‘Teaching online helped push boundaries, expand creativity’
GUNTUR: With schools being shut for several months due to the pandemic, modes of teaching and education have changed dramatically. A distinctive rise of e-learning has been evident with teachers learning to teach via digital means. This drastic change has been tough to cope with not just for students, but for teachers as well. Adapting to technology to teach online was a difficult challenge that teachers had to take. Now that schools have reopened, teachers breathe a sigh of relief.
Speaking to TNIE, Madhavi Latha, a Telugu teacher at a private school in Guntur said, “Pre-Covid, we didn’t have much to do with technology for teaching languages. But, in a Covid hit world, conducting classes online and teaching the students virtually with the same level of enthusiasm and interest was difficult. I became a student myself, as I tried to learn to teach virtually, conduct online exams and even evaluate the students. It felt like a hassle at first, then I started to meditate to deal with all the stress. It helped me, so I suggested other teachers and students to do the same.”
Teaching online was a different experience, said Chandra Sekhar, a science teacher at AP Model School in Krosuru. He further added, “It felt like I was teaching an empty classroom. We had to think more innovatively than ever, in order to make the lessons interesting for students. Conducting experiments with no apparatus at home was another challenge. So, I had to think out of the box so that students could have practical experience at home. This actually helped me push my boundaries, expand the horizons of creative thinking and explore new ways of teaching my students.
Subba Rao lost his job last year as the school management was unable to pay his salary. He said, “In the last 30 years of my career as a teacher, last year was the only year, I didn’t receive any wishes on Teachers’ Day. I felt depressed. I did not know if the situation would ever change. But thankfully, everything is getting back on track slowly.”As schools have reopened, Subba Rao rejoined school last month.