Teaching and learning online has become a signifiant part of life, especially nowadays. Teachers and students not only find themselves in an intimate situation regarding education they find themselves intimately glimpsing into one another's lives. We learn unexpected and often wonderful things about one another when we find ourselves in each other's homes, in person and virtually.

Redditor u/AgentVirginia wanted to hear from the teachers out there so they could spread some much needed sunshine by asking....

Teachers of reddit what are some wholesome experiences with online learning?


"wait, I have a surprise"

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Yesterday, one of my autistic kiddos said "wait, I have a surprise," right before we ended our lesson. He came back carrying a cat. I said "Ummm, you don't have a cat!" and he said "I know, that's the surprise!" Still have no idea where the cat came from, but we laughed nonetheless. youalsogetnodinner

"HEY. GET OFF MY CAR!!"

I was on a zoom call for animation last week. my teacher was on her ranch, for some reason (i arrived late so i don't know why). she was talking about our work for next year and then she yelled "HEY. GET OFF MY CAR" and flipped her camera around to reveal a goat sitting smugly on the hood of her bright orange car.

She couldn't really do much to take it off while on call. the call got cut short anyway, since her horse got loose. good time. jumping_meerkat

Physics.

I teach Physics.

I love the fact that I've been able to:

  • Really know some of my students as people (see their pets, talk about their siblings doing homework next to them, see them joke with their families, etc.)
  • Watch some students blossom under this model. The shy girl that never talks in class? Super confident online. The kid with messy writing or that never takes notes? Makes nice infographics of the class materials and shares with the class. SpicyAbsinthe

In near silence.....

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I teach middle school. I'm always available by email, but once a week, I use our school's conferencing tool to review material and directly answer questions - like virtual office hours. I have a couple of classes where no one shows up, and that's fine. I don't require it.

One day, I had over half of one class show up. We reviewed the lesson, and I said that if they didn't have questions, they could leave. A few minutes went by, and they were all just working away in near silence.

I reminded them they could leave. Someone goes, "I know, but I miss being in class, and this is as close as I can get."

Many of them felt isolated and were extremely bored. I left the chat up for the rest of the allotted time to let them catch up and work on other homework together. They really miss each other.

I really hope we're able to go back in the fall. I miss them, and I'm supposed to have that group again next year. MissDaywalker

I'm still waiting.

College professor here. I'm still waiting.

This is so hard. It's all I do now other than eat and sleep (and sometimes can't even do that), and everyone seems miserable.

My students are all kinds of dissatisfied, some want to be able to do things on their own time, they want recordings, practice problems, etc., and can't be bothered to show up to classes during designated times. Others demand video classes and for things to be like they were before.

It's hard for me to have video classes or record demos/lectures because we live in a tiny apartment and I have very little privacy, this is much more stressful than I would have expected.

I am changing the syllabus every week to keep up with the demands of the students who can't make the old deadlines and because I can't cover the same material the same way.

My family is being neglected, and they are miserable. I haven't been able to get to any of my research and my collaborators are annoyed. I guess, everyone is on edge these days anyway, but this definitely feels like a lose-lose-lose situation.

I feel like everyone is mad at me, including myself.

Sorry, I guess really just needed to vent. survivalothefittest

It made me cry.​

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About 10 years ago I taught early online classes at a University. There was no FaceTime component so you just communicated in chatrooms or through email.

A kid emailed me that he was gonna be late handing in his assignment cause a family member died.

I just responded in a human way, said sorry, told him not to worry and hand it in when ready, etc. Talked a little bit about the family member (I can't remember who now which feels shitty but it was long ago).

Anyways, didn't feel like anything special just like what you should do.

But at the final exam which they did have to show up for in person, the kid came up to me after, I'd never seen him before. Handed his paper in and then gave me the biggest bear hug ever. Then told me it meant a lot that we talked then.

It made me cry. billbapapa

Who people are....


My Social Studies teacher always introduces us to her cat and sometimes her kids during every lesson.

My science teacher accidentally turned on a hotdog filter and took five minutes to turn it off.

I joined a google meet once with like 30 kids in it and we were wondering why the teacher was muted with video off and right as the teacher turned on the camera, we all heard like, porn. The teacher was watching porn.

One of my tutors, during online tutoring spent the entire time watching tiktok instead of helping me with my math homework. ParallelGalaxiies

Precious.

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Yesterday one of my students showed up to our online class wearing his uniform! It was so precious. naivemelody4

In 2020....

I teach history at a community college. Most people who take history don't actually care about it, but some are engaged. When I give lectures, I try to relate history to real world examples people might face in 2020 to comprehend the material better.

I've had numerous students, some who were good when we were in class and others who weren't as engaged, leave comments about missing going to class and that my explanations of events helped them understand things better.

If anything, online classes have made me realize that I can assign readings and give PowerPoints, but a lot of meaningful comprehension comes with how I explain things.

I've only been teaching a year, but it's nice to think I'm doing something right. OkayestHistorian

Smiles....

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Couple of things that made me smile. I accidentally started up one class half hour early as the timings are different on Friday. One of the older kids I have, aged 11, logged in anyway and proceeded to show me his rock collection, his two cats and the comic he'd been working on, but for the entire half hour until the class really started.

Very sweet. Secondly, my colleague who works in kindergarten told us about one kid aged 3. His parents left him alone for a while and whilst on camera, he just went and hid in a cupboard and shut the door for the remainder of the video. misscat15

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