Covid-19 cases are surging daily, forcing people to stay under lockdown for extended periods of time. Students have to attend online classes every day and employees have to work remotely. While this transition may have been easy for some workers, there are some jobs that have become more burdensome and tedious, making it harder to adapt to the new normal.
One teacher at a learning centre in Petaling Jaya exclusively shared with WORLD OF BUZZ how difficult the transition has been for her and the extra work she has to do, now that her classes have to be held online.
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Zoom fatigue is real
Lisa (not her real name) shared that working from home (WFH) has now become a big part of her life. She said she was really worried about how she was going to mark her students’ work and teach them through the internet when MCO first began, but eventually, she got used to it even though she didn’t like it.
She said she was relieved when schools started opening again, but unfortunately, people were forced into lockdown again due to the surge of Covid-19 cases.
“The constant changing of venue was annoying–having to bring all my materials and supplies back and forth,” she said.
“Working from home, the decreased structure throughout the day also had its pros and cons: I had more freedom to do my own thing in between dealing with students, but because I do all my work in my bedroom, the lack of a boundary between ‘a place to rest’ and ‘a place to work’ gave me some anxiety.”
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Lisa added that there are many factors that contribute to her uneasy WFH experience, like the hot Malaysian weather compared to the air-conditioned environment at her workplace, and the road noises coming in from her room window.
“If my eyes are not aching, my head is”
“Communicating with students is difficult as well. As every child has their own individual work to do, I have to switch back and forth between different school topics and subjects, to mark each child’s work and explain things they don’t understand,” she said.
“I can’t use my finger to point at places in the book they’ve missed out on, or immediately walk up to them and start talking straight away.”
“Zoom fatigue is real, and WhatsApp submissions of work is a pain in the neck. If my eyes are not aching, my head is.”
“I have to draw on photographs of pages to indicate where corrections are needed and wait for the child to send their work again to me. These are all small things, I guess, but as everyday occurrences, they really grate on my nerves and frustrate me.”
No control over students
Lisa then shared that her students tend to send in their work whenever they want, sometimes bombarding her with work all at the same time, leaving her with a huge pile of marking to do.
She said as one of the stricter supervisors at her learning centre, she has no control over how disciplined her students are as a number of them join the class late or refuse to switch on their cameras so that teachers can monitor them.
“It’s true that there are other challenges that come from working on site. Having to wake up earlier, dressing more formally, and driving to and from work are all things I don’t necessarily miss,” she said.
“Yet I’d be glad to do away with the straining of my eyes at photographs of bad handwriting, teaching math on a Zoom whiteboard and having to ask blank screens whether so-and-so is really there or not and asking questions like “Are you sending in any of your work soon?””
“I suppose I am pretty used to it by now, but the monotony and the head aching and little extra steps taken just to mark one page of schoolwork will probably wear me down sooner or later.”
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Moving forward, Lisa hopes that her students would send in their work on time, keep their video settings on and finish their goals every day.
“It annoys me that because they’re at home they aren’t disciplined and are less motivated. To make my job easier, they could be more punctual, consistent and responsive.”
To all students attending online classes every day, your teacher is trying their best to make do with the current situation and you should give them a little encouragement by being as cooperative as you can!
Also read: Malaysian Teacher Excitedly Learns How to Start Zoom Class But No Students Showed Up
