Let's Hear it from Our Teachers

We have so much to learn from one another. That's the beauty of collaboration. There is always room to grow. At the secondary level, we know that many of you are dipping your toes into live streaming in preparation for the November 2nd launch date in which all teachers will be up and running with the live stream. To help continue to build our momentum, and to remind everyone that it is progress, not perfection, we wanted to highlight thoughts around live streaming that have come directly from our teachers. We can do this, together!

Pushing yourself out of your comfort zone is a daunting task. It’s intimidating, overwhelming, and sometimes it leaves you feeling like you don’t even want to try. Starting “Live Virtual” the second week of the school year was the best decision I could make for my students and myself. It lightened my planning load, kept us on pace, gave the students a purpose, and helped the kids feel connected--not only to me--but also to their classmates. If you haven’t embarked on “Live Virtual” teaching, I urge you to give it a try! One of my favorite quotes is, “You don’t need to have everything figured out. Try new things. Experiment. Mess up. Start over.” Good luck--You’ve got this!
~Carlyn Cunningham, Literacy Teacher at Les Paul Middle School

On two different occasions in the month of September, I found myself doing something I never could have imagined a year ago: teaching full classes of 30-plus students while sitting at my dining room table. Thinking back to this time a year ago, I would not have wanted to teach that way, and I would not have thought myself capable of pulling it off. Circumstances this fall forced me into this situation, and though it was a challenge, I’m grateful for the experience Thanks to our professional development and the support and collaboration of my coworkers, I made it work! In the process of live streaming my classes, I learned that there were even a few benefits to conducting class this way. For instance, I loved being able to screen share my copy of the text we were annotating. My highlights and comments on the text showed up in real time on the students’ iPads with immediacy and intimacy that would not have been achieved if I had projected the same thing on my wall. I also found that I was able to help and connect with students in the Chat feature of Webex Teams in ways that perhaps would not have occurred in a normal class setting. A year ago, I would have said that virtual teaching and live streaming a class could never replace the experience of teaching and learning in person. Now I see that it doesn't need to; instead live streaming can augment and enhance my lessons, and I’m excited to learn more about how to create engaging and meaningful lessons for my students this fall.
~Mike Deml, English Teacher at Waukesha North High School


I used to think, oh my goodness, how is this old girl going to learn to stream my class regularly? Baby steps! It began with our virtual Mondays to fulfill what was expected of me. Now I'm asked to stream live my class AT THE SAME TIME as teaching? Seriously? After I wrapped my head around it, I just figured, I can do this starting now! While students are under quarantine or learning at home, now I invite them to join the class as they are able, and they come! So many students truly want to be here and if we are able to make it happen, we should. I am fortunate to have technology that allows me to teach and share with my students in so many different ways. I'm exhausted, but I can do this!
~Ginger LaVeau, Waukesha West Business Teacher

When virtual learning began, I knew I would have to think outside the box when it came to live streaming my tech ed classes. Due to the nature of the classes where we are moving around working in the lab as opposed to being stationary in a classroom, I knew a regular webcam set up wouldn’t work for me. I thought right away that a GoPro could be a good option, but I did not know much about them aside from that they were wearable, which was crucial in my environment so I could wear it while demonstrating on equipment in the shop. I did a lot of research to determine the best model to use, and have been very happy with the results so far! For the first couple live streams that I did, I told students upfront that this is very new to me and asked they be patient as I work through some of the issues that may arise. I have had some connection issues while going this route as it is using wifi and bluetooth, but all in all it has been a great experience and I know the kids are enjoying the opportunity to stay connected to what is going on in the shop when they have to be at home. My advice would be to think outside the box for how to best make live steaming work in your class. There are so many different options when it comes to camera set ups and it definitely isn’t a one size fits all approach, but when you find the right fit, it is worth all of the effort to keep virtual students engaged.
Travis Kornely, Waukesha North Tech Ed Teacher


I used to think ... "Working on an inquiry activity is best done face to face.” Now I think ... "When pairing 2 F2F kids with 1 or 2 virtual kids and having them communicate in a space using video or messaging gives students the time to formulate and reformulate ideas AND a resource (either video or text) to go back to if needed"
~Leslie Potter, Waukesha North Science Teacher

We'll continue to share out teachers' stories as we all learn how to make live streaming a meaningful experience for our students. Thank you to all of our teachers for taking risks, working hard, and putting students first. We appreciate all that you do!