La. Virtual School’s Whopper Course Sizes, with a Side of Edgenuity

At the outset of the tumultuous, 2020-21 pandemic school year, I was asked if I preferred to teach at my district’s virtual school rather than return to the classrrom in person.

I declined, for two reasons. First of all, I did not want to put myself in a position in which I could be assigned hundreds of students because virtual school has no physical space restraints to stymie a ridiculous overload. And second, I did not want to risk losing my position (including my physical classroom and my particular course responsibilities) at my current school.

However, even though I declined, when I was asked if I would like to teach virtual school, I assumed the request entailed actually teaching— meeting students virtually for class at a set time, and assigning my own class assignments via computer. It seems that such an expectation is also in line with guidance from…