When Can We Re-Open Schools? Re-Open the Nation? Has Teaching and Learning Changed (Forever)? A New Normal?

UPDATE (2 pm): Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the mayor had been premature,  the city’s  move needs to be coordinated across the metro area …It’s likely the mayor’s decision will ultimately stick, as public health officials and the governor himself have warned against rushing back to normal before it is safe to do so.

UPDATE (10 am): Mayor deBlasio announces NYC schools will be closed for the remainder of the school year

Should your child start college in September? Or take a gap year? Do you want to spend tens of thousands in tuition for an online college experience from your kid’s bedroom?  Will school become “alternate week” to keep distancing?

Will the NFL season begin with empty stadiums? Will subway cars be limited to ten people each? Will people over 65 be required to continue to “stay in place,” to self-quarantine while under 65s can go back to work?

The NY Philharmonic has cancelled their summer concerts, colleges are planning for online summer sessions; will the fall bring any kind of normalcy? How would we define normalcy?

The questions greatly outnumber the answers.

I limit myself to “trusted” sources, I avoid “talking heads” and the endless babble that flits across the screen. I suggest:

John Hopkins Center for Health Security https://myemail.constantcontact.com/COVID-19-Updates—April-10.html?soid=1107826135286&aid=JWQ5mEne1Zc

Center for Disease Control and Prevention https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/communication/guidance-list.html?Sort=Date%3A%3Adesc

I read through as much as I can find each day, and, I recommend:

How Will We Know When We Can Reopen the Nation? (NY Times)

The Four Possible Timelines for Life Returning to Normal (The Atlantic)

Cuomo: Economic reboot must account for second wave of coronavirus cases (Politico)

The conclusions from the “trusted” sources above;

• Until there is widely available testing we will be living in the current alternate universe. A simple question: would you go to a Yankee game? To the theater? To a restaurant, without some assurance that you snd your family were safe.
• We need medication that counters the impact of the disease if we’re infected.

• Finally, a vaccine available to all and, perhaps laws requiring the vaccination in schools or work places.

We also have to rethink the delivery of remote learning.

Tons of homework delivered online is unacceptable.

A library of U-Tube lessons should be available; lessons for kids and tutorials for parents on how to reinforce lessons. Kids can watch the lesson as often as necessary, and, the presenters can be master teachers not the classroom teacher. Lessons can be discussions of the U-Tube.

Teachers should consider projects built around the concept being taught.

Grades should be pass/no grade; maybe a “pass with excellence.”

While the new world is tortuous for parents the lack of interactions with friends is difficult for kids.

A schedule is crucial: my grand daughter has to end the school day by posting her schedule for the next day on the refrigerator door.

Parent online Town Halls are a way of connecting to the school, a place to blow off steam, a place to give feedback to the school leaders and teachers.

Scheduled parent-to-parent online forums, a chance to share what appears to be working (and not working).

In New York City this is the end of week three of remote learning. Most teachers are getting better at “it,” kids are getting used to “it.”  Yes, too many kids are not connecting everyday, and some not connecting at all.

I was speaking with a forward thinking school leader. He’s planning how to assess where kids are at in September, he’s assessing the strength and weaknesses of the staff in this new delivery system; he’s thinking how to reconfigure the staff into teams so that every teacher will have access to a more tech-savvy fellow teacher. He’s thinking about grade appropriate projects in as many subjects as possible. He’s wondering whether he’ll have budget to pay teachers over the summer to create online resources for the 20-21  school year. I said thinking because these decisions, as sensible as they seem, may be at odds with the edicts from the aeries of the district.

As a classroom teacher I always wanted to be over prepared: when a kid left the room and commented to me, “That was really hard,” I knew I was doing my job. I wasn’t an ogre. I differentiated instruction, meaning I gave different assignments to different kids, extra credit questions on exams; if we’re not constantly raising the bar we disadvantaging our students.

Can we continue the same level of instruction in this new world?

School staffs have been pushed off the end of a diving board, an unprecedented “instantaneous” personal and organizational change event.

Change over time is hard, change foisted upon parents and schools overnight, incredibly difficult.

Let’s end the week on a sweet note with “If I Loved You” from Carousel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuHAh-2xGxw

Stay Safe