5.3 Pedagogical approach, program, and youth support
Teaching online allowed student facilitators to go beyond the
pedagogical plan in their own way to lead the sessions. Exploration of
new avenues that could be transposed to their professional work was also
noted as a benefit, particularly in the present pandemic context:
With the period we’re living, maybe the distance element will be more
present so it’s cool to be one of the first to experience it. . . I’m
exploring things that I’ve never done in traditional singing lessons, so
I find that really fun. I feel like if I was to teach again, either
singing or another edition of the camp, I would be a completely
different teacher.
The pleasure of teaching music to extra-ordinary youths in an
online context was noted by all the session leaders: “Though I would
have preferred to see them in person to create a bond, it’s still good,
I see that the kids have lots of fun doing it even if it’s online, the
pleasure doesn’t disappear with distance.”; “It’s fun to see them go
and be more and more autonomous.”; “I’m super happy—it’s a bit more
time than I thought as far as planning, it takes creative juices to
adapt to each student, but they give back so much in interest and love,
so it’s really a pleasure.”
Concerning intervention, the impossibility of using physical proximity
and tactile interventions (e.g. a hand on the shoulder) to redirect
behaviour was noted. A parent’s presence often became necessary to
remedy the absence of proximity, which was sometimes uncomfortable for
session leaders: “Often the parent will play an intervention role to
reframe the child, so at that moment my own position is more passive,
which I find a bit uncomfortable.”
In the same way, some session leaders felt that participants saw them
more as a “game show host” than an authority figure, and that this
perception could sometimes impede on their ability to get the youths to
participate in proposed activities. Despite this punctual issue, though,
the appreciation of parents’ interventions in the online context was
also noted. For some session leaders, the online modality was found to
be a barrier to spontaneity and to the use of humour during
interventions and activities. For others, the presence of an
intermediary (the screen) seemed to diminish their own shyness, and push
them out of their comfort zone in order to attempt more extravagant
interventions:
I think that it opens me up and I’m more willing to do things because I
put myself on show. I have to give more because I’m in front of a
screen, so I think that pushes me to go out of my comfort zone, to be
silly, and I like that.
The student facilitator remarks here on the positive impact of humour,
which contributes to reducing anxiety on both sides, maintaining the
learner’s attention, and reinforcing the teacher-student bond. From
another standpoint, the remote modality was sometimes considered to
limit leaders’ ability to capture participants’ attention, bring them to
their task and motivate them. Indeed, in some cases session leaders
found difficulty enticing participants to act: “We’re on a screen; if
we make a movement to catch their attention but they’re not looking, we
can’t do anything more.” However, attention and participation depend on
many factors, including those unrelated to the online modality (e.g.
fatigue after a day at a summer camp).