Have you ever locked yourself out of your classroom and needed a student to let you in? Well, that’s what happened to me on WhatsApp, but no students could let me in! This is just one of my experiences during the first few days of teaching English to literacy learners using the popular app.
This is the first blog entry to journal my challenges and successes when trying to continue teaching my CLB 3L literacy class online, during a pandemic. I am a self-confessed newbie to WhatsApp; my purpose is not only to self-reflect but to share my newfound knowledge in hopes of helping other teachers who are also just starting out with the app.
Why WhatsApp?
First, I was inspired by two colleagues, Marie and Rose, who are champions of WhatsApp. They had set it up for their classes before the school closed, so they had a running start to online teaching. One of my students asked me about google classroom, but my answer was simple. Many students don’t have computers. With the exception of one student, all of my students have smartphones and they were already familiar with WhatsApp.
Getting Started
Another student asked me “how English on Whatsup?” I really wasn’t sure! After consulting with colleagues and reading Marie’s PPT on OneNote, I added my students’ names and cell numbers to my phone contacts. Next, I downloaded the WhatsApp app and then I created a group called Tammy’s class 3L. I added my students to the group. Success! Well, almost. I had a wrong phone number for one student; it was her husband’s cell phone. Next, I changed her number in my contacts, I added her to my class and I deleted her husband. After I finished editing my classroom participants, I pressed exit group. Don’t do it! That’s exactly how I was locked out of my classroom! I was the only administrator, so when I tried to go back into my class, a message popped up that I wasn’t a participant. No one could add me to my class, so I was forced to delete the entire group. I quickly set up another group and asked all students to join the group again. Luckily, no one asked Why teacher? Unfortunately, it happened before a weekend and it took a while to get everyone back in the class group.
To fix my problem, I went into “group info” (top right), then “group settings” and “Edit group admins” to add one student as an administrator. That student can OPEN the door and let me back in my classroom, should this ever happen again!
Next blog topic: Setting rules and establishing routines in a virtual literacy classroom.
We're all in this together! If you’d like to share your tips, please email me at tammy.wells.ta@ecsd.net
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