Month: April 2020

Technically we’re “back-to-school” again today. I have been somewhat disappointed in the response to online learning that our District has chosen. It seems like we have given up for the rest of the year and are only marking time until the end of May. We could be doing much more to help our students with digital learning opportunities. I understand that they were hit with this without much planning, which means that many teachers were not prepared for how to handle this remotely. But this is perfect example of if we were using the technology that is readily available before this crisis, this would not have been such a hard transition.

Part of the problem is what I have been talking about for a while now and that is that using iPads as the main source of a 1-to-1 computer strategy falls far short when it becomes the only device that students have access to. If we were using laptops or even Chromebooks, it would better facilitate a work-at-home solution for students. We also need to move away from the philosophy of packets, worksheets and other forms of papertocracy that limits the ability to use technology to enhance student learning when not in the classroom. Making a worksheet a PDF and loading it into an LMS is not digital learning. Students need to learn to find useful information, how to utilize data, and how to create content, these are the skills that will enrich them moving forward.

If this crisis has taught us as educators anything, it’s that technology is an extremely useful and powerful tool for education and should be embraced and not shunned.

Yesterday we played another online board game, Settler’s of Catan, and it was great. I realized that I really do miss my students and wish we were back at school right now. As usual, it’s not the day-to-day teaching that my students or I will remember in the future, it is these special times when we are doing different things that we will remember most.

We found out today that we will be putting in our grades already for the end of the year which tells me that we are preparing to finish out the school year. We still need to continue with the online learning and keep in contact with our students but we will just putting in whether they are passing or giving them an incomplete. So if any student is passing, there is no benefit to them continuing with any content. My biggest fear is that if we do go back to school in May, it will be impossible to get them to do anything.

Later today Rebecca had a Zoom for kids to do some art work and Maya and TJ had a good time doing that. It was interesting to see how a virtual art lesson would work, but it did. There were some prerequisites, everyone needed to have some basic art tools. Rebecca also sent some examples of how to draw in email.

We spent the rest of the day playing Minecraft and that was very relaxing.

Today and yesterday for that matter has been just another couple of days. I spend the morning on the computer, grading school work, communicating with students and working on other school stuff. Then in the afternoons I work outside. Lately working on getting the Strawberry, Blueberry and Raspberry gardens ready. I come in at night dead tired and then just crash watching some old TV on the Pluto app.

In between I’m keeping the kids on task, putting out fights, and tweeting. I’ve also been 3D printing more masks for the kids, and keeping everything running around the house. Joan has been neck deep in her own work and keeping from going crazy with the kids underfoot.

Today we were told to take a break for the rest of the week from online classes. I guess parents had complained that their kids were getting too much work and the District would like to reorganize how they want to do this online learning. What everyone needs to do is restructure their content so it is asynchronous and can be done at any time. That way the students can work on as much or at least as they need to and won’t feel so overwhelmed.

I sent out an email to my students and parents and let them know that they were doing great and not to get too upset about the work. My only expectation is that they get most of it done by April 27th when we go back. They can work on my stuff or their math or whatever and just stay on task and keep going.