The end of week four marks the end of our first week of distance learning. The kids had daily classes, and James and I were both responsible for delivering curriculum. There are many frustrations for everyone.
First is the reluctance for our school board to approve online tools and resources. I and my students have been using many digital tools all year, and suddenly I'm trying to change everything I do. Secondly, the sheer amount of work teachers are pushing through to students is putting off students and parents alike. My Facebook feed is mostly personal, so populated with friends who are mostly parents. I saw post after post of parents talking about the tears and battles they had (adults and children) in trying to navigate online learning. Google Classroom is highly organized but has so many layers to sift through it is challenging at first. Two grave mistakes teachers are making:
1) giving way too much work. First of all, the amount of work needs to be pulled back because parents do not have 6 hours a day to spend teaching one child. They have several children needing to share the computers. It takes parents much longer to figure out what the teacher is trying to teach and then convey that to their child. The parents are often still working from home. I think a good rule is plan for an hour. Then cut that in half. And then shave off a little more. And then you are probably where you need to be. Teachers always over-plan so they don't run out of material in class, but it's backfiring now as parents are overwhelmed with the amount of "options" being pushed out.
2) treating this week (and this month) like April, not September. In September, teachers rarely focus much on the teaching part. September is about building classroom community, setting expectations, teaching students how to use the tools, and practicing habits like logging onto a computer. We are starting new here, with new communities (online), new expectations (when to work and how much at a time), new tools (computers and programs) and new habits (how to work apart from the teacher and in your home). Week one really should have had no curriculum, and should have been reserved for daily, very small tasks to get to know the software and for students to start setting up some work parameters at home. And frankly, week two and three probably need to be the same. It takes time for new habits to develop.
I spent all week trying to get my 100+ French students from grades 4 to 7 signed up on one online language learning app. Hours a day, for five days straight, trouble-shooting something that I usually do with my students in about 10 minutes in person in class.
On a more positive note, I did come up with an easy learning choice board for my students for the rest of the year. A learning choice board is a table of boxes and each box contains a small activity. There are online games, quizzes, videos, drawing challenges, and reading blocks. As I truly considered what my programming should look like, I realized that French class will not be a priority at home for many parents who need to focus on reading and math. So I'm offering a collection of favourite activities from class and just hoping to keep some French language in my students' heads.
Caleb has been absolutely thriving in his online environment. Every morning from 9am - 10am he meets in an online class to watch his teacher deliver a lesson and interact with his classmates. Afterwards he has about an hour of homework, assignments or a task based on the lesson. Now and then he will get back online in the afternoon for small group work. Earlier this year Caleb took three months to homeschool with me. He loved the self-directed learning, but missed his friends. This new format seems to be exactly what he thrives in. In his own words "This seems much more professional and less like school." Ben seems neither here nor there. Juliette loves to see her friends, and always wants to answer everyone question first. I applaud the French school board - they were able to assess quickly the situation, choose a platform, train their teachers and roll out a program effectively.
We are taking daily walks. I feel like we see more of the neighbours now than we did ever before. It's still strange to take a wide berth around everyone, but there are lots of smiles and nods and greetings, especially to those working in their yards.
Mornings are usually dedicated to school work. Afternoons is outdoor time - sports, games, fort building, roaming in the forest behind the house, sitting by the campfire. Yesterday we ventured out as a family in the car to play "Car-dines" with four other families. Similar to the hide and seek game Sardines, one vehicle drives off and "hides" somewhere in town. Every minute they send out a clue (words or photo) and the other vehicles race to try and discover where the first car is. While waiting for all the cars to show up, conversations through car windows helped us catch up with friends. There was a little competition and a lot of fun.
We listen to the news much less these days. True to its historical pattern and personality, the news is still reporting daily but in a much less urgent way. Debate online rages - we are doing too much, we aren't dong enough. Some things have been suspended indefinitely (church). Some things are suspending two weeks at a time (school, summer sports for the kids). Speculation runs rampant: will schools be back before the end of the year? Will we even be back in September?
New articles from 1918 are circulating, the measures against the Spanish Flu (H1N1) sounding exactly like what we are facing today. What I can't seem to find is how long the measures lasted in order to be "effective" (I'm not sure 50 million worldwide deaths can be deemed effective, but certainly there are reports that cities that locked down hard and early had fewer deaths).
This week I wrote an open letter to parents, as a parent and educator myself. I had a lot of positive feedback from it. I'm including it here.
I am amazed at how normal life seems. We are only a degree off of normal life, and although we are in fact travelling further and further from where we were a month ago, we humans are resilient and adapt to a "new normal" fairly quickly.
***
April 6, 2020
Dear parents,
That was a tough day one. There were new computer programs to learn and passwords that didn’t work. There were files to open and save and submit. There were multiple kids to help navigate. There were language barriers. There was math to reach back 30 years to remember. There were tears and frustration and short tempers. There was a flood of work and assignments and extra practice and websites and passwords.
Today we tried to do school at home, and I think many of us realized we can’t just pick up where we left off.
We as teachers tend to over-plan. We are always worried we aren’t doing enough. And today we might have overdone it, and you might have been overwhelmed.
As a parent of 4 and as a teacher, I realized some things today:
Even a small assignment can take a long time when you aren’t used to it. Be patient and do less.
No one can be successful if there are tears and short tempers. Take a break and do less.
This tech is so very new to everyone. A virtual world can be very organized and still hard to navigate. Go slowly and do less.
We are still in the middle of a health crisis. Stress and anxiety and isolation are creeping in and affecting our focus. Breathe deep and do less.
The weather is finally getting warm. Being inside is hard. Get outside and do less.
The real lesson of today is this: do less. We all jumped in hard today. We are desperate to find normal again. We are desperate to provide for our children. But we need not panic. The kids will be alright. Patient, small steps will still move us forward.
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