Virtual Education Lessons from 1 Year Ago

 After discussing changes with administrators that we can embrace from covid era education, it seems that revisioning education will have to take more time than I would like. The coronavirus has led to a major disruption to education in that what was normally continued from year to year by each teacher, now had to be re-examined and reevaluated for its usefulness. In the spring, at least at Neenah High School, in Neenah, Wisconsin, teachers posted the targets and assignments for the day. Maybe the teacher made a video of the lesson they normally would have taught in association with the activity of the day, but then it was up to the students to decide how to organize their day. 

Students had more flexibility when it came to how they organized their day. Teachers even declared the time their class would meet. In my case, I would suggest a time and some kids would say,  “I have physics class at that time” so I would adjust the time. 

Throughout the process, students were able to get a real look at what they were interested in and how they work best. Some people flourished because they can organize themselves, or they were involved with something that they valued. Others avoided school work at all costs, or because they could blame their lack of engagement on another issue. Some had real issues with connectivity, having to babysit or other family related activities.  

As we appear to be rounding out the covid era schooling, it is valuable to look at what occurred in the last 9-10 months.

There were vital lessons about themselves and about life in general to be learned from the last nine weeks of school in spring 2020. 

1. Not everything we thought was necessary to teach was necessary,

2. Teachers should be provided freedom in what they teach

3. Students are capable or organizing themselves and their time

4. For those who are not, it was clear early on, which could be addressed by teachers and parents to establish some strategies. 

5. Creating lessons or classes that could take place in 20-30 minutes is possible and probably preferred.

6. A successful strategy was for students to set Individual times to meet with teachers because teachers had time during the day.

Why Go to a School?

 

The coronavirus has supplanted the usual question “What is school for” into “what is the purpose of coming to school?” If the last year has proven that students can learn from home, why have them come to school? Teachers can deliver the same lectures to kids at home. “But kids don’t listen at home. They don’t have cameras on.  They are doing other things during class.” 

Well, they are doing other things during class inside the school as well. Most teachers, albeit in a survey with a small sample size,  have found it is effective to have students in person for two days to prepare for a day of them working on individual work, in the “Wednesday cave,” at home.  The final two days of the week are for reteaching and practicing with the individual material or skill needing shoring up or receiving instruction on common problems with the “cave work” has been proven to be effective by teachers at Neenah High School. Teachers and students feel like the anonymity of being at home and scheduling individual meetings with teachers has been more personal than being in person.  Isn’t it truly “learning” if students can do it on their own?

If it is not to learn, which and be done at home or elsewhere (I talked with a teacher yesterday who has a student who has spent the school year traveling across the United States in an RV, but still “goes” to school everyday.), then why enter a specific building  and go into a specific room to learn information? Because that’s the way it “always” has been done. And it has been successful for people int eh education world and for many parents who want to give kids the best chance at going to a university, who is calling for different skills that those believed to be called for by parents. 

Does the whole thing come down to it being daycare mostly for elementary and middle school kids? How can  it be partially about learning and partially about daycare?

Coronavirus  Neenah High School

Godin, Seth. Footprints On The Moon. Do You Zoom? 2017

Pre-Yes

Saying yes opens us up to things that one would never encounter by not jumping forward. Sitting and waiting to be chosen with a hopeful look on one's face is not enough. In fact, doing something before anyone asks for it is an even bigger advantage. Then the idea maker gets to make the rules and set the course. In the course of the 2019 winter in Wisconsin, we had four snow/cold days in the course of two weeks. Our school district went to the Wisconsin Department of Instruction and told them we were going to count the days we didn't meet at school because we can do school remotely with the technology every student has. We implemented the idea almost without permission as an experiment and now all other school districts seem to be saying, "Wow, how did you guys get to do that?" Well, we weren't chosen, we chose ourselves.

To take it to a student level, we were wondering how successful the Digital Learning Days were and we took it upon ourselves to ask our district office if we could do some surveys to see what others think about those days. We have had over 1000 responses from parents, teachers and students regarding the days and which we will use as a problem analysis test. They were thinking about doing it, but we just did it.

Being the person to say "no" also has its advantages, although it takes a special person to seek out that type of interaction. Saying "no" is to be critical. To examine ideas from all angles and poke holes in them. In saying "no," the person shows "the strength to disappoint you now in order to delight you later" (Godin 2010, 75). Most people want to be told how great their ideas are, but without someone who will ask vital questions, things can be too vague when put into practice and may not end up as well as one would have liked.

In 2020, everyone had to go to that model when the coronavirus and “Safer at Home” orders went out. No one planned for Covid to take us out of school, but because the elements had been put in place early, “our students were less affected with learning loss then elsewhere” according to Chad Buboltz, assistant Superintendent of the Neenah Joint School District in Neenah, Wisconsin. How can students, or the general person,  create that same sort of preparedness for a situation they cannot currently imagine happening?

Godin, Seth. Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? Portfolio, 2010.