Children will be mischievous. They will always, always try to find ways to fool their teachers. The most common excuse during virtual sessions?
“I lost connection.”
Much as children like to believe otherwise, teachers can tell when children aren’t attentive. They stare at the screen and their eyes glaze over. At my book club, I know they aren’t reading along. For one, they shouldn’t be looking at the screen at all. If they’re gazing at the screen, they’re doing something else. Of course.
But when I ask them a question linked to what we’re reading, pat comes the response, “Sorry, I lost my connection. I don’t know where we are.”
So, yesterday, I told the children, very casually, to raise their hands immediately if they lose track. “Don’t wait until I ask you to read. If you lose your connection and can’t find where we are, raise your hand!”
I could see the bewilderment. A new plan was needed, and fast!
“But on my screen … I don’t have … There’s no ‘raise hand’ button on Meet!”
“Your real hand,” I said. “Just put your real hand up.”
The idea was clearly new to the child.
My real hand? Really?
Ah, virtual world problems.
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