Millie greets each student as they arrive in her virtual classroom for the first time. Farah checks in first, then Rodrigo. Rodrigo teaches in Shanghai but is on holiday in Manila. He shares that it is 10:00 p.m. It’s not so unusual for adult teachers in online classes to schedule themselves at unusual times. Their lives are busy with jobs and families. The teacher, Millie, is in the US, so it is afternoon for her. A few more students appear. Swehli figures out the problem with her sound and now we hear her wonderful Kenyan accent. 

In the chat, each student writes their name, the subjects they teach, and where they live. After a few housekeeping items, students share something unique about themselves. One student has white cats (we’ve seen them in the background already), another shares that she has a psychology practice she runs online. “Something you guys don’t know about me,” says another, “is that one of my cats is deaf.” There are students here online, all practicing teachers, from China, Kenya, Egypt, and the US. Some teach in their home country, but many are expats, working in a country they are getting to know. Some are highly experienced, some less so, but they all seem to have cats, it has become a theme in these introductions. Anyone who taught or learned or met online during Covid knows just how many cats are slinking around offices and living rooms. How they tend to get between the camera and the face of the person online.

Millie shares about her background, too. She grew up on a farm, lived a rural life. Aa a child, her mother spoke Pennsylvania Dutch. Then her first teaching job was in Washington DC. That must have been an adjustment. Thirty years later she is sharing what she knows now in this online course. Starting with a discussion of evidence-based practice. “What is that, exactly?” Millie asks.

In education circles, we talk about evidence-based practice a lot. US federal programs require interventions and programs based on research, and it’s probably similar in other countries. Teaching materials and applications all claim to be based on research. Some are. The science of reading has been a thing for the last couple of years. We toss the terms around, I’m not sure how solid our understanding is

I hope these students are a little skeptical, too. Years ago, when I worked at a state department of education, I was tasked with distributing federal grants to districts. In their applications, the districts had to assure us state bureaucrats that the reading programs they were choosing were proven by research. Only it turns out that when there’s lots of money in play, there are lots of forces and networks that get busy exerting influence. While the reading programs that the US department of education put on its approved list may have had some evidence behind them – evidence that they were useful for instruction – for sure they had a lot of lobbying behind them, from textbook publishers, friends of the Bush administration, people with power. I remember how my federal counterpart, out there in DC where Millie is now, had to testify about his use of “extralegal” measures mentioned in several of his emails. Oops!

As an educator, it’s hard to sort through all the claims, influence, ads, and folklore. The claims made by companies and organizations make every approach and set of materials seem rock solid, full of evidence, uncontroversially good. Yeah. But they’ve all got agendas, biased interests, and in most cases, money to make. 

So, with that note of caution, back to the class. The students are now talking about how to engage as many of the students’ senses as possible. This is “multisensory” or “multimodal” learning. Lessons should include multiple senses, as student learning is more likely.

Rodrigo gives an example from his kindergarten class. How he helps the students unlock vocabulary. Isn’t that a great image? I see old fashioned wooden trunks with black metal bands, lids swung open, words streaming out. That makes me think of a metal school locker in any American high school, as tall as the student, springing open from the force of words pushing to get out. If I were an artist I’d draw a picture. Thanks, Rodrigo.

Millie likes it, too. She reminds everyone that multimodal learning is not just for young students. It helps everyone, Don’t let those teenagers slumped in their desks make you feel you can’t get all their senses involved. Just the opposite – they may be the ones who need the extra stimulation the most.

Because this is the first class with Millie, students have been a bit hesitant to contribute. There are some long pauses in which she assures them this is a safe place. From her tone and manner, I believe her. I’m sure the students do, too, but it takes awhile for most individuals, in a  social group, to jump in. They are being polite, for one, not stepping on anyone’s toes. Plus there just aren’t many social cues in the flat space of a Zoom meeting. Minimal body language, that’s for sure! Just some facial expressions, some smiles and nods if you are lucky. Not an easy place for multimodal learning.

So what are the things we do, as online instructors, to engage and to build a safe place? To demonstrate the trust we must share to be vulnerable together, in order to benefit from our misconceptions, to boldly make mistakes?