Manu Bosteels ‘24: Could you give us an explanation of how you came up with a strategy to teach your orchestra online?
Mr. Jonathan Fleischman: When we closed in March, we had like a week to figure out how to move things online, how to still create the best classroom experience we can, but just do it online. And we tried a lot of things, I know you weren’t with us in March, but I’m sure you had the same experience in your school; we tried one thing, and if it worked, great! We kept it, and if it didn’t, we tried something else. And one advantage that I found was that it gave us an opportunity to pursue some things that we wouldn’t normally have the time to do. In a standard rehearsal, we spend 30-40 minutes in a block to really just work on music and we don’t necessarily have the time to do composition, improvisation, any of those kinds of things. We don’t even really get to write or talk about anything, and now we were able to do that. And a lot of people, from what I heard, enjoyed it, and found it beneficial. So when we went online in September, knowing that we wouldn’t have people in-person, I drew upon that, figuring out what worked back in the spring, and now that we had more time, I was able to change things around a little bit. We were able to create some activities where we could work on stuff that normally we wouldn’t get the time to do. I know that I try to focus on the fact that we were all starting online, there was no one in the room together, so as much group work and as much getting to know each other that we could do in those first couple weeks was a big priority as well.
MB: So how do you think that online education, specifically musical education, compares to physical, in-person teaching? From a feasibility perspective, can you actually teach a class effectively online, let alone a simultaneously virtual and in-person class?
JF: I would say you could definitely teach music online. It’s done in many places, even more, I would say, in other parts of the world than the U.S. There are a lot of schools that are exclusively online, and they’re able to do it. I think the thing that makes it not so easy is the fact that we are trying to teach people in the room at the same time as trying to teach online. And it is doable, but what I’m realizing quickly is that it’s very difficult to be with one group of people and then another group of people and another; I know that one of the things that I am trying to do better is focus on seeing all the people at the same time. And I know that sounds like an impossible task, but it’s more that the people in the room are right in front of you, it’s very easy, you can see stuff instantly, you can hear when the note is wrong, you can see it when someone messes up a bowing, and it’s a little bit harder to see or hear that online. I also teach a couple students privately, and even when it’s one-on-one, it’s doable, but it’s a challenge to try to explain something to someone whereas you could just take your instrument right in front of them and you could demo it for them and they could be like “Oh, that’s how it works,” and it’s two seconds flat. It just takes a little more time. It is doable, but it presents its own unique challenges.
MB: Just last week, IHS started its hybrid schedule. On the first day, how difficult was it to find the appropriate balance between asking in-person students questions and keeping the virtual students engaged?
JF: Part of the learning curve, I will definitely say, was the fact that I was somewhat used to teaching online at that point—it was nice that you were kind of all in the same spot. Depending on whether or not people had cameras on, I could sometimes see people, or if not, at least I could hear them, and see where that was going. So that was the first noticeable thing. I was talking to another teacher who used the analogy that it was similar to being a TV show host, or something like that, so it’s like, “and now, online we have” and, “now in-person we have”. You are trying to merge two groups that are not in the same location at the same time. That was probably the toughest part, and over time, it got better and better. We had chamber orchestra today and it worked pretty well, and I will say that for your class [string orchestra], one of the things I tried to do, even on one of the first days, we had people working in the room and people working at home, so I tried to create that atmosphere of working together. Of course, technology is what it is; sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.
MB: From our perspective as students, the whole transition from virtual to in-person was somewhat chaotic; we only really got information a day before classes started. Was that the same on your end or did you have a bit more time to figure things out?
JF: Honestly, it was the same, you know, I would totally agree with you that, as teachers, we roll with the punches all the time, that’s what we do. That’s how our career works. But I do know that for me, personally, I am a planner. I like to have stuff set well in advance, and then you just act on it and it all works. And there were more than a couple occasions where I would make a plan, I would say that we’re gonna do something, and then I would have to change it. And there were a few times, I’m sure you remember this, where I would put info out to you folks, and then it would change or it would get clarified. Then I would have to go back and change it. You know, it’s doable, it’s not like we were literally in the process of doing anything and then having to change it. But I would agree that it was a little bit chaotic.
MB: You teach a music theory class in addition to the orchestras. Is that kind of music class more difficult or easier to teach online than string orchestra?
JF: From my perspective, I think it’s a little bit easier to teach online. Only because it functions a lot on what I would call pencil-paper or for us, if you were in the class, I could teach you something on the board behind me, people could ask me questions, and it translates a bit better to online material. Whereas playing an instrument—and it’s not just orchestra alone, it’s the same thing for band and choir—so much of it is “doing”, and so much of it is hearing, that obviously, with technology, whatever you have audio-wise or video-wise can limit you. If you’re doing something on pencil and paper, it’s a bit easier to transfer it over online. And there’s the fact that whenever you’re doing something with written work, you can just scan it and turn it in, and you can’t do that with sound. Of course you can record, and I’ve explored that a little bit, putting out recorded videos, as in like “lecture videos”, but I would say it’s a little bit easier on my end [with music theory classes].
MB: How do you think classes will change this year? I’ve talked to a few people, and some of them foresee us all going in-person, regardless of choice, and others see us going back to fully virtual classes, I guess either because of cases or because not enough teachers want to teach in-person.
JF: Given everything that’s happened recently, if we did end up all-virtual, I don’t think it would end up on a teacher’s decision. Right now, we have some teachers who are in-person, and are perfectly willing to be. Everybody’s life situations are different, both on students’ ends and our staff members’ ends, so it’s not my place or really anybody’s place to ask reasons for that decision, it’s a highly personal thing. But I don’t think it [returning to virtual classes] would be on the teachers’ end. If we did end up going back to all virtual, I think it would be due to a case count, we’re lucky in the fact that we haven’t had any yet. I would be lying if I said that I didn’t think that one day down the road, we would end up with a case or something like that. If that were to happen, we would have to follow district policy and we would have to quarantine or go virtual, wherever we are. One of the disadvantages that IHS has is that we are campus-based, so if we have one student or one staff member who comes down with a case, then that could affect the whole school. If we’re looking at the elementary level, they kind of stick to one classroom for the entire day. You can either quarantine that classroom or that wing of the school, whereas we’re kind of all-or-nothing. And that’s largely my reason I don’t think that we would all go back in person until it was extremely safe to do so. If that were the case, I think that would have been said a lot sooner, and given the fact that other districts, even though they vary in size, or location, up in the Syracuse area or even around here like the Lansing area or Trumansburg are doing similar plans, I think that’s part of why we picked this model. Just because, not that we’re just following other people, but if we see that something else is working, then we might as well follow suit. It depends a lot on how things happen. If we end up in a position where we have to go virtual for a while and shut down, then so be it. Maybe by the end of the year, depending on what medical advancements we make, we might go back [to school in-person]. But I don’t see it in the near future.
MB: In terms of student engagement, do you think virtual classes have been successful; do you think that students are as involved in the work as they would be if everyone was in-person?
JF: I think that’s highly dependent on who you are. When we first went virtual in March, I tried to gather opinions as soon as possible about how the idea of doing school online makes you feel—does it make you feel excited? Some people love the idea of getting up from the couch, go to class, and then go back to the couch, for some people that works. I know for myself, I have to try very hard to have that whole work-life balance type thing. I found that when we were first at home in March, I was doing a lot more work than I really needed to. I think part of that was the fact that I didn’t have that whole, ‘school at school’ and ‘home at home’. Being at home made me feel like I wasn’t being as productive. And I think there’s those two sides of things for students, too. Everybody’s lives are different, and we don’t pretend to know what home life is like, but that makes a big difference. Whether you have an environment where you can study and it can be quiet for you, and you have good Internet—even a desk where you can sit. I think it’s highly dependent on everyone’s individual circumstances.
MB: If you had been the main administrator, specifically for Ithaca High School, how would you have designed the hybrid schedule?
JF: I can definitely say that the cohorts were the right way to go, with what science tells us. The fewer people you have together, the less the virus can spread. And this is nowhere near the same as today, but if you think about flu season, when fewer people were in the building, fewer people got sick. So I think of that, just on a much larger scale. I remember that I was wondering what was going to happen, since, going back to your earlier question, they took a while to explain the cohorts—I was thinking about how the split of the cohorts would work. And they ended up doing last name; purely for equitable purposes, it works out that the two cohorts are roughly the same size. I might have floated the idea of doing grade levels, as in a Red cohort of just freshmen and sophomores and a Gold cohort of just juniors and seniors. And for a lot of teachers who teach individual grade levels, that might have made things easier or harder. I know for places like the music building, where we teach 9-12, and we have a large age range and class range of kids; string orchestra is open to 9-12, freshmen can be in there and seniors can be in there. So we do that every day, but it would have been interesting to have a freshmen and sophomore group day and an upperclassmen day. And that’s something that I would have considered exploring, but I think there’s no perfect answer. I, for one, am glad that I am not an administrator at this time. They have a really difficult job in that they have a lot of contrasting opinions that they are trying to find happy mediums between, and that’s not a position that I envy. But that’s the only thing I would look into. I really like the fact that we have [asynchronous] Wednesdays. I know that we were thinking of doing all five days, all virtual with no cohort option; that made us a bit nervous on the teachers’ side of things, just because we needed that day when we and you all could catch up. When you’re learning or teaching online, you can get bogged down quickly. So it’s nice to have a day where you can just work or talk to students when they need help and can get caught up.