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Secondary education

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Original poster

Teams Meeting

71 replies

House1999 · 27/01/2021 20:33

My DS school do remote learning via Microsoft teams. There is one particular teacher that will not admit children to the meeting room if they are late. My DS (year 10)was 10 minutes late today due to a WiFi issue at home. Instead of missing 10 minutes of the lesson he missed the whole lesson, 60 minutes. Every time he sent in a request to join the teacher denied it. I feel disappointed that the teacher is not more supportive due to the current situation. There has been so much lost learning that i find it difficult to understand why the teacher wouldn’t accept the request to join.

OP posts:
Rowenasemolina · 27/01/2021 21:57

If I’m running a simulation, I have to stop it and then restart it again. If we are working in class note book, I have to shut it, then reopen it again. I can’t explain any more. It is a massive disruption. It’s no little thing. And it’s constant, and it impacts on the whole class, and that is without sending those notifications the op says were denied, which has lead to whole a lesson being closed in my school, hence the rules against them.

Rowenasemolina · 27/01/2021 22:01

@PartoftheProbl3m

I’d tell the kids to be quiet. Tbh I’d have the setting to not let them unmute
Whether they are muted or not muted is irrelevant. It’s frequently better to have students able to unmute themselves and address my, but I’m not talking about them unmuting themselves, I’m talking about them filling up the chat with complaints that they don’t know what’s happening, and demands for immediate attention, and so on
Tyranttoddler · 27/01/2021 22:02

I turn the lobby off as soon as I start teaching. That means they can just join and there's no need for me to stop teaching at any point. Maybe your schools would let you do this so that it isn't so annoying when doing videos etc.

Rowenasemolina · 27/01/2021 22:03

@PartoftheProbl3m

Lol. I’ve been teaching for 29 years.
So what? I’ve been teaching far longer than you. And have apparantly far more experience on Teams
Tyranttoddler · 27/01/2021 22:04

But a child who is late a few times because you know they have WiFi or tech issues is different to one who is always late or absent and comes in moaning that they don't get it.

JetBlackSteed · 27/01/2021 22:05

Sounds like the OP's kid is sending requests to join the group Team, rather than join the specific team meeting where the lesson is.

Rowenasemolina · 27/01/2021 22:05

@Tyranttoddler

I turn the lobby off as soon as I start teaching. That means they can just join and there's no need for me to stop teaching at any point. Maybe your schools would let you do this so that it isn't so annoying when doing videos etc.
No school should be doing this, it goes against all the safeguarding guidance. If you turn the lobby off you are no longer in control of ending the lesson. You can leave, but you cannot prevent others staying? Joining, or rejoining at 2am
Rowenasemolina · 27/01/2021 22:10

@Tyranttoddler

But a child who is late a few times because you know they have WiFi or tech issues is different to one who is always late or absent and comes in moaning that they don't get it.
Every single late or absent child cries WiFi issues. Scores every day. I do return to the lobby, at intervals convenient to me, and admit. But I completely understand why others don’t, and in fact we have been instructed by the schooL to stop admitting latecomers During the first 20 minutes of the lesson. So many lessons were being held up for so long
Tyranttoddler · 27/01/2021 22:10

No, I turn the lobby back on before I end the lesson.

Murmurur · 27/01/2021 22:15

How is it worse if they are typing in chat? How is it different any other unwarranted interruptions? Surely if it's an ongoing problem THEN you threaten them with removing chat privileges or dropping them off the call. It's not a reason to prevent access to a child who could be late for any number of reasons outside their control.

I don't see that it's any different to children coming late to class because of music lessons, seeing the nurse, mentoring etc etc.

titchy · 27/01/2021 22:16

@Tyranttoddler

I turn the lobby off as soon as I start teaching. That means they can just join and there's no need for me to stop teaching at any point. Maybe your schools would let you do this so that it isn't so annoying when doing videos etc.
Alongside turning the lobby back on at lesson end, this seems like a reasonable solution. Not sure how you can stop the chat filling up though, but I'm guessing you're going to get that anyway if chat is on, regardless of any latecomers.
Rowenasemolina · 27/01/2021 22:17

@Tyranttoddler

No, I turn the lobby back on before I end the lesson.
Does that work? We were told in training that you would have no control of the ones who had entered with those setting?
inquietant · 27/01/2021 22:23

I'd escalate this to the head.

Anyone asking what tech issues a child has that prevents them getting in gets a Hmm from me, as if this is unheard of.

OoopsIDidIt · 27/01/2021 22:29

It is annoying when pupils arrive late, some of them do it regularly - make an entrance, interrupt to ask what we're doing, they need the Join Code if we're using another website. Typically they'll then leave their mike on while they repeat the code/instructions back to you......

Wi-Fi issues are a pain, but I can understand why a teacher/department/school might have enough of late attendees and wish to stop them attending because of the disruption.

Pipandmum · 27/01/2021 22:31

Call or email the school - unless this is a continual problem your end should be given the benefit if the doubt and let in.
My daughter has a problem with sound- sometimes no problem other times she just can't hear. She has turned on automatic subtitles but as they are instant computer generated it is not always correct and there can be a lag. Seems to be just her though so we are trying to find the cause. She is emailing the teachers so they are informed in case they think she is ignoring them! They seem to hear her fine.

Tyranttoddler · 27/01/2021 22:32

Sorry my phone won't let me quote your message rowena but yes, they all leave the meeting, I turn the lobby back on and then that's it and it works fine but maybe check with your IT if you think it's something that can help.

SE13Mummy · 27/01/2021 22:39

My Y11 DC has had ongoing issues with being kicked out of Teams lessons when our WiFi drops - it's been a problem since before the first lockdown. It's taken 18 months to get it resolved so when lockdown #1 started, I contacted the school so they knew. DC informed individual teachers and there has never been an issue with being able to get back in to Teams lessons. DC has been very proactive at messaging a friend in the lesson (using the v.limited data on their PAYG phone) asking them to let the teacher know what's happening or sends a message in SMHW so the teacher will see it later.

If I'm at home when it happens, I can hotspot from my phone but I teach in an SEN school so am only home on my day off. DH can't teach from home because our WiFi is so unreliable so he teaches from his empty classroom and youngest DC had to work from text books whilst still in Y6 and now does remote learning with our childcare bubble.

I'm not sure how eldest's school has Teams set up so as to avoid exclusion of students whose WiFi is genuinely unreliable but I'm extremely grateful that it does! There's no revisiting of material that has been missed although any presentations/slides are available afterwards.

CloudsandTeacups · 27/01/2021 22:40

The teacher is not ridiculous at all. At what point do we have a cut off? Is it 10, 15, 20 minutes? If you had contacted the school and they had notified the teacher then that would be different. All of my year 10s are capable of sending a message from their phone to let me know of a WiFi issue so I can add them when they join. If they've had a nap, an extended lunch break or other then I'm not repeating it for them. The work is available they can complete it independently.

titchy · 27/01/2021 22:43

@inquietant

I'd escalate this to the head.

Anyone asking what tech issues a child has that prevents them getting in gets a Hmm from me, as if this is unheard of.

Exactly! I pay through the nose for a 200mb speed cable and still drop out of meetings a few times a week.
ragged · 28/01/2021 05:55

Interesting set of replies! I don't know if DC's mtgs involve admitting procedures. Not even sure DS has a microphone and mostly no camera but I guess clicking admit is too much burden. Unlike the uni, no recorded lessons so catch up procedure is nothing but prior assigned reading. Sounds like big incentive to skip lessons. We had a rare bizarre set of WiFi problems for weeks, and ran out of data quickly too. so glad DSs are still enrolled and their Teachers aren't as inflexible as posters here. I guess some teachers would rather pupils failed than be disorganised teenagers. DS16 is too shy to ever post anything in Chat unless prompted. And he hasn't got a microphone to unmute.

Evvyjb · 28/01/2021 07:07

Shockingly about half of my y11s had wifi issues at the deadline time to submit an exam this week... must be something going round!

Its ALWAYS the late one who posts repeatedly in the chat that they don't get it, don't know what they're doing etc. See also - the one who just goes to get a drink/goes to the loo etc. And then if they don't get a message on the lesson chat they then send a message directly.

Cannot WAIT to be back in a classroom with a board pen.

MadameMinimes · 28/01/2021 07:26

I’m a teacher and have to say it would not occur to me to prevent a student joining a lesson late. I teach Year 10-13 and have been teaching lessons live since last March. Sometimes kids arrive late. They almost always put an apology in the chat or send me an email or chat message to tell me they are having problems beforehand. I’m fortunate to teach an option subject, which I think helps a bit, but our students really want to learn and some of them would be really upset if after a technical problem they couldn’t join the lesson at all. I have to say that I have been overwhelmingly impressed by the way that the students I teach have conducted themselves in online learning from the very beginning when I was very much cobbling things together, when teams was far less reliable and when so many of the features that now help teachers manage the online “classroom” didn’t exist yet. They have been patient and very forgiving when I’ve got things wrong, or connected late, or cut out totally in the middle of the lesson due to the power going out in school... if they join late it’s no big deal. I’m not going to be re-explaining the start of the lesson for latecomers, but of course they can join and do their best to follow along. It’s not a regular problem for me though. If kids were regularly arriving late, or arriving late and derailing the lesson by expecting me to repeat things then I might have decided to take a similar stance to that teacher.

Rowenasemolina · 28/01/2021 07:28

@Murmurur

How is it worse if they are typing in chat? How is it different any other unwarranted interruptions? Surely if it's an ongoing problem THEN you threaten them with removing chat privileges or dropping them off the call. It's not a reason to prevent access to a child who could be late for any number of reasons outside their control.

I don't see that it's any different to children coming late to class because of music lessons, seeing the nurse, mentoring etc etc.

How is it worse if they are typing in chat? Because chat is part of the lesson and has a huge volume of curriculum related discussion passing through it at a high rate. It’s hard enough to keep track of all the answers I did to record and respond to, without having to keep scrolling past the chaff
Rowenasemolina · 28/01/2021 07:32

@Tyranttoddler

Sorry my phone won't let me quote your message rowena but yes, they all leave the meeting, I turn the lobby back on and then that's it and it works fine but maybe check with your IT if you think it's something that can help.
Are you sure they can’t renter in the middle of the night? This was the issue we had last lock down, people, hackers/ strangers, /imposters, Eg convicted drug dealer older cousin getting hold of password, reactivating meeting and inviting select vulnerable students to attend to discuss ‘business opportunities’. This is why we have been told never to turn off the lobby. I’m interested that you think we can safely do so though. Maybe we need to check again
Murmurur · 28/01/2021 12:01

@Rowenasemolina "How is it worse if they are typing in chat? Because chat is part of the lesson and..."

Ok sure, I was not making myself clear. Why can't you use/adapt your normal classroom management methods to stop them "shouting out" in the chat? That's what my children's teachers do. I'm not suggesting that you tolerate it, I'm asking why it's so hard to manage compared with every other behaviour you don't tolerate in the classroom. My kids are a little younger (Y7 and Y9) so maybe that's what I'm missing, but I thought Y9 was one of the trickier years in terms of behaviour.

Children and adults alike can have WiFi problems - we would have no zoom quizzer friends left if we banned them from a quiz every time they dropped a WiFi connection or their computer decided to install the mother of all updates or ran out of battery at an awkward time. These things happen to adults as well as children especially when the kids have been using the computer all day and forgotten to plug the extension lead into the wall

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