A return to in-person teaching

In the last week I’ve been able to return to in-person teaching. I say return - I’ve only taught in person twice before. I started a class in October and after two classes our area went into Tier 2 restrictions and we had to switch to zoom.

Being on zoom brought additional challenges, so as well as finding my feet and gaining confidence as a teacher, I also had to experiment with a few different set ups and different equipment before I’m now working in the best way for both me and my students. It’s taken nearly all of this time to get to that place though!

Seven months later, and having completed training I’m starting face to face teaching again. I’m actually returning to face to face teaching before I return to attending face to face classes myself.

It really does feel like I’m starting all over again however. Being in the room I felt very nervous. I know the students quite well by now but not in person and it does make a difference. I realise I’ve gained a confidence over zoom that I don’t have in person yet, maybe that’s the safety of being in my own space! 

There’s a clear advantage though to being in person. Even though I can’t move around the room yet, I can see all of the students top to toe. Believe me that’s very exciting! It also felt safer. I’m still working with balances and I felt I could give much more care and attention in the room, without staring intently at a screen to check on them.

I also think there’s another benefit of being in a different space. As for many people, my lounge has been more than doubling up as a teaching space, office space and my personal practice space. Taking one of those things out of the equation feels like it gives me a bit more space at home. 

On the other hand, I now have to factor in travel time, and how I’ll get there dry in bad weather - that’s not a problem when you’re working from home.

What’s likely is that for the foreseeable future I’ll be working both online and face-to-face, getting the best of both worlds.