Virtual Teacher

While I am home recuperating from foot surgery, I find that I have to spend most of my day elevating and icing my foot.   Just as I was starting to feel really isolated and cursing being dependent on everyone rather than enjoying being waited on, in came my husband to the rescue.  Jeff is also an English teacher and he was trying to figure out how to get another adult to help him conference with his students.  "Too bad I can't help," I told him, in my 'don't you feel sorry for me' voice.  (He doesn't feel sorry for me, reading books and watching movies all day!)  "Well," he said, "maybe you can help."

The next morning, we connected via Google Hangouts and he set "virtual me" up on a desk in his classroom.  As students needed help with their writing, they could go to him or come to me.  Some of them had handwritten drafts that they read to me and then we discussed them.  Others shared their writing in Google Docs, which interfaces easily in Hangouts, so I was able to see them and have a conversation while also editing and commenting on their papers in real time.

Today, I met with my own students, whom I have been missing.  While a virtual teacher can never take the place of a person in the same room as her students, (won't people in the future laugh at that statement?) being able to converse face-to-face over the computer is a great alternative in situations like mine.

Elise and I discussed her paper using Google Docs and Hangout.

I think (hope!) the activity was useful to the students.  They seemed to appreciate the opportunity to discuss their writing, and not have to wait so long for a teacher to be available for feedback.  It was definitely useful to me.  I feel like I accomplished something and really enjoyed talking to the kids about their writing.