Logging on and admitting students into class. Hoping for at least one or two students who will press the camera button to show their face to the class. Teachers in FHSD are having to teach virtual classes to mostly black screens.

“Teaching my virtual students has been frustrating because a lot of motivation levels of students are really low and it takes a lot of personal responsibility from those students, and if I’m not there in- person to constantly be reminding them and pushing them a lot of students fall behind really easily,” FHN Art teacher Courtney Flamm said.

Building a solid foundation with students is something teachers like to prioritize, but when they rarely see the faces of the high schoolers they are educating, it’s hard to create that relationship. Teachers are finding it a lot easier to create relationships with in- person kids rather than online students because of the distance between them.

“It’s really hard to get to know you guys in the virtual world because I literally see maybe one face there, I see a lot of names,“ FHN AP Government teacher William Crow said. “Where in class I can walk around the room. I can sit down next to someone and talk to them a little bit to get to know them a little bit. I can find out more about what they’re involved with. It’s a lot more personal. I have always been the kind of teacher where I thrive on the relationships you build with the kids, and it’s not that you can’t do it online, it’s just a lot harder to do.”

Teachers are working to make sure that students are completing all the assignments, doing alright both physically and mentally while being virtual. Trying to help students focus on school when the days are blending together and the work seems to never stop.

“Education is more than just the facts,” Crow said. “It’s the relationships you build. If it’s just getting the facts you can read
a book or watch a video, but [teaching is] me understanding are you getting it, and if you’re not getting it can I explain it a different way. You wanting to be here as opposed to you feeling like you have to be here.”

Some teachers are using this new era of being isolated from their students to create more opportunities for themselves and their class. Ending the zoom call so students can work on the assignment by themselves leaves teachers with a period of time to use to their liking. For art teachers that could be creating art for themself and for their class. For personal finance teachers that could be editing lesson plans to better fit the virtual learning environment.

“[In virtual] ironically enough I spend more one-on-one time with students,” FHC Personal Finance teacher Ashton Witthaus said. “You wouldn’t think that because ‘oh this is virtual learning and we just hop on a zoom call and get off’, but I really enjoy the office hour times because I’m able to communicate with you guys more and help you in that time.”