When our school closure first began, it was very surreal. I would say it didn't really hit me until that first Monday when I was supposed to be back after Spring Break. I had many thoughts running through my head starting with:
Our school closures kind of hit me in waves as well. First, schools were closed till April 13th, then April 30th, then the rest of the school year. The idea of also being stuck at home wasn’t one that an extrovert like myself found appealing either. All of which took a toll on my psyche. I wanted to get out of the house and interact with my students. I had to really take a step back and think first how I could process this event myself. Only then could I really move on to figuring out how to help my students from afar. They were going through some of the same feelings and emotions I had just discussed. I sat down and decided what were three big ideas I had to consider if online learning continued or was made mandatory in the future. You really have to take into account everyone's family dynamics when planning online learning. These are the first topics that came to my mind: A) What if you have a family that doesn't have internet access? Yes, believe it or not there are still families out there that don’t have internet access with no fault of their own. B) What if your family doesn't have enough devices to use at home? This is something I experienced this past Spring with the optional online learning our school district provided. I had one family who had six children who all now had to do some form of online learning. That’s a lot of students for one family device. Luckily our district was able to create a sort of check-out system to distribute Chromebooks to families in need. Personally I felt our district did a fabulous job orchestrating this considering the short turnaround time. C) What about student accountability? Online learning will look very different depending on the grade level you teach. A senior in high school is capable of much more independence in some areas than what a 3rd grader might be. I had to be compassionate in knowing that anything I would give out to my families via Google Classroom the students might need some help accessing from a computer. Which would take away time from the parents. Many of my families began working from home during the pandemic which would be a whole different struggle to manage with working from home and making sure your child was doing their work. I always tried to be available any way I could even for tech support. I know there are many more things to take into account when teaching or learning from home as the situation seems to change daily. So I stress that when you go back to school in the Fall and it is required online learning, optional online learning, or back to some form of face-to-face contact with your students that you still show the same compassion, honesty, and dedication to your students and families that you may have shown during the first few months of school closures. Remember, we are all in this together.
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AuthorBenjamin's educational experiences include teaching both 3rd and 4th grades all around the state of Iowa. His commitment to students has led to various local and state awards and honors such as being named the 2014 Iowa Technology Educator of the Year and authoring a section of a chapter in Dr. Todd Whittaker's book Start. Right. Now.: Teach and Lead for Excellence on maximizing student potential. |