Written by Nicolas Patrick
On November 10, 2020, MAST@FIU's administrative team announced that Ms. Hutched received the prestigious award of Rookie Teacher of the Year. After congratulating Ms. Hutchins on the spectacular award, I had the opportunity to interview her through email. In our conversation, Ms. Hutchins exposed virtual school from a teacher's perspective and offered great advice for students during these trying times. When students' voices are at the center of describing the experience of online learning, we must hear from teachers who've become the backbone of virtual education and continue to make sure their students thrive and excel.
So Miss Hutchins, how do you feel about online learning? Is it harder to prepare a lesson to teach to students compared to physical school?
"I think online learning is the way of the future. We are moving into the 21st century. Knowing how to use web interfaces and having an intuitive knowledge of how to use technology will be essential." She adds on, saying, "Although the reason for why we are doing online learning is tragic, on the flip side, it has forced everyone from young and old to learn how to use technology in a real-world application to substitute how things used to be done face to face. So I guess that is one upside from all of the pandemic. Things are now more flexible, which is good. "
Answering the second part of the question, she remarks, "As for teaching students online compared to in person, it is harder to keep them accountable. A huge part of teaching is being a motivational coach and guiding students to address points of weakness in the organization. Not being physically next to a student has increased student procrastination. I also worry if students are being honest with their school work. There's a lot more planning ahead of time for teachers and online work."
Regarding online learning, how are you as a teacher adapting to the new learning environment?
"I'm flipping my classroom. I spend hours pre-recording the week's content ahead of time to be available in class for questions and let students have the flexibility to complete the work at their own pace come rain or shine, COVD-19, or family emergency. I know the content is there, and I can focus on catching up, creating more content for my students, grading assignments, or any other schoolwork chores like answering emails, contacting parents, etc. I'm doing so many things this school year, like creating a website, a YouTube channel, a student workbook, learning how to video edit. It's amazing, lots of interesting, useful things which I can re-use for years to come."
Why do you choose certain interactives in class to engage better with students, like EdPuzzles or lifelines?
She starts by saying, "I can only speak for myself when I say that for every assignment I give or classroom policy I make like lifelines, I try to put myself in my students' shoes and remember what it was like being a student back then. I'm currently only ten years older than some of my students, and I remember highschool vividly." She continues, " I also have the wisdom of having gone to college for two degrees and know what skills my students need to develop if they're to be college-ready. So I do a little bit of everything and cast a wide net of different techniques and assignments and rotate them so that the student that learns one way can get the opportunity to do so and so forth. She goes into detail, stating, "My students know what to expect from my class. There will always be a bellringer at the start of class reviewing concepts we've recently covered. The EdPuzzle gives the lecture with questions embedded for understanding, and at the end of class, they reflect on what they learned with an exit ticket. So there's a balance between variety and constant in my class."
Sympathizing with students, she explains, "The lifelines as there to give students a break and allow them to submit work up to one week after the original due date. It's limited, of course, to three times per quarter. Life happens, and I get we all need a break, but students need to keep themselves on top of their work and not expect a lack of effort on their part to become someone else's emergency."
Finally, what advice would you give to students who need better time management for handling online classes at MAST@FIU?
"My advice is to breathe deep and NOT procrastinate. Once you start putting off work, it becomes a downward spiral and a deeper hole to climb out of." She gives an example saying, "Like if you didn't want to do work on Monday, why do you think you'll find the motivation or time to do double or triple the amount of work later on in the week with even LESS time? Talk about making it harder for yourself unnecessarily. Miss Hutchins goes deeper into the topic, adding, "I would ask them to check with either their teacher or counselor. Many people don't know procrastination is anxiety hidden in disguise, and we need to ask WHY the student is procrastinating." She wraps up her response with great advice, saying, "The simple remedy could be rewarding ourselves with a treat only AFTER completing our work, like an episode on a T.V show, or 30 minutes of playing candy crush. I would recommend students take a 10 min break in between homework after 30-45 minutes depending on their stamina and stretch and get a snack then get back to it."
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