New Company, Same Old Problems - Teacher's Review
I've worked for Air Reading as a teacher for a few months. While the company offers virtual reading intervention to elementary schools nationwide, similar to its competitor BookNook, it's still dealing with significant growing pains as it scales. Pay is average, with a flat rate per 30- or 40-minute class and an incentive for prompt student feedback. The material is dated, with lessons presented via Google Slides, lacking modern features like gamification, AI translation for ESL students, or audio/video components. Although lessons are provided, you'll likely need to spend unpaid time reviewing slides and instructions before teaching.
Initially, it seemed Air aimed to foster supportive relationships with teachers and provide long-term classes to build rapport with students. In practice, however, students are frequently added or removed from schedules without warning, often due to being at the wrong level. Like other e-learning companies, the fact that some students will not do well in virtual classes and need in-person support is ignored in the name of profit. So, you'll often see a well-behaved student paired with a student with severe behavioral problems, making the class ineffective for both. There is little that can be done unless the school decides to intervene, but that seems to be hit or miss.
Lesson slides are big on theory and lack practicality; not accounting for routine technical issues, behavioral problems, or lack of school staff supervision. Teacher instructions are highly scripted, with lines to recite that often sound robotic. Some concepts introduced are unfamiliar even to experienced teachers and likely don’t aid understanding. Instead of taking responsibility for poor curriculum design that lacks engaging, age-appropriate material, Air blames the lack of student engagement on the teacher’s enthusiasm.
On the technical side, tracking student progress is plagued by errors and server issues, wasting time on feedback reports and generating constant complaints in the Slack channel. Air staff seems overwhelmed by the volume of support tickets. When submitting a ticket, responses are rare, and issues can persist for weeks, even after escalation. Currently, the company lacks a system to track your earnings during each pay period, forcing you to maintain those records yourself.
In the end, working for Air Reading feels like you're stuck in a broken system—one that offers little support, relies on outdated materials, and expects you to manage difficult students with no backup, all for a paycheck that doesn’t match the effort required.
23 November 2024
Unprompted review