The Long Spring: (2) Teens on screens/Co-VOID -19

It took us a while but in week 5 or was it 7 or was it November, we got into a Google Meet semi-groove. Class meetings are now scheduled after 11 am so our Teen Van Winkles can be awake and responsive. They are finally getting the sleep their bodies and brains need. And, they and their teachers are finally getting into the Google grid-groove. We are learning to show our faces (and not our Minecraft avatars) for at least two minutes to greet each other. We now know to turn off our mics when others are speaking or presenting, and have learned that sliding private notes through the very public chat line doesn’t work. We are all enjoying the smaller group meetings where people, including the adults, are more relaxed and able to converse. We are playing Balderdash and Kahoot. I still hugely miss the real-physical world mode of teaching, but I am learning a lot.

I am also laughing a lot – now. Not so much in the first few weeks of the Long Spring as we were scrambling to get tech out to families, re-engage kids and configure learning into something we hoped was manageable and compelling.

Here are some of the lessons I have learned with teens on screens (and middle-age teachers on screens):

• No nasal shots: I now know I have to prop up my monitor so my face is at screen-level. One kid told me he could see up my nose, um, after 4 meetings
• Frontal lobe shots: in the first few weeks, most of my students looked like the pictures my mom took of us when we were young – all forehead, no eyes, no nose, no mouth. Sit up and show your whole head
• Overexposure: when you are learning to “Present” on screen, don’t leave the potential for your on-line chequing account to appear
• Leave your Doritos and trail mix (at home?): crunching on an open mic is really loud and distracting
• Lounging bed shots: propping your monitor on your stomach and attempting to rest on your parents’ bed while in a Class Meet – not great for future job practice (that was not me!)
• Leave family out of it: calling out to your mom or brothers during the meeting? Close the door.
• Using the screen as a mirror: we “gridsters” can all see you when you are fixing your hair or examining your face with your screen image
• Watch your mic: whispering loudly to your hovering mom that “this sucks, how long do I have to stay on?” when your mic is on – not great for your teachers’ self-esteem
• Background check: all might want to position themselves in neutral backgrounds. No backshot photos of teachers reclining with large glasses of wine in hand
• In the dark: use some light to illuminate your human form or the class looks like a bad poker game, or a “B-movie” drug deal
• vertigo on-the-go: stay in one place. Travelling with your chrome book to get a snack or reaching down for your phone while on a class meet induces nausea in the elders
• Grid lock: take your turn speaking and no heckling, or the grid does lock and the screen starts to smoke
• Saying hello and goodbye: However, screen-shy you are, remember, just like at “real school” to say hello and goodbye. Talking into a silent screen of avatars feels like Co-VOID for your teachers.

Teens on screens. Tune in.