As we turned our classrooms to the screen, a world of dread consumed us. As teachers, we have developed the art of engaging students through our charismatic instruction and presentation. We’ve mastered writing on the boards. We’ve tweaked our classroom management skills to enable our classes to keep going in the face of challenging circumstances. But now, we have a new challenge – mastering the virtual classroom. However, we’re not only going to be adapting to managing students’ behaviors in virtual classrooms. We’re managing parents’ behaviors too! Welcome to the world of the Parental Zoom Bomb.
The Parental Zoom Bomb in Your Virtual Lesson
Picture this: The teacher is in the middle of a lesson. Suddenly, in one of your Zoom student squares, comes a booming voice directed at you. They’re complaining about the class and the distance learning. Well, at least you think that’s what they are complaining about. However, you’re too focused on the screaming and swearing that your other students are now listening to, so it’s a little hard to be sure.
What do you do?
Unfortunately, more of us know the answer to this because we’ve been there. But just to confirm, we hit the mute button on that student immediately. You need to prevent any further abusive language bounding through the households of every other student in your class. So, we pop them into a breakout room.
The student and parent can then be dealt with in a minute. For now, do your best to keep the flow going of where you were. Finish what you were working on, and try and return some normality to your class.
Next, as soon as it’s appropriate, turn to your Plan B practical assignment. It’s that emergency backup plan tucked in your pocket that allows them to work independently for a short while. You can collect yourself and complete the procedural things you need to while it’s fresh in your head.
If the muted student’s parent is still visible and seeking round 2 in the breakout room, then remove that student from the class entirely. But if the parent has vented and gone, then I would consider allowing the student to come back into the class. Allow them back to hear direction on the practical exercise. However, be sure to monitor any movement in that little student square regularly. And hit that mute button as quick as a flash if needed.
So, your students are now getting on with their assignments. Well, realistically they are probably sending each other SMSs saying OMG, what just happened! However, while they are working on their assigned work, it is time for you to:
Step 1: Get it down on paper
Before you forget, grab a pen or, open a blank page on your screen, and get down what has happened. Note any key inappropriate phrases made by the parent, anything you said, and a general overview of what happened. Make sure to report the other students’ reactions – were they scared, shocked, etc.
Next, try and think about what provoked the situation. Get that down on paper too, as sometimes we forget the nitty-gritty details of a situation very quickly. But a first-hand recollection here also allows you to include your thoughts, feelings, and students’ reactions that may not be easily visible from a replay.
Step 2: Report it to the relevant person
Every school has different policies on incident reporting. There might not be one for parent Zoom-bombing yet given the speed with which everything has had to be set up. Follow the process you would if a parent burst through the doors of your classroom and started screaming at you in the school. Essentially, this is exactly what they just did.
Now, either fill in the relevant form or send an email with the details to the administrator, manager, or relevant person.
Step 3: Struggle through the rest of your class
Now, though difficult, try and forget for the rest of this lesson that it has just happened. You have a lesson plan to follow and a group of students to teach. Now is the time to bring out your acting skills – bury the anger, frustration, and embarrassment. Put on a show for the rest of the lesson. And you’ll be forgiven for ending this one five minutes early!
If you still have the student whose parent caused a scene in the class, keep a close eye on this. Be ready to activate the ‘remove from class’ button with immediate effect.
Step 4: Getting your thoughts together
Once the lesson is out of the way, it’s time to prepare for a discussion with the parent. It is possible to email the parent initially. But if you are looking to build a relationship that can help the student best, I highly recommend going straight to a phone call.
It’s important to plan your conversation to keep it objective. (Say what you want to the wall in your house before you pick up the phone!). Think of the key points that need to be discussed. Keep the focus on the end result, which is:
- Enable the student to access learning.
- Prevent future parent involvement that leads to hitting mute.
- Give the parent a route to air their grievances.
- Identify and resolve the parent’s grievance.
To do this, you will address:
- What is their main concern?
- How you will help/resolve/explain this concern
- Agree on any actions and timelines of the actions
- Discuss the way to air any future grievances
Step 5: Getting the right mindset
Before you pick up the phone, you need to decide on your approach. Now let’s assume the approach you take will always be professional, but to get the best outcome, I suggest rational and friendly is the way forward too…it’s harder for someone to get angry with someone who is being kind, understanding, and caring. Not impossible I grant you, but harder!
Let’s also remember, you could perhaps have been the inappropriate sounding board for something else that was going on in their life. Everyone is experiencing challenges in life, and 2020 has served to exaggerate and add to these challenges no end. That doesn’t make it ok, but it does mean that you may have an easier route back to a working parent/teacher relationship if you start the conversation with something along the lines of ‘How are you, times are challenging right now aren’t they?’
It’s worth a try!
Step 6: Cross the Ts and Dot the I’s
Make sure you write everything out in as much detail as possible, and similar to your first step of notifying the relevant person and following the incident reporting policy, do this again following your phone call with the parent, including any agreed actions and discussions, as well any uncertainties and concerns you have of this occurring again.
Step 7: As Taylor Swift says, Shake it Off!
Now, as hard as this is, it’s time to forget about it, move on, and get back to what you do best, which is teaching – and don’t let that parent tell you otherwise. But, if you’re still unhappy or nervous about your next lesson then make sure you speak to your boss or someone superior in our school so they can help you.
If this is a recurring issue in your virtual classrooms you may want to think about some more proactive strategies too, here are a few ideas for you below. Based on your student and parent group, you will know best what might work:
- Parent Charter – have an agreement of what support and input are best for supporting the students in these challenging times.
- Parent Zoom – set up a Zoom session for parents who want to join in. You can update them on how the new virtual learning sessions work. Discuss what you will be focusing on, what they can expect, and how they can help. This way, you’re calling upon their help and they may feel more inclined or obliged to work with you.
- Parent Chat Rooms – direct parents to some sites where like-minded parents are sharing ideas on how best to support their children to learn.
And if all else fails, remember the mute button! And breakout rooms are the answer to a moment of silence so you can pull yourself together and act your way through the rest of the da
