Let’s talk about improvising on the spot in our classes. Yesterday, I had to move an in-person class of 16 students online. I had the tool—Zoom—and a permanent class link already, because our class peer educator is remote. 1/

I wrote to the extra “adults” in the room—the peer educator; our provost, who is shadowing me in the course; and a librarian who was joining us—to let them know we’d be meeting on Zoom. Then, two hours before class, I emailed the students about it. 2/

I reconfigured the lesson for online, planning for breakout rooms, polls, and a shared PowerPoint slide. I opened Zoom. The extra “adults” showed up—the students did not. They were all in the classroom. No one had read the email. 3/

My peer educator starts texting. Soon, we can see part of the class in the room. And they can see and hear us—from one student’s laptop. They cheered when we showed up on the screen. But this means no breakout rooms, no slides, no poll. Back to the drawing board. 4/

Of course, we made it work. The students listened carefully to the silly adults on Zoom, we reverted to low-tech discussion and reflection, and the students were proud of themselves for helping make it work. I was, too. It was probably our best class so far. 5