At least in the teaching and distance learning world, these words “synchronous” and “asynchronous” get thrown around a lot. Most people either know what they mean or can get the picture- synchronous teaching means that the teacher and students are on the Zoom at the same time, while asynchronous means that the students learn from recorded videos of the teacher followed by activities. My current teaching world normally involves both- I do live, synchronous teaching into the wee hours of the morning three nights a week, and asynchronous teaching the other two so I can retain a semblance of a normal sleep schedule.
I didn’t realize how important that synchronous teaching was until the past few weeks. My childhood best friend Taylor got married two weekends ago in Virginia, and I had the honor of serving as one of his groomsmen. The wedding was beyond wonderful and a story for another time, but one of the results of the going was that I spent the majority of the last two weeks on East Coast time, meaning that with the time pushed back I couldn’t do live teaching. I was out of the virtual classroom for two weeks, and by the end of the two weeks I was OVER it. I felt so disconnected from the class and from my students- aside from a few comments from my Assistant Teacher each day, I had no idea what their overall comprehension level was, whether they were struggling to complete assignments, or if they had questions they felt they couldn’t ask because I wasn’t there.
This week, I was fortunate enough to get back to teaching my students live. The difference is night and day. Not only do I get to be a part of the student’s learning again, but I didn’t become a teacher just to assign and grade activities. I became a teacher to work alongside students to help grow their minds. I can do that much better while in the class with them, as opposed to not.
I have a newfound gratitude for my fortunate situation- because I am on the west coast, I am at least feasibly able to do live teaching. On the East coast, doing so would require staying up the whole night- and most of my colleagues live in the Midwest and Eastern parts of the country. I hope they are able to find meaningful ways of connecting to students and finding fulfillment. But in the meantime, if you ever wonder why Jessica teaches until 9 at night or I stay up until after 1am to make it through my school day, its because live teaching leads to a much more meaningful experience, for the students and, just as importantly, the teacher.
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