Between the Bells: How it Feels to Teach High School during COVID-19
We are four months into the school year and our hybrid learning model means that I am only seeing students in-person for the 15th time.
In between class periods, the custodians carry jugs of disinfectant strapped to their back and hold a tube that snakes around to their front. They spray the sanitizing fluid over heavily trafficked areas three times per day.
Meanwhile, vacant seats outnumber students and the cafeteria is silent during lunch time. You do not understand the impact of COVID-19 in schools until you have heard the lack of laughter in a cafeteria filled by students, one to a table, and distanced from one another by at least six feet.
I am sure that new digital tools and strategies will eventually enliven the uncertain space we now teach within. However, right now I am focused on what the data tells me about student engagement. The picture is troubling.
There are approximately two missing assignments per student. The current completion rate for pending assignments suggests this may grow to as many as three missing assignments per student by the end of next week. These rates of missing assignments far exceed what is normal.
I am concerned because 60% of the missing assignments are at least one of the three most complex and heavily weighted assignments. This creates two concerns for me:
- The complex assignments that are most likely to ensure comprehension are the most likely to be incomplete.
- Assignment complexity and completion rates appear to be inversely related.
I must identify and respond to the root cause(s) because my students deserve assignments that challenge them. The data trends suggest that greater complexity is currently causing less work to get done. This will likely also lead to less comprehension. This is opposite to my desired outcome.
I hope that analyzing the varying rate of missing assignments in different class periods will yield some insights. Perhaps commonalities will emerge or classrooms with higher rates of missing assignments will correlate with higher rates of other factors. If I can understand the commonalities or the factors that I need to address, I can develop a new engagement strategy. I hope to do so soon.
At my school, we adhere to standard-based grading. The range of possible grades is 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4—it is important to also understand that a 3 functions like a B letter grade. The most complex assignments incorporate more standards and, therefore, are more impactful for a student’s grade. The below chart depicts the grade distribution for the three most impactful assignments:
Students who complete a complex assignment tend to do quite well. This is true across the different reading levels and GPA scores of my students. It is not as simple as top students submitting assignments at far greater rates than less accomplished students. Missing assignments are relatively evenly distributed across ability level in my classes.
Assignment complexity cannot be the sole problem, as the grade distribution for the most complex assignments does not suggest a lack of comprehension. The problem must lie deeper.
I know that school looks different, feels different, and keeps changing during this uncertain time. We have already changed our school schedule three times since the start of school in August.
Perhaps we have an engagement problem.
Students may not be able to adjust to the uncertain and different nature of school this year. Anecdotal evidence tells me that students struggle to understand how to schedule their time when the school schedule can change from week to week. Students are also unfamiliar with digital learning and hybrid learning models, as we all are, and this lack of familiarity levers greater stress upon them. These realities are why I think that assignment complexity is creating additional friction that becomes untenable during a time that already includes a tremendous amount of COVID-19 induced friction. I think that assignments are missing because stability is missing from student schedules.
However, I remain hopeful. At the beginning of the school year, I experienced success with many digital tools. One of them was Flipgrid—think TikTok but academic. My 115 students and their friends racked up approximately 10,000 views on short intro videos they posted at the beginning of the school year. If we can find a way to increase engagement through innovative use of digital tools, perhaps the problems I see as a teacher can be converted into growth opportunities.
I hope to post with more data-driven insights when I can. I am still in the process of tabulating attendance data, which I suspect will offer a clearer picture of when and where the lack of engagement occurs. Hopefully this forthcoming analysis might also pinpoint why we lose student engagement. I will also continue to analyze what causes the differences in completion rates across different classrooms. I doubt that it is as simple as rising fatigue over the course of a single school day.
Please reach out if you have successfully implemented digital engagement strategies or adjusted your strategy to accommodate the uncertainties of hybrid learning models. I would love to chat, listen, and incorporate your successful practices into my own classroom.
