Pandemic….

We have heard about them, watched them reek havoc in the movies and followed them from afar throughout the years. But in January of 2020 something changed. Those pandemics we heard about in foreign countries or in states we do no live in; they came to camp out on our doorsteps.

As the nation watched the numbers of infections and deaths grow rapidly across the United States, our neighborhoods, our families, and maybe even ourselves we paid attention. We washed our hands, used hand sanitizer, wore masks, stayed 6 feet away from others. And then it got scary. We were told to stay home from work. Some of us lost our jobs while others worked from home. and Our children stayed home from school and quickly learned that the computer was not just for watching movies, using social media and playing games.

Video conferencing took the forefront in our lives. We worked on these platforms, played on these platforms and stayed connected to loved ones. Zoom, YouTube, Teams, and Skype were not companies that were used by organizations wanting to decrease the digital divide. These were now competencies that everyone in the US was learning to use. Young and Old. Healthy and Sick.

The access to broadband internet was now essential, not just for those who could afford the connection. Teachers, who had worked so hard to retain the status quo of teaching face to face were thrown into a chasm! Not only were teachers required to know their content, teach it to all assigned students, and ensure assessments were passes with the level deem proficient….now they had to learn new software, web based platforms and most importantly how to teach effectively on this new frontier.

The problem is that we, the educators, those of us in educational technology were so busy trying to get everyone access, that we didn’t have time to teach the pedagogy we had been pushing for years. Yes years. Educational Technologist have been trying to convince public and private schools alike to use remote learning as a tool, a source, a mode of learning that will be essential in years to come when the students are starting their careers!

But alas, no, we were told year after year, inservice after inservice, webinar after webinar- that teaching from a blended or remote approach was not the correct way to teach. We were told that the inequity of access to broadband internet would deepen the economic divide within education. We were told that our students could not learn using these platforms as well as they could sitting in a classroom.

Then, the last week in March of 2020 the school districts started closing. The safety of our students’ health required the schools to teach differently for a few weeks. A month. Through the end of the school year. Over the summer. Now, here it is June and the educational leaders are asking what should happen next. How do we get back to normal education.

We Don’t. We change our perspective. We realize that the status quo of teaching for the past 100 years will not work moving forward. So what happens now? In an Education Week article written by Gina Denny, we are introduced to “6 classroom changes teachers will make when schools reopen”. Below are a mixture of Gina and my suggestions as how teachers can move forward to prepare for the Fall no matter what the roll out of attendance looks like.

1. All educators should be using online technology to deliver assignments, notes and other resources- as a minimum. Making this change will help redirect parents and students toward a new platform of communication with schools. The families will know where to look for information and the students will learn their way around a remote classroom.
2. Give feedback instead of individual scores. We know that feedback is vital in forming a growth mindset. Using formative assessment to encourage students to think beyond the given assignment, ask questions, and build content knowledge that will translate into active use of information will create student buy-in, reduce monotonous grading and most importantly squelch the idea that the students are having others do their work for them.
3. Move toward solving problems and projects that can happen in student’s daily lives. Think application, analysis and creation. Give students ways to use the content you are teaching to enhance their lives and those around them. Let’s start using the information learned in our curricula to good use!
4. Stop teaching alone. Plan ways to incorporate other professionals into your classroom learning. Invite guest speakers to your next video chat. These individuals could be anyone from authors to recording artists to local media personalities. Ask your associates if they would be willing to be a resource to your class. Have students call these individuals or send a message in the chat box to ask questions regarding the content you teach.
5. Re-contextualize time. Be flexible. Some of your students will thrive in this new environment. They will succeed in managing their own learning time and processing. Others, will need more support at the beginning. Collaborate with the students to find out what their schedules are at home and how the two of you can create learning that is successful. Some students will have new responsibilities now that they are at home during the day. Understanding this and working together creates a path to success. It is time to model and then guide students’ management of their workload not dictate it to them.
6. Assist your students in discovering MESH, thank you Tim Wise. For our students to be successful now and in the future they need to own how to get information from the Media, behave ethically, and understand how sociology and history have created the world we are in today. Teaching students to read laterally, use CRAP detection, write professional emails, and use word processors, spreadsheets, databases and design tools will create learned individuals. Isn’t that what we want our schools to be about?