In an English-as-a-second-language classroom in Japan some years ago, I watched in fascination as the teacher offered a traditional 鈥渟tand and deliver鈥� lesson.
His students each had on their desks a kind of three-sided Rubik鈥檚 cube with which they seemed to be fiddling constantly throughout the lesson.
After the lesson, I asked Hiroshi, the teacher, 鈥淒oesn鈥檛 that fiddling with the toys bother you?鈥�
鈥淥h no,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hose are not 鈥榯oys鈥� as you call them. They have a red side, a yellow side and a green side. If a student is lost, he/she shows me the red side. The yellow side means I think I get it, but slow down a bit, and the green side means: 鈥楪ot it, carry on.鈥� 鈥�
鈥淲hen I look at the class, I can quickly understand how the lesson is going and, at the same time, keep an eye on how individuals are faring.鈥�
As every teacher knows, frequent checking for understanding is a critical component in the success or otherwise of any lesson.
Some years ago, a very popular little book entitled The Geranium on the Window Sill Died but Teacher You Went Right On, by Albert Cullum, warned about the ennui that can paralyze a lesson if constant checking for understanding isn鈥檛 part of the process.
Then there are the subtle skills the best teachers, teaching 鈥渓ive鈥� in a classroom, constantly employ. Checking understanding sometimes requires devising ways of rephrasing a question, or even redirecting a student answer toward the desired response without embarrassing the student.
鈥淲hy is Captain James Cook a part of sa国际传媒 history?鈥�
鈥淒idn鈥檛 he discover Australia?鈥�
鈥淵es, he did play a part in that, but what about here in B.C?鈥�
And so on. In a live, person-to-person classroom, that works well, but that kind of gentle pushing of an idea to a desired conclusion is difficult to replicate in an online Zoom lesson.
This is where parents can, carefully, play a role in their child鈥檚 online experience. I say 鈥渃arefully鈥� because teaching and learning require a deft and patient approach, with the understanding that learning is not a straight-line process but requires the right next question 鈥� and the 鈥渃lue鈥� question after that, if needed.
So it鈥檚 natural for parents to struggle a bit as they develop the patience, not to be the teacher, but to find ways to help a child understand an idea, a concept or a piece of information from an online lesson.
Parents can begin by helping children understand that while guessing the answer is not a bad thing, asking a child to explain their guess engages the learning process, which has a good chance of leading to a 鈥渃orrect鈥� answer.
If a child seems to have come up against a stumbling block to moving ahead, ask them to outline what got them to this point, while explaining that this is all part of learning: moving forward, pausing, backing up a couple of steps and then moving forward again.
Often, they鈥檒l stumble upon the correct response while also recalling other important details.
Maybe the most important thing for parents to remember is that they now play a much more significant role in their child鈥檚 education. That may mean making some adjustments to personal convenience. That may mean not planning personal obligations and activities while classes are online.
Acknowledging the importance of online classes and not intervening unless the child asks for help is not easy. It is tempting, with every best intention, to be the 鈥渒nowledgeable adult鈥� in the room.
Finally, parents should console themselves with the thought that this early in the pandemic-forced readjustment in how learning can be delivered, there is no jurisdiction anywhere that has found the definitive answer to the problems of online teaching and learning.
Everybody from your child to the best minds in education is still wrestling with how to do this in the most effective way.
The consensus among teachers I know seems to be that the older the child is, the more likely it is that he or she will be able to engage in some form of online learning.
Meanwhile, for parents, the best advice is don鈥檛 force it. Learning online should be comfortable for the child, both emotionally and ergonomically.
If that is not happening, take a break, get the child a snack, encourage movement away from the screen or even suggest playing with a Rubik鈥檚 cube for a while.
Geoff Johnson is a former superintendent of schools.
