Teachers need each other

Like many other teachers around the world, my classes this year have been online. I would sit behind a computer staring at a bunch of icons signifying each student who was in the live online meeting. There have been many struggles and adjustments, learning curves and breakthroughs. I want to mention one thing that has really stuck out - the importance of community.

When I began teaching online in February, I was simply given a schedule and told to choose a platform to teach with. That's all. I spent hours thinking and searching and planning. My colleagues, who I never really discuss teaching with, were in various places around the world. We messaged each other about the basics of a platform and the scheduling, but so many more doubts and questions remained in my mind. 

Anyway, we teachers just do what we need to do and so I began teaching online. There was lot of trial and error: 

Can you hear me? How about now?

The internet keeps cutting out!

Are they even listening to me?

And various thoughts and challenges:

I was sitting down the whole time. So why do I feel so tired?

Why can't I download this assignment?

Why is this marking taking so long?

During this new experience I kept trying to read articles about online teaching to try and inform myself and get better. These helped. Then I saw a free webinar advertised about teaching writing online. That's exactly what I was doing so I signed up. There were hundreds of teachers there and we could comment in the chat box as well as listen to the speaker. I gained a few good tips about online teaching and suitable writing tasks, but the biggest gain from the webinar was the interaction with fellow teachers who were going through the same thing as I was. I was surprised that they had the same issues and questions I did. (Things like how checking students' written work seems to take longer online and students tend to expect feedback on every piece of work they hand in.)

Seeing other teachers struggling with the same things I was gave me a strong sense of solidarity and feeling that I wasn't alone. I realised that I had been feeling alone. I just hadn't recognised it until that moment. The webinar gave me a sense of the importance of community in my profession for the first time. From then on I started seeking community more: I joined a couple of free courses (this one and this one) which allowed me to not only learn some useful things, but also interact with other teachers. I also messaged my colleagues more frequently and began discussions about different things we were doing in our classes and our challenges and successes. 

Although we're all in different places we can and should seek out each other as teachers. Not only to improve our craft, but also in order to experience community - the reassurance of knowing that we're not alone. In my most recent course, Becoming a Better Teacher, I was introduced the the concept of a Community of Practice. This is basically a community of teachers - it can be on Twitter, a Whatsapp group, a book club, an online forum, or even casual chats. You might ask and answer questions, share ideas, lament failures, celebrate successes, analyse teaching methods and all manner of things. I believe the key thing is that you communicate with each other. 

For me, at least, I know it's not enough to just read articles and books (though these have been very useful). I need to go beyond them to be in conversation with other teachers. I have found that there is so much value in learning from each other and sharing our experiences. 

What communities are you in? 

What value do they have for you?

Where could you seek community?