Before Remote Learning Day 1

 Our district has finally decided due to the "metrics" released by the state.  We will be completing our first quarter online.  We start September 14th and will be online until at least November 15th.  Up until this point we were planning for a hybrid schedule.

I usually try to take summers mostly off, with some playing around in my classroom here and there, but this summer I have been using almost every nap time to watch webinars, create online content, and go to virtual town halls.  Though part of me is sad, I am relieved to finally know what it is I'm going to be doing this fall and that I will be safe.  Because of my Lupus I was really concerned about the decision for fall.

Distance Learning Professional Development

So I have been scouring the web for resources to make next year the best possible, and here's what I've found.

Best Practices: Online Pedagogy

Teaching to the Top: 026. Tips for Organizing your Digital Life

What is a Flipped Classroom?

Interview with Zaretta Hammond

Collaborative Classroom Interview with District Leaders

Best Practice in Distance Learning

Whoa.  This has been quite the journey.  On Friday, March 13th we were told we were leaving school for two weeks and here were are, the sixth of July, and we don't know if we will return in the fall!  My optimistic self has been assuming all this time that we will go back to school in the September, but it's looking like we're getting half and half of our kids back at best!  Our governor is saying that if people keep going out and not wearing masks and the numbers keep rising we WON'T OPEN SCHOOLS IN THE FALL!  I don't know that I can handle more distance learning, but I have no choice, my family depends on me.  I can't stand the uncertainty.

For now, my school is assuming we will be taking on the hybrid cohorting strategy where Mondays are a teacher work day and cohort A comes to school Tuesday and Thursday and B comes to school Wednesday and Friday.  Of course each kiddo must have the standard 35 square foot bubble (where did they come up with that number!? That's right they must have a 3.3377905866 radius of empty space around them at all times).  Anywho, I'm on the reopening committee and we've been discussing things like contact tracing, how to get kids off the bus and into their classroom without touching or breathing on anyone else, how recess will look with each kid having a 35 square foot bubble, etc.  All of these questions are baffling, and really, arbitrary, because the kids will not follow all of the rules and procedures we put in place, but as always, we will do our best!

So, as this planning continues I am working the most during the summer that I ever have preparing for what I'm assuming will be the most challenging year of my career.  I am trying to research on the web, listen to podcasts, read blogs and books and anything else I can do to prepare.  I'm having a hard time finding info because there just isn't much out there!  I will share what I find with you, though!  While I am doing this, here are the questions I am grappling with (maybe you have answers!):

1. What online resources will I use?  I don't want to use too many and overwhelm my students and families, so I feel pressure to narrow it down to the best ones.
2. What will I do at school and what will be done at home?  Time is precious in a normal school year, and now we have less than half of the time!  I'm researching the flipped model, but I've had some resistance from my team about this idea.
3. How will I organize student supplies? As the kids our supposed to have all of their own supplies and keep them in their backpacks, how will I make transitions seamless?
4. How will I make the transition from school learning to home learning seamless and easy for parents? 
5. How will I maximize my time so I can best meet the needs of my students without spending every minute of my day at school?  My team and I have talked about splitting subjects and each making videos for different subjects including read aloud.  I'm also looking at time savers such as email templates, etc.

The Creativity Deficit

As I was walking through my new school today I was noticing the beautiful artwork. Cute, water color leaves, curly paper pumpkins, spooky fall landscapes, and something hit me. Each piece was beautiful, and nearly identical. So close I bet the kids can’t tell which one is their’s. Doesn’t it seem odd and contradictory that these amazing Pinterest “art” projects don’t leave any room for creativity? They do make spectacular parent gifts and some even teach artistic techniques, but is the product truly art?

The age we live in...

This is kind of a quirky post, but I just had a strange glimpse of the age we live in.  Today one of my students told me that I should friend his mom on Facebook.  I feel so weird about this, but I also feel weird when I run into a parent in the store and I have beer in my cart.  It's like if I'm not the perfect person they will deem me less than fit to be a teacher.  Many of my colleagues friend parents from our school on Facebook and see no problem with it.  I usually don't unless they work at the school.  What do you think?

Teaching, danger, and mental health

Last week I had to teach my students how to defend themselves in case a dangerous, armed person came onto our campus.  It breaks my heart to teach my students how to become a difficult target.  My hands shake as I answer questions about what kinds of things make good projectiles, answer a million "what if" questions with "use the tools I have taught you and your best judgement.  You will not be in trouble if you are truly trying to protect yourself," and hedge their fears with "this kind of situation is unlikely, but we need to be prepared and practiced just in case." 

Yes, I will prepare my kids for the reality of this terrible danger and while I am very thankful for Alice training, it makes me absolutely nauseous to think of a situation where I would have to protect my school babies with my life.  I have my babies at home.  Last week was the first of many of these drills for the year.

Just the pure fact that so many people are willing to hurt and kill innocent children and adults is proof that we have a mental health crisis on our hands that we are totally unprepared to deal with.  In our current system we have no tools to help people with mental health issues unless they have the means and the drive to pursue it themselves.  And even still, our model for "treating" mental health problems is to punish for transgressions, not to teach strategies to cope and overcome.  Mental health is a dirty little secret that is pushed down with rewards, blame, and punishments until it festers and boils over.

This criminal system starts in the school system.  We have an insane rate of violent, suicidal, and antisocial behavior in schools right now.  Teachers are often expected to just deal with problems that are not within our training to handle.  We are not trained psychologists.  Every day we feed hungry kids, let kids sleep in our bean bags that don't have a safe place to sleep at home, look for lice, problem solve, teach positive character traits that sometimes aren't encouraged at home, and so much more while also trying to teach the curriculum.  The problem is, we don't have the time or the education to treat mental illness.  Don't get me wrong: do I believe in consequences?  Absolutely, yes.  But do I believe consequences teach people how to be functional in society?  No.  Consequences motivate us to make good decisions, but do not teach us what positive behaviors are.

Besides this, anyone who thinks teachers should carry guns has never met me.  (To illustrate this point: I often have a hard time locating my pen and unlocking the gate from the staff parking lot and I curl up into a ball when confronted with tickle torture).  Conversely, I think it would be tragic and disadvantageous to replace good teachers with good marksmen.  Guns are not the answer.  To find the answer, everyone of us will have to move toward a paradigm shift.

Mistakes are Steps Toward Learning

It was February of 2011...

When You Need a Home Run and all you get is first base.  It was a good lesson, but what I needed was amazing.  Last Friday I was observed by the big dog, an important observation for my reapplication next year (as I am on temporary status).  Three things I took from this experience: first, teaching is about connecting with students, second, stay true to your theories of teaching no matter how difficult your situation makes it, and third, how important context is in education.

The lesson: 3rd Grade Order of Operations (keep in mind that we have 60 students)
Anticipatory set: I activated prior knowledge and connected to students' experience by using a narrative advance organizer.  I drew 6 pictures depicting three directions: pour, shake, and open and orange juice bottle.  I then discussed that sometimes order is important in directions.  Then I showed the different outcomes for changing the order of these instructions.  I then asked kids to come up with the right order.  I then introduced order of operations.

Next, we made a flip booklet on which we numbered 1. Parentheses, 2. Multiply/Divide, 3. Add/Subtract.  Under the flap we put the signs of the operations, an example and "left to right."  I then modeled how to use the tool, and students practiced how to use the tool with some guided practice on their whiteboards.  I had a worksheet to practice further, but my cooperating teacher suggested that just practicing on the whiteboard would be more effective.

The critique:

Although he thought the metaphor was very effective and the kids understood the concept, I've got to move faster.  There is just too much curriculum to cover to spend so much time waiting for everyone to get it.  So and so were drawing on their whiteboards under their desks.  He commended me on checking in on the success of so many students.

Today:

This was my first taste of the bias in the system.  What he was saying: the ones who are privileged enough to access the curriculum from the standard entryways will get it, the others may catch on eventually, or maybe not... but who cares, move on.

Even today, as I look back at this draft post from 2011 I still feel the chains of the system.  I find many creative ways to improvise and adjust, but regardless we are still pulled forward through the years of curriculum, regardless of the abilities or prior knowledge of our students.  Are students are pushed through as well.

If you are wondering, I did not get the next year's opening.  Besides being green and needing improvement in many areas, the principal and I did not agree in many fundamental areas.  He told me I have "unshakeable patience" and should be in special education.  Which I very much considered, but decided it was not the right choice for me -- God bless special educators.  On the bright side, I got hired at the perfect position for me the next fall: a 4/5 blend in Southern Oregon.