that his classes had only just started today and the teacher could be seen online but since she had the microphone on mute the whole class had a good long laugh till someone managed to inform the teacher and the last few minutes then went smoothly.  Yet another explained that he has downloaded three apps on his smartphone, fortunately bought just before the lock down. The reason for three downloads?  Each teacher has his or her own preference.  So for Chemistry he has Zoom, for English he uses Google Duo, and for some other subject he has to manage with Skype.  His classroom in Zoom includes everyone, with Duo he is one of 6 and with Skype he joins another 9 kids.  But he is comfortable as he is learning more about technology than  he would have normally.

Home scheduling, space scheduling

So, what are the issues?  The last guy has no problems, he's an only son whose parents have ensured private space, technology, internet and unlimited supplies of food and drink.  The other kid shares space with a sibling who, fortunately, does not have online classes yet - but the parents have sacrificed two devices to the cause.  The young lady shares space and e-real estate with her siblings and a joint family. But she has pre-bookings on the family laptop for the duration of the classes.  She was feeling a little diffident about some children in her class  who do not or cannot attend online classes as they do not have the facilities.  She said that they have made smaller groups of classmates who relay all that is done in the class to those kids who are "marked absent". The guy with three apps says there are a few classmates who do not attend - the school marks them in red and he doesn't think anything is done to help them achieve the learning. The third guy is still waiting for the teacher to turn on the mic, hopefully by tomorrow.  So, the digital divide starts claiming victims based on economic conditions and techno-preparedness.  Another article, for sure.

Parent Pressures

For parents, the main issues could centre around acquiring and setting up the equipment, understanding the medium and the software, and understanding what is required of them in order to achieve the learning outcomes.   Well, if you haven't got the equipment, the least you might have is a mobile phone - download the apps that the school uses and familiarize yourself with the use thereof. Or better still, leave it to the kids, they are the digital natives here.

Some schools are directing the students to online e-books, websites and PDF scans of material published by the teachers, or even worksheets that are online.  In one school there is a clear guideline that the worksheets are not to be downloaded and printed - they can be solved on plain paper too.  Teachers are releasing a few pages at a time and building assignments around them. I think parents need to facilitate the completion of these assignments, help with time management and ensure the kids have the right tools at the right time so they can learn unattended.

Once parents are past the nitty gritty details of making the systems work, including (prayers needed) the Internet, the wi-fi, the broadband, they need to leave it to the kids.  Remember when you dropped them off to school and went to the office?  Remember when you packed their tiffin, waved goodbye and settled down to household chores or switched on the never-ending TV soaps?  Well, this should be no different.  Trust them.  Don't look over their shoulders.  Don't prompt and probe while classes are on.  Don't (and I mean DO NOT) express frustration when they get an answer wrong online  -- the whole class is watching your reaction too!  Nothing worse than hearing a dad's voice saying, "What the hell?  Don't you remember what I taught you?" in front of the whole virtual class. Trust the kids, believe them, remember you are NOT in the classroom everyday, why do you want to be there today?

What you might want to do as a parent is teach them how to behave online, social behaviour. Dress for school, if not in uniform, at least decently - no night clothes, please.  Teach them to respect others in the classroom. You can show this yourselves too.  All those sarcastic anti-school remarks, negative opinions of the teacher, especially when you can see her online, will not help your child build respect for her, or for that matter, for you.  

And, if nothing else, teach them not to pick their noses on camera! Yuck!  

You could actually use this time to catch up on your own WFH, if you can manage without the device.  Or, since your maid is currently on Social Distancing, you could try BJP - bartaan, jhadu, pocha - for that period of time.

Stay home!  Stay safe!  Stay educated!

[I have tried to be as objective as possible, however some attitude may have found its way into the article -- blame it on my 21 years of classroom teaching and another 21 years of adult education, including teacher training!]