Teacher Interview: Adam Bagby
Title
Teacher Interview: Adam Bagby
Subject
Education in the pandemic
Description
High school teacher Adam Bagby gives explains how teaching has changed since the Covid-19 Pandemic began.
Creator
Abigail Walls
Date
April 2021
Contributor
Abigail Walls
Transcription
Walls: Your name, grade you teach, school you teach in.
Bagby: Adam Bagby, 10th grade World History & Honors, St. Augustine High School
Walls: How has the pandemic changed the way you teach?
Adam: Last year our finals were canceled. I’ll let the students use the textbook to fill out their notes and they have to take photos to submit it to me. They are finishing it way too quickly. Either they are cheating or doing it incorrectly. I watched my student do it and he took out his phone to take a photo of it and looked it up. The issue is we have to have our phones out now. I said something to every single class about their cameras on their phones. Either I could make them do this as homework for the rest of the year or make them do book work for the rest of the year.
Walls: What was the biggest challenge in the beginning of the pandemic when classes were remote?
Bagby: The exact same challenge from beginning to now that is not solvable. Students will log in and during our instruction I’ll call on a student and they wouldn’t be on the computer. I would mark them absent. I would get parent phone calls and emails.
Walls: What is the biggest challenge now?
Bagby: The buy in for students from home. I’ll even tell my students to text their friends
Walls: How do you think students are doing? What are their biggest challenges?
Bagby: My issue is for my students to remember turning in their work online. Some are doing worse because they aren’t able to hand in an assignment. I had some students who enrolled online, but they are working during the day to help their families out with bills. It seems like there’s a lot more stress than there should be. There are some students who have the discipline who can sit down at the computer and do the work, but some students can’t do that at all. I have 2 students I have not seen at all. It’s a blessing and a curse. You can do well with it or not. It all depends on your home situation.
Walls: Do you see anything beneficial coming from the changes you have had to implement?
Bagby: I saw this happening last year, so I put everything online early. I’ve been teaching for 7 years, so I always knew how important technology is in education. I think online integration is going to be permanent, like Schoology. There obviously needs to be a better platform.
Walls: Are you noticing a change in parent involvement?
Bagby: Oh yeah. They’re not there. I haven’t had any complaints. Most parents have been understanding.
Bagby: Adam Bagby, 10th grade World History & Honors, St. Augustine High School
Walls: How has the pandemic changed the way you teach?
Adam: Last year our finals were canceled. I’ll let the students use the textbook to fill out their notes and they have to take photos to submit it to me. They are finishing it way too quickly. Either they are cheating or doing it incorrectly. I watched my student do it and he took out his phone to take a photo of it and looked it up. The issue is we have to have our phones out now. I said something to every single class about their cameras on their phones. Either I could make them do this as homework for the rest of the year or make them do book work for the rest of the year.
Walls: What was the biggest challenge in the beginning of the pandemic when classes were remote?
Bagby: The exact same challenge from beginning to now that is not solvable. Students will log in and during our instruction I’ll call on a student and they wouldn’t be on the computer. I would mark them absent. I would get parent phone calls and emails.
Walls: What is the biggest challenge now?
Bagby: The buy in for students from home. I’ll even tell my students to text their friends
Walls: How do you think students are doing? What are their biggest challenges?
Bagby: My issue is for my students to remember turning in their work online. Some are doing worse because they aren’t able to hand in an assignment. I had some students who enrolled online, but they are working during the day to help their families out with bills. It seems like there’s a lot more stress than there should be. There are some students who have the discipline who can sit down at the computer and do the work, but some students can’t do that at all. I have 2 students I have not seen at all. It’s a blessing and a curse. You can do well with it or not. It all depends on your home situation.
Walls: Do you see anything beneficial coming from the changes you have had to implement?
Bagby: I saw this happening last year, so I put everything online early. I’ve been teaching for 7 years, so I always knew how important technology is in education. I think online integration is going to be permanent, like Schoology. There obviously needs to be a better platform.
Walls: Are you noticing a change in parent involvement?
Bagby: Oh yeah. They’re not there. I haven’t had any complaints. Most parents have been understanding.
Interviewer
Abigail Walls
Interviewee
Adam Bagby
Location
St. Augustine, Fl
Collection
Citation
Abigail Walls, “Teacher Interview: Adam Bagby,” accessed April 28, 2024, https://publichumanities.omeka.net/items/show/331.