Today is August 7, 2020 It is hard to believe, but we started this pandemic while we were in school (it was officially declared on March 12, 2020) just getting primed for spring break. They extended our spring break by one week and we never went back to in-person teaching again that school year.
Yesterday we started preparing for the upcoming school year and we are still virtual. Aurora Public Schools announced they would be teaching remotely for the first quarter (Aug. 18-Oct. 8) and will then review COVID statistics and health advice before transitioning into another format. The possible formats include a cohort model, a hybrid model and full in-person teaching.
This day was all about reviewing district expectations and understanding the safety measures in place when you are in building. You have a choice to teach remotely from your classroom or from your home.
All students will be learning from home.
All of it struck me as very surreal. Like, is this really going on? I realize it has been going on for over four months, but as it became more clear today that this is how things are and no one is sure when it will change. The entire school year is going to a fluid procedure moving forward. Not only in regard to the model we teach in, but how we teach and how students learn.
Once again, grace and patience is on the forefront of everyone's mind.
This is the latest school news from around the United States, according to the NY Times:
"American parents overwhelmingly oppose sending their children back to classrooms full time, despite their serious concerns with online learning. Nearly half favor a mix of digital and in-classroom instruction, according to a Washington Post-Schar School survey conducted by Ipsos, and 16 percent support the White House position that nearly all children should go back to class.
Many school districts plan to hold online classes for at least part of the school year, but few of them are prepared to do it, The Post’s education desk reported. Many teachers have not yet been trained to teach remotely, administrators have done relatively little to plan for digital classes, and “millions of students nationwide still lack devices and Internet access.”
Parents of special-education students are especially worried about a school year of solitude and screens. The Post interviewed families across the country who fear remote classes will leave children with disabilities behind and deprive them of crucial skills they need for an independent life.
Meanwhile, some schools that decided to reopen are already running into crises. A Mississippi school district has sent 116 students home to quarantine after an outbreak in the first week of classes."
We are planning for more live instruction, more rigorous instruction and more student accountability including attendance and grading. There is also teacher accountability as the evaluation system is back on track. The entire evaluation will be around teacher rubrics with no student learning objectives (as in the past).
The district has done an extensive job in preparing all staff and students for this upcoming remote learning endeavor and although I am sure there will be bumps and obstacles they have many resources in place to help all of us navigate through the process.
I spent most of the day in virtual meetings and asynchronous learning videos. "Onward" is a word a former principal of mine, Michelle Barone, used to say all the time.
Onward, indeed!
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