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Bonus: Summit: Teaching and COVID-19
9 Plays5 years ago
Interested in using this opportunity for professional development credit? See our template for administrators. Consider running this event past your administrative team prior to completing.
In this interactive discussion, we will discuss what teaching is like during the COVID-19 crisis.
Participants will be posed with these questions, but the conversation will take us on a journey of its own:
- Commiserate: What’s going on? How has the response to the COVID-19 crisis impacted you and your school?
- Collaborate: What can we learn from your response to the crisis to do right by our kids and our communities?
- Community: How are you going to balance connectivity and social isolation?
Recommended
Transcript
00:00:06
Speaker
kind
The Three C's in Education: Commiserate, Collaborate, and Community
00:00:06
Speaker
of came up with the three C's because that's what we do in education.
00:00:09
Speaker
We come up with like acronyms for things.
00:00:11
Speaker
So I came up with, we're going to commiserate, we're going to collaborate, and then we're going to community, which is not a verb, but we can, we can turn it into one.
Impact of Crisis on Schools: Initial Responses
00:00:19
Speaker
So,
00:00:21
Speaker
So the first one I thought just in that, in terms of that commiserating, I mean, I think Jeff and I were talking a little bit before five o'clock rolled around, just what's going on?
00:00:30
Speaker
How has the response to all of this craziness impacted you and your school situation?
00:00:37
Speaker
For example, here real quick, my...
00:00:39
Speaker
my school, we've currently scheduled this week for spring break anyway.
00:00:43
Speaker
So
Emergency Meetings and E-Learning Decisions
00:00:44
Speaker
it's been a really weird week to go from, you know, Friday we had off, this whole week was supposed to be scheduled off, to tonight our board is having an emergency meeting to decide what do the next three weeks of
00:00:57
Speaker
your learning looks like or not.
00:00:59
Speaker
And right now it's looking like we're not going to be able to have any sense of, you know, e-learning.
00:01:05
Speaker
We're not going to be able to require any kind of attendance or any kind of instructional activities for those kinds of things.
00:01:13
Speaker
And in fact, the state has made
00:01:15
Speaker
any requirement to make up school days.
00:01:17
Speaker
And they're, they're talking right now about waiving requirements for teacher to make up staff time.
00:01:22
Speaker
So they might just hit the reset button and say after May or after April 12th, if that's as long as things go, we'll just have the rest of school as we normally would and, and just kind of wrap up the year.
00:01:35
Speaker
But I know that's not the case everywhere.
00:01:37
Speaker
So, so I don't know who wants to chime in first, but if you, if you would like to, you can kind of, um,
00:01:44
Speaker
what would it be?
00:01:45
Speaker
Take a tour of Jitsi real quick by moving your mouse around the screen.
00:01:48
Speaker
And there's a little hand raise icon in the bottom left-hand corner.
00:01:53
Speaker
That would probably prompt us to maybe call on you.
00:01:57
Speaker
But since we're a pretty small group here, you might just be able to start talking and basic rules of human decency might let you proceed.
Adopting Hybrid Models: Flexibility in Education
00:02:09
Speaker
So I don't know who wants to get going on that.
00:02:13
Speaker
I can jump in just because I'm the polar opposite.
00:02:16
Speaker
So we've shifted to be 100% virtually and online.
00:02:20
Speaker
There's like pretty much the day the governor announced that we're shutting down all schools for three or four weeks.
00:02:28
Speaker
A couple days later now we have all of our classes online.
00:02:33
Speaker
however it's not like a complete one-to-one shift it's super flexible which is actually kind of neat so we have classes in the morning if you want to go to them but if we know in advance you're not going to be there it doesn't count against you so we have like this weird like flexible hybrid model of doing some things but not a lot of stuff while still maintaining some structure for the students that want the structure which I think is actually working quite well not to sound like
00:03:01
Speaker
too cocky about it, but I actually think our district's doing a really good job handling it, which is not necessarily unexpected, but it's cool that it's happening.
00:03:10
Speaker
Especially when I hear what's going on in your district, Nick.
00:03:13
Speaker
Yeah, that's been that's been interesting.
00:03:17
Speaker
Yeah,
Spring Break Challenges and Emergency Planning
00:03:18
Speaker
I think that if we weren't on break first things are different, but it's been a little stressful because the district's kind of taken that attitude that since we are on break, we should just treat it like we're not in school and they'll kind of figure it out from there.
00:03:32
Speaker
But at the same time, you know, all of my usual coping mechanisms are closed.
00:03:38
Speaker
So
00:03:39
Speaker
I can't go to the gym, can't go to the coffee shop, can't go anywhere else.
00:03:43
Speaker
So I just sit here and wonder and worry about what next week's going to look like.
00:03:47
Speaker
So that's been rough.
00:03:49
Speaker
And so Skylar, I don't know what your kind of plan has been up there in Highmark.
00:03:55
Speaker
What do you guys got going on?
00:03:56
Speaker
Yeah.
00:03:57
Speaker
I think we're closer to you, Nick, than to Chris, that's for sure.
00:04:02
Speaker
We were supposed to start Spring Break next week.
00:04:06
Speaker
So we were supposed to be in school right now.
00:04:09
Speaker
And over the weekend, well, Friday night last week, the governor closed all schools in Wisconsin.
00:04:17
Speaker
And so they had to come up, the district came up with a plan for students to report Monday and Tuesday in Marquette County, because there's still no cases in the
00:04:28
Speaker
the county where my school is.
00:04:30
Speaker
There's plenty of cases in Dane County where I live.
00:04:33
Speaker
Second most in the state after Milwaukee.
00:04:36
Speaker
But we were supposed to have kids Monday and Tuesday and then basically they extended spring break by three days.
00:04:47
Speaker
So spring break officially was starting yesterday.
00:04:51
Speaker
But halfway through the day on Monday as the situation worsened and the 10-day or the 10-person
00:04:58
Speaker
limit was announced and all that stuff.
00:05:02
Speaker
Well,
Uncertainty in Reopening and Extended Learning Plans
00:05:02
Speaker
limit in quotes.
00:05:06
Speaker
They decided to tell kids not to come in on Tuesday.
00:05:09
Speaker
So we all scrambled to shut things down on Monday.
00:05:12
Speaker
And then teachers came in on Tuesday for about half the day.
00:05:16
Speaker
But they really kind of wanted us out of the building as quickly as possible because they're kind of nervous about having a large crowd.
00:05:26
Speaker
So we
00:05:28
Speaker
that so I'm on spring break officially right now.
00:05:33
Speaker
We've been told not to really do any planning work over spring break and to really just use it as a break because we don't know what's happening.
00:05:41
Speaker
The plan that was in place, at least the last plan that we know of, so I guess the plan that's still in place is that the week after spring break, March 30th, will be extended learning
00:05:57
Speaker
supplementary learning for kids, which it means that we don't have to provide special education services because it's not required regular learning.
00:06:06
Speaker
So it's like review stuff in the district.
00:06:09
Speaker
And for us, we just are providing, you know, some online office hours.
00:06:16
Speaker
We'll be on Google Hangout stuff and able to talk to the kids.
00:06:22
Speaker
But then that was based on the theory that the governor's order had said that schools would be open no sooner than April 6th.
00:06:30
Speaker
But now that just got extended Tuesday to say like as long as the public health emergency lasts.
00:06:39
Speaker
So, and we haven't heard anything since then.
00:06:44
Speaker
So we'll see.
00:06:46
Speaker
It's kind of a, we're going to wait and see weird position too.
00:06:51
Speaker
And I think that wait and see has been, I know in Chris's case, and I've texted him many times, like, what does Ohio know that the rest of us don't?
00:07:00
Speaker
But Ohio seems to be ahead of the curve in terms of like a future awareness of where this could be.
00:07:06
Speaker
Because yeah, right now, our plan is the same.
00:07:10
Speaker
Anything
Adapting to Online Learning: Inequalities and Quick Adaptations
00:07:10
Speaker
beyond like April 12th is a black hole.
00:07:12
Speaker
Like we don't know what that transition looks like or if we're going back.
00:07:16
Speaker
But it sounds like a lot of places are planning on not.
00:07:20
Speaker
there's just not going back like they're done yeah i mean we were told unofficially to take home anything that we might need before the end of the school year just in case wow yeah that's wild that's that's wild um i don't know feel free anybody else to chime in too sure i'll be happy to yes uh
00:07:47
Speaker
I'm from the Chicago suburbs and my district is in a pretty fortunate situation.
00:07:53
Speaker
I mean, when and everything's happened so fast.
00:07:55
Speaker
I mean, Wednesday morning, I thought it was was business as usual.
00:07:59
Speaker
And then, you know, by Wednesday night and the president spoke and, you know, Thursday morning, our board had a meeting and.
00:08:05
Speaker
Things move pretty quickly to how they changed this current week to Monday as an institute day for teachers to figure out what what their e-learning scenario is going to be.
00:08:20
Speaker
So our district is an iPad district.
00:08:22
Speaker
So all the students at the high school only school district.
00:08:25
Speaker
So all the students have iPads.
00:08:29
Speaker
And so the rest of the week, Tuesday through Friday, our district is in a position where we built in emergency days and we haven't there were no cold days like last year, no negative 50s.
00:08:42
Speaker
So we have all four days that we're available to.
00:08:45
Speaker
To be able to.
00:08:49
Speaker
to be able to use.
00:08:50
Speaker
And then spring break is next week.
00:08:52
Speaker
So mostly it's just really about trying to figure out what does your new classroom look like starting on March 30th.
00:09:01
Speaker
Okay.
00:09:02
Speaker
Like giving you guys that buffer to get to spring break so you can figure out what to do.
00:09:06
Speaker
Exactly.
00:09:07
Speaker
Exactly.
00:09:08
Speaker
And you know what?
00:09:09
Speaker
It's very helpful because, I mean, you have your initial thought.
00:09:13
Speaker
Like Friday, I'm sitting there thinking to myself, okay, here's what I'm going to do.
00:09:17
Speaker
And then the more and more worse the situation, the health situation gets, the more I'm rethinking everything about what it is that I'm going to be doing.
00:09:26
Speaker
And
AP Tests and Stress: Course Direction Uncertainties
00:09:27
Speaker
on top of that, I'm a social studies teacher, but I also am an advanced placement teacher.
00:09:31
Speaker
And so there's still some uncertainty about that.
00:09:34
Speaker
And that would just fundamentally change what it is that I'm going to be doing in that situation.
00:09:41
Speaker
Because I believe tomorrow the college board is going to announce how they're going to
00:09:47
Speaker
set up AP tests, or at least we'll get some information on AP tests.
00:09:50
Speaker
So that's another thing.
00:09:52
Speaker
It's like if AP tests are on, you know, teachers and students throughout the country have a lot of stress in dealing with how they're going to prepare for them.
00:10:00
Speaker
If they're not, then the course can take a different direction.
00:10:06
Speaker
Yeah, and I teach AP European history and I'm in the same lurch as you because, yeah, it doesn't matter right now for me if kids take them in a building or if they take them at home, I'm missing three weeks of instruction.
00:10:18
Speaker
So, you know, how can you expect some kids in the country who might be missing the rest of the semester or even the kids missing now who will be in session at the time that their, you know, test is scheduled
00:10:31
Speaker
Yeah, I just, I don't know what your thought is on that, Jeff, but I'm leaning towards just offer refunds and pull the plug and just say exceptional circumstances or something, you know.
00:10:44
Speaker
It's a wild thing.
00:10:45
Speaker
Just like anything, they're waiting to the last minute to really make a decision.
00:10:49
Speaker
But if I go back on March 30th without an answer on
00:10:53
Speaker
on that, that would be, that's going to get stressful for a lot of teachers.
00:10:58
Speaker
I mean, obviously the students first and foremost, but then teachers running around trying to see what they can do to make their classroom better and so that the students can be prepared.
00:11:07
Speaker
And then it just becomes an inequity issue because you know the privileged that have their own devices, that have internet access, are going to be the ones that are more prepared than those who don't.
00:11:20
Speaker
And even I think of the guidance that we've been given so far has been don't post any materials right now.
00:11:27
Speaker
And online learning, the guidance from the Department of Education has been online learning will not be or can't be a requirement.
00:11:35
Speaker
So any materials that you do post have to be voluntary anyway.
00:11:37
Speaker
So yeah, again, I think the people who are going to be able to access those materials are the ones who
00:11:43
Speaker
Aaron Shaw, Ph.D.: are maybe already have those advantages right if I post ap you know videos or if I post a dbq prompt who's going to be able to respond to it, since you can't go to the library and access the public wi fi or you can't go to the mcdonald's right you know and sit down and do that work so.
00:11:58
Speaker
Aaron Shaw, Ph.D.: yeah I just if they if if they could just announce that.
00:12:03
Speaker
David Apsley, My preference would be to put those things on hold, and then I can shift my class for the rest of the year to focusing on something else like but right now trying to make up that crunch just seems seems a little bit seems crazy to me.
00:12:15
Speaker
David Apsley, So.
00:12:18
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know.
00:12:20
Speaker
Commiserating.
00:12:20
Speaker
Are we still on the first C?
00:12:22
Speaker
Commiserating.
00:12:23
Speaker
Who else wants to chime in?
00:12:25
Speaker
We've got Andre and we've got Tracy.
00:12:27
Speaker
I'm calling you guys out.
00:12:29
Speaker
We've got Robert.
00:12:30
Speaker
Who else have we got in here?
00:12:32
Speaker
We've got a bunch of anonymous people and that's cool too.
00:12:35
Speaker
Thank you.
00:12:35
Speaker
Thank you for joining us.
00:12:38
Speaker
You know, I probably said this several times, but this is the most adult interaction I've gotten.
00:12:42
Speaker
I've got my five-year-old and my two-year-old upstairs stomping around with my wife eating dinner.
00:12:47
Speaker
So this is cool.
00:12:50
Speaker
I want to hear, you know, what are you doing in your context?
00:12:53
Speaker
How has this impacted your life?
00:12:57
Speaker
This is Tracy.
00:12:57
Speaker
I can talk.
00:12:58
Speaker
Tracy, how are you?
Cancelled Events and Student Experiences
00:13:01
Speaker
Well, you know, I'm not on camera for a reason.
00:13:06
Speaker
Yeah, two things.
00:13:07
Speaker
One thing is I work at LSU Med School and tomorrow is match day where all the fourth year
00:13:14
Speaker
med students find out where they're matched in their residency.
00:13:18
Speaker
And it's a really big deal and it's a celebration.
00:13:23
Speaker
And, you know, we have students from LSU med school that have matched into the general surgery.
00:13:30
Speaker
program and we got little baskets and everything for them.
00:13:35
Speaker
And now it's canceled.
00:13:36
Speaker
So there's no celebration and they get to walk across stage.
00:13:41
Speaker
And last year it was really awesome because what they do is they each carry a $1 bill and they call out the resident, the fourth year, um,
00:13:51
Speaker
students in random order and you get your envelope to find out where you match and you put your dollar in a basket and when the last resident is called he gets to keep the money.
00:14:05
Speaker
So it's like because he's had to wait so long.
00:14:07
Speaker
So it's like, you know, all my point is like the ceremonies and everything that for four years they've been working towards their graduation from med school.
00:14:18
Speaker
All of that is shelved.
00:14:20
Speaker
And you know how it is with high achievers.
00:14:22
Speaker
If y'all are.
00:14:23
Speaker
with the AP students, you know how AP students are.
00:14:26
Speaker
So these kids are the former AP students who are now in med school.
00:14:30
Speaker
They've been wanting to be doctors since they were in kindergarten and like the most important day of their life where they find out where they're going to do their real crucial training and graduate from med school.
00:14:43
Speaker
You know, all of that is canceled for them.
00:14:45
Speaker
Right.
00:14:46
Speaker
So that's really disappointing.
00:14:49
Speaker
I also teach at Ball State University.
00:14:51
Speaker
And I have to say that I'm already online.
00:14:55
Speaker
Our autism and ABA, which is Applied Behavior Analysis program, is already online, a lot of classes.
00:15:03
Speaker
But we do have in campus
00:15:06
Speaker
classes and I'm really impressed by the urgency and the swiftness that the president took to not only like make sure that
00:15:18
Speaker
Everything was communicated to the students in a timely fashion, but on Canvas, are you familiar with Canvas?
00:15:25
Speaker
It's, you know what Blackboard and Canvas are?
00:15:27
Speaker
Yes, yes.
00:15:29
Speaker
So on Canvas, every faculty member has this emergency portal on how to keep like continuity in their class and all kind of resources on there.
00:15:40
Speaker
That was like up and ready, like
00:15:43
Speaker
a week ago and Monday we're having a like forum and everybody can log in kind of like this and we can find out about disability services.
00:15:55
Speaker
Obviously our department knows about that but there are a lot of students who have disabilities that on purpose take the in-class you know on campus
00:16:06
Speaker
face-to-face classes and now they're, you know, online, which is so difficult for some of the disabilities.
00:16:13
Speaker
So they're going to have a big forum to discuss how to make those classes more accessible.
00:16:21
Speaker
So it's kind of like an accessibility issue for some students.
00:16:27
Speaker
Yeah.
Post-Crisis Adaptation: A New Normal in Education?
00:16:27
Speaker
So that's, yeah.
00:16:30
Speaker
I was just going to say, I think that's something too that has been that the idea of accessibility is one of the things I think that in Iowa is leading to some decisions by some districts to not have online instruction, just knowing that it's going to be more difficult to make those accommodations.
00:16:52
Speaker
than it is not.
00:16:54
Speaker
So it's not having training in that is going to be really difficult for teachers to say, well, okay, I need to both train in how I can have this online software meet a general education audience.
00:17:07
Speaker
But then I also have to train in how can I have that meet these kids with a bunch of other different accessibility needs, you know?
00:17:14
Speaker
So yeah, it is interesting to think then how that shift is going to
00:17:19
Speaker
risk further marginalizing people who, who, you know, do benefit from those, those in-person environments.
00:17:26
Speaker
And I think secondly, too, we forget the, the impact you mentioned of like that, those ceremonies and stuff.
00:17:32
Speaker
And I know it's, it's kind of a, a smaller thing in the, in the scheme of things, but we had like our boys basketball team go on and, and win state basketball in Iowa.
00:17:42
Speaker
And that was last Friday and we're not going to see them until, until April.
00:17:46
Speaker
And then they called off every other, you know,
00:17:48
Speaker
you know, athletic event and everything else in between due to that.
00:17:52
Speaker
So there's, there's a lot of seniors in college, high school, et cetera, who aren't in March Madness, you know, for example, people just aren't able to, to go out and have those, those cultural moments that they've been building towards perhaps for years, either in academic or in athletics or, or in anything else.
00:18:08
Speaker
So yeah, just some, some of those things that get, they get lost in the, in the shift.
00:18:12
Speaker
That's, that's important to bring up, I think.
00:18:15
Speaker
I definitely think so because I always feel like everything is relative.
00:18:19
Speaker
I'm putting myself in my 17-year-old mind.
00:18:22
Speaker
If my graduation was canceled, if my prom was canceled, I would have been devastated.
00:18:28
Speaker
My hairdresser told me that there were girls sitting in the chair getting their hair done when they got texts that their prom was canceled and they had their hair done up.
00:18:39
Speaker
So I agree with you.
00:18:40
Speaker
I think that, you know, when you get to be 50 years old and you're looking back with your kids and you're telling them how your prom was canceled or how your match day was canceled, you know, that you'll put it in perspective.
00:18:52
Speaker
But when you're 17, when you're 25, you know, it's just it's all relative to your life experiences.
00:18:59
Speaker
And I think that.
00:19:01
Speaker
we have to have a lot of compassion for kids who have worked really hard for their high school graduation.
00:19:07
Speaker
And now they're going to be robbed of that experience of walking across stage and jumping up and down and their parents screaming.
00:19:14
Speaker
And I mean, that's a moment in time that is like frozen and you'll never get it back.
00:19:20
Speaker
And one of the things that I've really tried to just convey on Twitter and in my messages to my Ball State University students is that I don't ever think that we should downplay that life will never be the same.
00:19:37
Speaker
I experienced Hurricane Katrina.
00:19:38
Speaker
There are restaurants that never came back.
00:19:41
Speaker
There were people who I knew died.
00:19:43
Speaker
There were people who moved away that I never saw again.
00:19:46
Speaker
You know, I was a week before Hurricane Katrina, I was sitting with some people, my football group.
00:19:52
Speaker
I never saw my friend Brian and his wife Tracy ever again.
00:19:56
Speaker
You know, that was 15 years ago.
00:19:57
Speaker
And I spent every weekend with them during football season.
00:20:01
Speaker
But what I always like to give the message of hope is that the new normal will feel so normal that you won't remember what this time is like.
00:20:10
Speaker
So, yeah.
00:20:12
Speaker
It will become normalized, but it's a process and people are resilient.
00:20:18
Speaker
But when you're in the moment,
00:20:20
Speaker
you know, here I am in New Orleans and everything is destroyed.
00:20:24
Speaker
There's no electricity and it's 110 degrees.
00:20:27
Speaker
There's military on the corners, on every corner, making sure everyone's safe.
00:20:32
Speaker
Everything is destroyed.
00:20:34
Speaker
You know, it's like this, it's like you're in like Armageddon, like in a movie, but it's your life.
00:20:40
Speaker
And it's just such a, you know, it's such a startling change.
00:20:45
Speaker
And I think, you know,
00:20:46
Speaker
The difference is that that was like a boom over 24 hours.
00:20:51
Speaker
This is like a slow burn.
00:20:53
Speaker
And so we know what hurricanes do, but we really don't know what pandemic, what this is going to be because the last time something like this happened, we didn't have all the technology that we have.
00:21:08
Speaker
Now we have so much more technology.
00:21:10
Speaker
So there's expectations that may be false expectations or maybe false
00:21:15
Speaker
We're downplaying how good it can be, but I think that's the biggest thing.
00:21:21
Speaker
difference between me going through this amazing metamorphosis of my city and now being like, OK, I can still drive by a store.
00:21:30
Speaker
And you can tell that it's closed from Katrina because they have an X and they have a date on it.
00:21:36
Speaker
And they have numbers.
00:21:38
Speaker
And so the date is when they went in.
00:21:40
Speaker
And the numbers is how many dead bodies that they found in the building.
00:21:44
Speaker
And then it'll say two cats.
00:21:46
Speaker
And so, you know, you'll still drive by and that'll be a memory like, oh, three people and two cats died in that house on September 2nd when they checked it.
00:21:55
Speaker
But, you know, it's my life is normal.
00:21:59
Speaker
And I think that's the biggest issue that we face right now is that we don't know how this slow burn is going to pan out.
00:22:07
Speaker
Yeah.
00:22:09
Speaker
Yeah, it's, I think I posted something similar on Twitter too, is like, this will be over, but we can't go back to the way things were before.
00:22:21
Speaker
Whether
Transformation and Collaboration in Education Systems
00:22:22
Speaker
it's our economic system, Jeff and I were talking a little bit about that before we started up here, or educational system.
00:22:29
Speaker
I've seen so many parents on, friends that I have on Facebook too, who aren't anywhere anywhere
00:22:35
Speaker
David Vogelpohl, Ph.D.: involved in education posting pictures of them and their kids and being like oh this homeschool thing is working out pretty good and like imagine that family going back to David Vogelpohl, Ph.D.: The way things were before so we'll like find a new normal yeah exactly but it's it's not gonna be the same it'll just be it'll all be transformed by by all of this, but though.
00:22:55
Speaker
though, yeah, like mitigated through the new technology that we have.
00:22:59
Speaker
Like, I don't see any of this working in 2020 without, you know, Zoom and Skype and Google Classroom or any of those other connectivity tools.
00:23:08
Speaker
So it's wild.
00:23:11
Speaker
Now, I don't know, since we're
00:23:13
Speaker
20 minutes in here, if we want to move to the second of the three C's, which is the collaborate here.
00:23:19
Speaker
So kind of moving from commiserating to collaborating, what can we learn from your response to this crisis so that way we can all do right by our kids and our communities?
00:23:30
Speaker
So one thing that I've...
00:23:31
Speaker
you know, been thinking about, and I commented on this on Monday when the news came out in my district that I just wanted to get in touch with my students.
00:23:40
Speaker
So I made a quick screencast, just sent it out to them saying, hey, this is weird and there's no right way to react to this and we're all going to be weird in this together.
00:23:52
Speaker
So let me know what questions or concerns you have.
00:23:56
Speaker
And honestly, within a day, I got an email from a student
00:24:00
Speaker
that later that afternoon that just said, you know, dear Covington, here's some things.
00:24:06
Speaker
Thanks for checking in.
00:24:08
Speaker
It may have been an all students message, but it still means a lot.
00:24:11
Speaker
So, you know, there are still kids even now that I'm on spring break who just need that check in to know, you know, someone's, someone's thinking about them.
00:24:19
Speaker
So content has got to, got to take a second to,
00:24:23
Speaker
Michael Boucher, Ph.D.: Second stage to all this stuff.
00:24:25
Speaker
But what what do we think what what how do you want to chime in on this from your response to that crisis.
00:24:30
Speaker
What what can we model to bring back to our own context.
00:24:33
Speaker
Michael Boucher, Ph.D.: Nick, I think you're you're absolutely right.
00:24:40
Speaker
my
Maintaining Relationships in Online Learning
00:24:40
Speaker
thought initially is, okay, what am I going to do in my class?
00:24:42
Speaker
But then the reality is, is it's about your relationship with your students.
00:24:47
Speaker
And we made it to March and that, so you've got these really strong relationships that you've built with the students.
00:24:53
Speaker
And so it's not like you can show up on the internet in a couple of weeks and say, okay, now you need to do this.
00:25:00
Speaker
And it just, that just seems too much of a transactional relationship.
00:25:04
Speaker
So like, I just realized it's like, you know what?
00:25:06
Speaker
I need to talk to the students every, every day.
00:25:10
Speaker
And I'm fortunate my district has, we use Schoology.
00:25:13
Speaker
It seems very, you know, the students seem very comfortable with it.
00:25:16
Speaker
So immediately first day I'm updating.
00:25:19
Speaker
And really there's two things I think I'm updating that's, that's helpful.
00:25:23
Speaker
And that is, again, I'm a social studies teacher.
00:25:25
Speaker
So it's talking about, you know, things we learned in economics that are like today stimulus.
00:25:32
Speaker
I mean, we're all Keynesians now.
00:25:34
Speaker
So it's, that becomes something to talk about.
00:25:37
Speaker
And yeah,
00:25:37
Speaker
And then, you know, obviously monetary policy in the banking system.
00:25:41
Speaker
What's the banking do?
00:25:41
Speaker
So we spent all semester talking about hypothetical situations.
00:25:45
Speaker
And I'm talking about 2008.
00:25:46
Speaker
And the kids are like, you know, I was I was seven.
00:25:49
Speaker
So what what does that matter to me?
00:25:51
Speaker
And now it's happening to them in real time.
00:25:53
Speaker
So the one thing is, like, can you find something if you're a science teacher, find something in the content of the news that's that's related to your subject.
00:26:00
Speaker
And then secondly, make it more personal.
00:26:02
Speaker
And so that's why I'm taking pictures of my kids and me playing memory.
00:26:08
Speaker
And, you know, making sure that that, you know, they know it's it's me.
00:26:12
Speaker
You know, I tell stupid dad jokes and I'm still going to do that.
00:26:16
Speaker
And just each day send them.
00:26:18
Speaker
And just today I got an email from a student on he had another issue that he was trying to wrap up from a couple of weeks ago.
00:26:24
Speaker
And and last thing he said was, thank you for sending those those messages, because it gives me a sense of of direction and still learning and still, you know, interacting with our group.
00:26:38
Speaker
Right on.
00:26:39
Speaker
And I think I'll call on Dan.
00:26:41
Speaker
How can I, oh, how can I put Dan at the front there?
00:26:43
Speaker
There we go.
00:26:48
Speaker
Sorry, I'm on my phone.
00:26:48
Speaker
I'm not, not cool.
00:26:50
Speaker
I just wanted to comment on, well, there's a couple of things there.
00:26:54
Speaker
One was, yeah, I agree with the last point that since this all started, my curriculum feels really small and irrelevant.
00:27:02
Speaker
And I'm wondering how to like,
00:27:06
Speaker
how to incorporate everything that's going on.
00:27:07
Speaker
I'm also a social studies teacher, so I feel fortunate that bringing in a lot of the issues with globalization and human interaction is easy.
00:27:17
Speaker
But also the last point you brought up, Nick, about being able to check in with your kids and having that relationship already.
00:27:25
Speaker
I agree that it's really important.
00:27:29
Speaker
What happens if we're still in this mode come next school year and you don't have the opportunity to start
00:27:35
Speaker
um to start the year with your kids face to face and it's like okay we're gonna start the year online so let's get to it you don't have that relationship you're just setting up google classrooms and zoom meets with kids you've never really talked to that much uh that could be if we end up going there that's all i want to say
00:27:56
Speaker
Yeah, I think to your last point there, Dan, I think there are some interesting people and some resources who work in that digital pedagogy realm who have done a really great job with that.
Digital Pedagogy and Virtual Connection
00:28:08
Speaker
I know Laura Gibbs is someone I follow on Twitter who I trust to kind of fill that in too, because there are people who do this work exclusively online and manage to still have relationships with kids and not
00:28:24
Speaker
Jeff Saldana, Ph.D.: To Jeff's point, you know have a default into that transactional kind of kind of thing, I think.
00:28:29
Speaker
Jeff Saldana, Ph.D.: I think maybe it's a little bit easier to default to transactional learning in a digital environment, but I don't think it has to has to be like that, so I think if that's a case, then we do just need to elevate our.
00:28:40
Speaker
Aaron Shaw, Ph.D.: You know our digital pedagogy knowledge a little bit and get a little bit more training with that I know that would be a huge loss loss to me as someone who values those relationships a lot and and thinks that that's a really important part of learning I couldn't imagine.
00:28:57
Speaker
Aaron Shaw, Ph.D.: Putting putting putting something else on a pedestal and putting kind of students behind I don't I don't think that has to go away because the medium of exchange of of learning changes.
00:29:07
Speaker
Aaron Shaw, Ph.D.: it's just the tools that you might use to to accomplish those goals is different but.
00:29:14
Speaker
Yeah, I think it is interesting, right, that the social studies mindset.
00:29:18
Speaker
I'm looking around at the chat board.
00:29:20
Speaker
I'm not sure where everyone sits in that, but it is just so much easier to fit.
00:29:24
Speaker
You know, I teach econ.
00:29:26
Speaker
I teach European history, taught world history, U.S. history.
00:29:30
Speaker
It's so easy to find those connections.
00:29:33
Speaker
And I wonder, you know, for some people, too, Chris, I don't know if you could talk about, like, you've been talking with your kids about isolation and transitioning your projects to dealing with that.
00:29:44
Speaker
Maybe that helps kind of bridge the gap to, uh, to the last question.
00:29:48
Speaker
How are we going to balance that connectivity and the need, you know, if we're going to flatten the curve, flatten the curve, and we're going to flatten the curve that need for social isolation.
00:29:57
Speaker
How are we going to transition that into classrooms too?
00:30:00
Speaker
Yeah.
00:30:00
Speaker
So I think I'm echoing what Dan and Jeff have said as, as well as you, Nick, which is, um,
00:30:07
Speaker
My class, so we are mostly doing digital class.
00:30:11
Speaker
The class is kind of serving as a relational tool.
00:30:15
Speaker
So the content is really just catering to students connecting with each other and talking with each other.
00:30:21
Speaker
So I teach digital design.
00:30:24
Speaker
We dropped everything that we were doing and just transitioned it to doing a study on isolation and
00:30:30
Speaker
So students doing things like taking pictures of what it means to be isolated or just talking to each other about, you know, what's it like?
00:30:36
Speaker
What are you doing?
00:30:37
Speaker
What are some things you could do?
00:30:39
Speaker
Are you getting bored?
00:30:40
Speaker
That kind of stuff.
00:30:42
Speaker
And for me, that it's beyond just like building relationships for fun.
00:30:47
Speaker
I mean, the area in which I teach recently, like last month, had the only grocery store in the entire neighborhood shut down.
00:30:55
Speaker
It's a food desert.
00:30:56
Speaker
It's a pretty rough area, too.
00:30:59
Speaker
And you could imagine it's one thing to lose the grocery store, but now you have all this crazy stuff going on with hoarding and people not being able to get their groceries.
00:31:07
Speaker
There's no access to like a Whole Foods or anything to come deliver you your groceries.
00:31:12
Speaker
So having that connection every day among students is also a safety issue beyond just like, oh, hey, it's nice seeing you to make sure that students have the connections that they need.
00:31:23
Speaker
We have delivered hotspots to students, which is pretty cool.
00:31:26
Speaker
So we can actually stay in touch with them.
00:31:29
Speaker
But to me, the goal of the class is more so just to stay in touch than it is to learn necessarily any content because they're going to learn what it means to be isolated by being isolated.
00:31:40
Speaker
They don't need me necessarily.
00:31:42
Speaker
I'm just there as a tool to talk about it.
00:31:44
Speaker
So it's been a very interesting time to do, in a very morbid way, true experiential learning.
00:31:51
Speaker
I mean, this is about as experiential as it is.
00:31:53
Speaker
You live through the crisis.
00:31:54
Speaker
You'll know exactly what's going on.
00:31:57
Speaker
Yeah, isn't that?
00:31:58
Speaker
Well, but that's what I think is so interesting about this.
00:32:03
Speaker
And I think I made a snarky comment on a Twitter thread that I posted earlier about like, how is a certain part of the education crowd on Twitter responding to this, right?
00:32:14
Speaker
People who maybe think of this learning more as a cognitive event.
00:32:19
Speaker
Aaron Shaw, Ph.D.: it's interesting to see how they're they're bending their own pedagogy to say, oh, maybe we should focus on the common experiences of students and start with them and addressing their anxieties and and kind of bending the curriculum to to meet them where they're at in this but.
00:32:37
Speaker
Chris, with exactly what you said, that's been the core of the work all along.
00:32:40
Speaker
So your shift wasn't a shift from, oh, crap, I have to completely change what I'm doing.
00:32:46
Speaker
You just say, we're going to recenter that same work, but on a new aspect of our experience.
00:32:52
Speaker
that we're sharing together to help us understand it.
00:32:55
Speaker
So like that's, again, maybe the social studies lens has always been, you know, let's bring a little bit of that, of those current events in there and just see how does the study of the humanities or how can we use the language of economics to explain our current reality?
00:33:11
Speaker
Well, we can use art and design to do that same thing too, to help us understand
00:33:16
Speaker
our connections to each other and our interactions with our community in these times of crisis so um i think i think our role in this is still just as much about helping students find purpose um you know that if their purpose beforehand was to get a five on the ap test and now that's up in the air you know how do we how do we shift that into say no there's still cool meaningful learning that we can all do together because
00:33:41
Speaker
we're still here and we can still accomplish something cool in our community.
00:33:47
Speaker
So yeah, that's an interesting lens to keep in mind.
00:33:49
Speaker
I don't know if anyone else has other thoughts too about that.
00:33:54
Speaker
How can we help build that community and those community connections in this time where we can't all be in a room together?
00:34:05
Speaker
I'll build in some wait time.
00:34:08
Speaker
So this is Skylar.
00:34:10
Speaker
I, my bandwidth is really crappy right now.
00:34:12
Speaker
So I turned off video, but, um, on Monday as part of the, like prep for being gone, we asked students to brainstorm ideas for how to support each other, uh, like emotionally and academically during, uh, however long the closure was going to last.
00:34:29
Speaker
Um, and, uh, we actually had a couple of kids that were not at school that had, uh, that,
00:34:35
Speaker
called in on Google Hangouts for that discussion, which was pretty cool.
00:34:40
Speaker
And long story short, they did a couple of things.
00:34:44
Speaker
One thing is that they have a Google Hangouts group that they created that the teachers are also on where they've been sharing like Instagram handles and phone numbers and other contact information for like Snapchat names and stuff to keep in touch if they didn't already have that stuff.
00:35:03
Speaker
And then the other idea that really concrete idea that they had was to implement those office hours that I mentioned earlier that we scheduled every day of the, you know, our, our, our schedule is really uncertain right now, but the one week that we know about we scheduled office hours from 12 to four.
00:35:22
Speaker
Where my co-teacher Amanda or I and or I will be available and online on Google Hangouts and whatever students come.
00:35:32
Speaker
will come and we'll, you know, whatever, if they need emotional support, we'll, we'll do that.
00:35:37
Speaker
If they need, you know, if they just want to talk, we'll do that.
00:35:39
Speaker
If they actually have questions about a project or math or whatever, we'll do that.
00:35:44
Speaker
Um, and the time for that was, uh, there, uh, was what they came up with as a group based around, uh, what, you know, work schedules slash sleep schedules, um, which definitely tells you something about, um,
00:35:59
Speaker
the normal school days feasibility for teenagers.
00:36:09
Speaker
I'm muted.
00:36:09
Speaker
Sorry.
00:36:10
Speaker
Yeah.
00:36:11
Speaker
And I think too, are we rushing?
00:36:14
Speaker
I've seen so many people post either schedules for their own kids or schedules that their districts have come up with.
00:36:21
Speaker
And I don't know if yours is like this, Skylar or Chris, but I've seen some that have had like a bell schedule for kids to move through where they go through different periods of the day and take attendance for those things.
00:36:36
Speaker
But I think, yeah, you're exactly right.
00:36:37
Speaker
Like just having those flexible open hours is just a cool space to provide that lets kids meet those other needs too.
00:36:44
Speaker
I mean, I'm stressed out and I'm taking naps and I'm sleeping more than I have and I don't have anything to do during the day.
00:36:51
Speaker
So I can't imagine how kids are reacting to that change of pace too.
00:36:57
Speaker
So that's a wild thing.
00:36:59
Speaker
I can speak to that for a bit because we do have –
00:37:02
Speaker
um we do have a bell schedule and what's interesting about it is so first off it's optional so if you message beforehand say hey i'm not going to be there you could pretty much say anything and it's not going to matter you don't have to be there um it's really just like so we know that so what's going on um and i'm pretty much one of like the least traditional teachers uh probably in the building um
00:37:25
Speaker
And I actually kind of like it, which I didn't think I would.
00:37:28
Speaker
I thought it would be like really silly.
00:37:30
Speaker
We only do it in the morning.
00:37:31
Speaker
It's only from like basically nine to noon.
00:37:35
Speaker
But it's actually adding some structure that I think the kids want because because it's flexible.
00:37:43
Speaker
I still only have maybe three or four students that say anything that say that they don't want to be there when they come.
00:37:49
Speaker
We do like a face to face style class because our district's one to one.
00:37:54
Speaker
and they seem to get a huge kick out of it.
00:37:56
Speaker
Like we just do like, like we talk as if we were in class and do funny things and talk about how their days are going and like connect virtually.
00:38:04
Speaker
I think a lot of the kids are just bored out of their minds.
00:38:07
Speaker
So ironically, um, class has become a lot more interesting as a result of us going online.
00:38:15
Speaker
Uh, and the classes are also a lot shorter, which is nice.
00:38:17
Speaker
They start later, they're shorter.
00:38:19
Speaker
Um,
00:38:20
Speaker
And they're more targeted.
00:38:22
Speaker
But the students seem to like seeing each other because I think a lot of our students, they're kind of like, they're not necessarily friends in quote unquote real life.
00:38:30
Speaker
They're
Unexpected Benefits of Virtual Classes
00:38:30
Speaker
like school friends.
00:38:32
Speaker
So seeing all of their classmates in the class environment, even though like, yes, it's a bell schedule, is adding that just like sense of normalcy, which is something I never thought I would say.
00:38:44
Speaker
I would have assumed I would have been in the camp of just saying like, hey, let's just cut completely off from school.
00:38:48
Speaker
Let's just go do stuff with our families.
00:38:50
Speaker
But it's been working out fairly well with the key point being that we have that flexibility that you don't have to be there because we have many students that can't.
00:38:59
Speaker
They're taking care of people, et cetera.
00:39:01
Speaker
Yeah.
00:39:02
Speaker
that that's such a great perspective too, just because I would, I would think the same thing, like sticking to those rigid schedules might just be something that doesn't translate well into, uh, into like the offlines or the online settings, sorry, the out of classroom settings.
00:39:18
Speaker
So, so that's a good perspective.
00:39:20
Speaker
How do I, how do I call on Dan again?
00:39:21
Speaker
Do I just, do I click on you, Dan?
00:39:23
Speaker
How do I get you going?
00:39:25
Speaker
Just say it and I come on again.
00:39:28
Speaker
Oh, okay.
00:39:28
Speaker
And go.
00:39:30
Speaker
Like we, uh,
00:39:32
Speaker
We, we built a lot of structure, but we also gave them a lot of, um, like flexibility as well.
00:39:39
Speaker
But we, we sent out some suggested schedules to our, to our kids.
00:39:42
Speaker
Here's some ways you could organize your day.
00:39:45
Speaker
We have one called the rooster for kids that like to get up early and one called the owl for kids that like to sleep in.
00:39:52
Speaker
Um, and we had this whole theme, the launch pad.
00:39:54
Speaker
It's like, uh, like space oriented thing.
00:39:58
Speaker
And,
00:39:59
Speaker
And frankly, the kids are a bit bored and I think they're gonna dig in just having the classes back.
00:40:07
Speaker
And like the last gentleman said, the classes aren't as long.
00:40:11
Speaker
There's not as much work really because we still want them to, we wanna prioritize their mental health.
00:40:17
Speaker
So we say things like, learn to cook something or learn to do something that you had never done before.
00:40:23
Speaker
And yeah, but there's still some structure built in because they do want that right now.
00:40:30
Speaker
Oh, no.
00:40:32
Speaker
We lost Dan and he was making such a good point, I think.
00:40:36
Speaker
We can only assume, I guess.
00:40:38
Speaker
But, man, I think...
00:40:42
Speaker
Chris Bounds, It's it's probably when kids looked at that they were like oh God i'm gonna.
00:40:46
Speaker
Chris Bounds, If i'm a high school student i'm thinking God i'm going to play so much video games like i'm going to play my guitar i'm going to do all that stuff.
00:40:52
Speaker
Chris Bounds, And then you do that, the first three days and you go oh my God I slept four weeks left and I can't.
00:40:57
Speaker
Chris Bounds, Go to work I can't go to the gym I can't hang out with my friends I can't go to the mall.
00:41:02
Speaker
And so then you're looking at that little schedule that says, oh, here's the, oh, this is the night owl thing.
00:41:08
Speaker
I'm used to being up late.
00:41:09
Speaker
I might as well do X, Y, or Z. I can see that having like a really cool appeal.
00:41:15
Speaker
You know, I dig that a lot.
00:41:19
Speaker
To build off of that to someone that we've been having a lot of fun with is like jackbox games.
00:41:24
Speaker
Those like party games that you typically play with.
00:41:26
Speaker
How did that go?
00:41:27
Speaker
You said you're going to play.
00:41:29
Speaker
It's gone really well.
00:41:31
Speaker
I just been posting like every so many days like, hey, come play jackbox games with our conference software.
00:41:36
Speaker
And the kids have been loving that as like a sense of community thing to do.
00:41:40
Speaker
Like a team.
00:41:41
Speaker
Yeah, our esports team is hosting a online smash tournament.
00:41:46
Speaker
Any middle school or high schoolers that are interested in.
00:41:48
Speaker
it's all online so you can come uh you check my uh twitter handle um i can put it up um and also just like like any kind of games activities we even posted like uh like the harvard like open harvard edx courses um we had a lot of students that are interested in these like just really random things that you can learn about like uh there's like a justice course or even like computer science like these things that you would
00:42:13
Speaker
not think.
00:42:14
Speaker
I think that if you have a negative viewpoint as students, you might go like, no kid's going to want to do computer science when they have the day off.
00:42:19
Speaker
But I think many would be very surprised.
00:42:22
Speaker
As you were just saying, after day three, it's like, I will do anything as something to potentially entertain me.
00:42:29
Speaker
Because the kids have literally said that.
00:42:31
Speaker
They've said that, like, I am bored out of my mind, especially those that have, no offense to siblings or family members, but many of them are annoyed by their siblings or family members.
00:42:39
Speaker
They need to find a spot where they can just, like,
00:42:41
Speaker
dig into like their own isolation to get away from them.
00:42:45
Speaker
And that's, that's been an interesting side note.
00:42:48
Speaker
I see that Dan's back.
00:42:50
Speaker
Is everything working on your end, Dan?
00:42:51
Speaker
You want to finish talking about roosters and night owls?
00:42:55
Speaker
Even when I got cut off, I would think I was just talking to no one for a while there.
00:43:00
Speaker
Oh yeah.
00:43:01
Speaker
You dropped, you dropped shortly after, after you made that comment about the different schedules and, and kids kind of being grateful for it.
00:43:09
Speaker
I didn't know what else you wanted to add to it.
00:43:12
Speaker
But actually exactly what, sorry, last gentleman, is it Chris?
00:43:16
Speaker
Is that your name?
00:43:18
Speaker
Awesome.
00:43:19
Speaker
Same thing.
00:43:19
Speaker
I mean, the kids were just going crazy.
00:43:21
Speaker
They were so bored.
00:43:23
Speaker
I was texting with my advisory group and they were like, you know, when are we going to have something to do?
00:43:28
Speaker
And so, yeah, I think a lot of us, we assume that when we went to online learning, there'd be a lot of resistance and a lot of like, oh, really?
00:43:35
Speaker
School while I'm sitting at home.
00:43:37
Speaker
And actually they're like, thank God school's back.
00:43:42
Speaker
Yeah.
00:43:43
Speaker
And that's what's interesting, too.
00:43:45
Speaker
Like, I think school's back for what?
00:43:48
Speaker
Like, school's back as a, like, because I can, it gives me the flexibility to what, like, stretch myself, my own abilities.
00:43:58
Speaker
Is it connecting with that group?
00:44:00
Speaker
Like, that's the part that I'm really curious about.
00:44:02
Speaker
And that's, I guess, the shift in my thinking over the last,
00:44:06
Speaker
the last hour in that has been, you know, like, what is, what is, what is this on, what's the purpose of this online school for?
00:44:13
Speaker
Is it to, is it a vehicle for content?
00:44:16
Speaker
Like, is it to assess and quiz and do all the things that you would do in a traditional classroom or has the purpose of it like shifted?
00:44:25
Speaker
Cause it sounds like it has shifted in Chris's classroom.
00:44:27
Speaker
It sounds like it's shifted for Tracy and Jeff and Dan, have you noticed that shift too?
00:44:31
Speaker
Like,
00:44:32
Speaker
you just the purpose of the learning is different it gives kids it gives kids purpose you know where maybe their purpose was school before what replaces that they the social is a big part of it for sure they they want to talk to their friends which they could do any way at home but in a more formal setting they like google meet they like talking to their teachers maybe they wouldn't have admitted it before this but no no so actually did but they you know they like talking to us they
00:45:01
Speaker
I don't know the assessment part.
00:45:02
Speaker
I don't really, I'm still think the jury's still out on that one, but you know, I think less content with as much meaning as possible.
00:45:10
Speaker
And then the social aspect, I think that's what they're digging.
00:45:12
Speaker
They, they, they want to do that stuff.
00:45:16
Speaker
Yeah, that's cool.
Speculations on Post-Crisis Education Changes
00:45:17
Speaker
And I wonder too, how,
00:45:19
Speaker
in as we kind of think ahead and we go to like unring the bell a little bit, like what parts as we transition back into quote unquote regular school are we going to, what parts are we going to miss about the online learning environment and what parts are we going to need to look ahead and change?
00:45:40
Speaker
Like just as we've talked about at the beginning of this hour,
00:45:44
Speaker
Everything is going to be different.
00:45:46
Speaker
The economic system is going to be different.
00:45:51
Speaker
I don't know.
00:45:51
Speaker
Everything about geopolitics is going to be different than it was beforehand.
00:45:56
Speaker
How can school survive this and be the same?
00:45:59
Speaker
So Tracy, do you want to chime in on that comment or say whatever you want to say?
00:46:03
Speaker
I haven't talked too much anyway.
00:46:08
Speaker
You just have to unmute yourself.
00:46:09
Speaker
How do I do that?
00:46:09
Speaker
Okay.
00:46:10
Speaker
Okay.
00:46:10
Speaker
I did that.
00:46:11
Speaker
No, you know, it really occurred to me during the conversation when everyone was talking is maybe we just need to do hybrid classes, like from here on out, like everything just more, because I don't think that like building the online community and then pulling it apart is healthy.
00:46:31
Speaker
I think that that's a very unhealthy, there are a lot of introverts that have probably come out of their shell online and felt more safe and comfortable.
00:46:42
Speaker
And I just, my gut feeling is that schools should morph into more of a hybrid learning.
00:46:49
Speaker
One of the schools that we have here that I know I've shared with Skylar and
00:46:55
Speaker
Nick and Chris are JCFA, which is our alternative high school.
00:47:01
Speaker
And they go to class from nine to one, and then they work the rest of the day.
00:47:08
Speaker
And some of them bank hours and they'll go to class like,
00:47:14
Speaker
eight to 12, and then they work.
00:47:17
Speaker
And there's a hybrid component that they could do at home to get ahead.
00:47:22
Speaker
And they just have to take their tests and quizzes in school.
00:47:27
Speaker
And so I'm seeing kind of somebody was talking about, um,
00:47:31
Speaker
the flexible schedules.
00:47:34
Speaker
I see a future where there's like flexible schedules in schools and maybe there's like, you know, a 10 hour period where it could be more flexible and that could help with childcare.
00:47:47
Speaker
And it can also help keep this community that we're building.
00:47:51
Speaker
That's kind of where my mind has been.
00:47:53
Speaker
I'm kind of thinking about
00:47:56
Speaker
just building on what we have instead of, it seems like every political election, it's like four years and then the next one comes in and they try to undo what the next one did.
00:48:07
Speaker
And instead of like always trying to like tear down and build something better, it's like, let's just keep building forward.
00:48:19
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:48:20
Speaker
And
Unique Challenges in Hawaii's Education System
00:48:20
Speaker
I don't know, fellow Jitzer, I'm not sure who you are, but you had your hand raised for that.
00:48:26
Speaker
So go ahead and introduce yourself and then let us know what you're doing.
00:48:35
Speaker
Hi, this is Keisha.
00:48:36
Speaker
I'm from Hawaii.
00:48:38
Speaker
Good to hear you.
00:48:52
Speaker
So we are one school district state.
00:48:56
Speaker
So even though our school spans several islands and several different communities and several different eco-socionomic status, we are one school district.
00:49:04
Speaker
So when decisions are being made, they're being made for everyone at the same time.
00:49:10
Speaker
And that obviously adds a level of complexity.
00:49:12
Speaker
So our status is we went on to spring break on Friday and there was no announcement.
00:49:18
Speaker
There was no prior indication.
00:49:20
Speaker
We had a press conference from our governor on Sunday at 1.30 saying students, instead of coming back on the 23rd of March, would return on the 30th of March.
00:49:30
Speaker
And then within 48 hours, that was altered to April 7th.
00:49:34
Speaker
So we've had no preparation, we've had no indication, we have been given no marching orders on how to proceed at all.
00:49:44
Speaker
I work at a Title I school, I'm in the middle of seven low-income housing communities.
00:49:50
Speaker
I can tell you right now, 40% of my kids will not have access to the internet or to devices.
00:49:57
Speaker
So for me, like I hear this, what you're saying, like, let's build these awesome communities and let's not tear them apart.
00:50:02
Speaker
But for me, the reality is there's not going to be a one size fits all at all.
00:50:06
Speaker
Like we might have to do packets.
00:50:08
Speaker
You know, we might have to offer online for kids who can do online, but we're going to have a number of kids who cannot.
00:50:16
Speaker
We also have one of the largest EL populations in the whole state of Hawaii.
00:50:21
Speaker
We have cultural things that are a lot different here than the mainland.
00:50:26
Speaker
So, you know, we have a lot of multi-generational homes.
00:50:30
Speaker
We have, you know, like middle school children whose job will be to look after the younger children.
00:50:37
Speaker
We have parents who are working three jobs because they work in tourism and, you know, like the lower income.
00:50:45
Speaker
So for us, I mean, we haven't even started this.
00:50:47
Speaker
That's why I'm so interested to hear that what you guys are already doing, what's in place and what direction you've been given, because we have been given zero so far and it's all just evolving.
00:50:58
Speaker
But, you know, our challenges are going to be a lot different.
00:51:02
Speaker
And again, I don't think it's going to be as quick as like teaching our veteran teachers how to do Google Classroom and Zoom.
00:51:08
Speaker
It's going to be, you know, the 30 or 40 percent of the kids who just cannot even get access.
00:51:13
Speaker
Do we?
00:51:14
Speaker
create packets?
00:51:15
Speaker
Are we just covering power standards?
00:51:16
Speaker
Like how can we ethically pass them on to the next grade and give them the best opportunity?
00:51:22
Speaker
So we we do start our school year early.
00:51:23
Speaker
We start August 1st.
00:51:25
Speaker
We end at the end of May.
00:51:26
Speaker
So we were able to complete our entire third quarter before spring break.
00:51:31
Speaker
So, I mean, I don't know where we're going to stand with national testing.
00:51:35
Speaker
I don't know where we're going to stand with the AP and the SAT exams and all these other things.
00:51:39
Speaker
But, yeah, so I mean, yeah, I've enjoyed hearing everybody's input.
00:51:44
Speaker
I just wanted to, like, speak up for my audience.
00:51:47
Speaker
represent the 50th state.
00:51:49
Speaker
It's a very different challenge here.
00:51:51
Speaker
And notably, by the Friday when we were ending our school and nobody else had announced, all the private schools and the universities had already announced that they were going to discontinue in-face learning.
00:52:04
Speaker
So, you know, all the schools who often have one-to-one or have that accessibility, they already had a plan in place where all the public school people were just sent home and it's like,
00:52:15
Speaker
okay we have like 14 000 teachers and we're not going to give you any direction and go enjoy your spring break and then like i'm literally getting news from news press conferences with the governor i'm not getting communications from my principal or from my district supervisor like we're just really on the fly here so that's why again i appreciate the um the time and the space to to hear from others and
00:52:39
Speaker
I do love all the teachers just putting free resources out there on Twitter.
00:52:43
Speaker
It's just awesome how people are standing together.
00:52:46
Speaker
But there's going to be so many varied ways of dealing with this situation.
00:52:51
Speaker
And, you know, maybe in some districts, they're a little bit more cohesive.
00:52:56
Speaker
In my district, it's hard to do that because of just the variety of things.
00:53:01
Speaker
of people and places and situations across our whole school district, which again is across like five or six islands and all kinds of other interesting challenges.
00:53:10
Speaker
So yeah.
00:53:12
Speaker
Sounds like a perfect storm.
00:53:13
Speaker
Tracy, go ahead.
00:53:15
Speaker
Go ahead.
00:53:15
Speaker
What do you want to say about that?
Building and Maintaining Online Communities
00:53:19
Speaker
Well, I have a lot of compassion.
00:53:22
Speaker
I actually worked in a middle high school, so I do know that middle schoolers are very different.
00:53:26
Speaker
We had middle and high school in different buildings.
00:53:30
Speaker
But what I want to say is I think I was more referring to
00:53:34
Speaker
we were talking about the communities that were already built rather than like trying to build communities.
00:53:40
Speaker
I'm thinking about having compassion for the kids that have finally found their voice in the community and now we're going to take that from them and then they're going to be back in the classroom.
00:53:52
Speaker
There's a certain energy that comes of freedom even right now like with us and this platform
00:53:58
Speaker
you know, be different if we were face to face.
00:54:00
Speaker
And I'm not saying we wouldn't have the same conversation, but there's something, you know, different about being, you know, a virtual presence.
00:54:10
Speaker
You know, so the other thing I wanted to say is that
00:54:15
Speaker
Our large district, our superintendent really didn't have a plan.
00:54:19
Speaker
He really isn't a visionary and he was waiting for other people's plan.
00:54:23
Speaker
He did go to packets where they are trying to have locations where parents can pick up packets of work or they could do like the bus drivers could deliver like food and packets.
00:54:39
Speaker
And then that goes to the whole like point of like worksheets and how effective, but yeah,
00:54:45
Speaker
At some point when you're in a crisis, you just have to act and you have to do things.
00:54:51
Speaker
And I'm really hoping that we learn from this and that everybody kind of comes together and says, OK, now we need to really plan for the next time this happens.
00:55:04
Speaker
And we can't say the next time isn't going to happen.
00:55:07
Speaker
because we never thought this was going to happen.
00:55:10
Speaker
I never thought Katrina was going to happen.
00:55:12
Speaker
When I was in my 20s, we had hurricane parties and we all went to people's houses where we were waiting for the hurricane and it never came.
00:55:22
Speaker
So I have a lot of compassion for the situation you're in because I feel like you don't have a lot of leadership.
00:55:29
Speaker
And I think that is the key word.
Leadership and Personalized Learning in Crises
00:55:33
Speaker
I work in a situation right now where I feel like this office staff, not the doctors, because that's totally different, but I have a lack of leadership in my office and I have been a leader.
00:55:45
Speaker
And so I had to have a very honest conversation about what leaders do.
00:55:49
Speaker
The biggest thing that leaders do is they lead in the time of crisis.
00:55:54
Speaker
They're the calm.
00:55:56
Speaker
They're the person that everyone looks to.
00:55:59
Speaker
And it's not just the students, because I have adult students.
00:56:02
Speaker
I have students that are older than me that have sent me private messages.
00:56:06
Speaker
All of your ongoing
00:56:08
Speaker
support and understanding and compassion is really getting me through this.
00:56:13
Speaker
So I just have a lot of compassion for what you're going through because I feel like it's twofold.
00:56:18
Speaker
You're in a situation where you have a lot of cultural differences, you have a lot of like poverty, and then you have a lack of leadership.
00:56:25
Speaker
So you're like in the perfect storm of just feeling
00:56:28
Speaker
feeling very helpless, but I love how you're looking at the silver lining as the Twitter community and that you're seeing that we're all here for you.
00:56:40
Speaker
And I have compiled like tons of resources.
00:56:44
Speaker
I know Chris, Nick, I mean, everybody has compiled resources.
00:56:48
Speaker
So I mean, we're here for you, whatever you need.
00:56:52
Speaker
Because I can't say you're ever going to get leadership if you don't have it now.
00:56:57
Speaker
And we're at this point.
00:56:58
Speaker
Thank you for that.
00:57:04
Speaker
So I don't know, Terry, you've had your hand up over there.
00:57:07
Speaker
So you want to go ahead and let us know what's on your mind?
00:57:15
Speaker
Oh, no, did we lose Terry?
00:57:16
Speaker
Or maybe we can unmute Terry.
00:57:19
Speaker
I don't know.
00:57:25
Speaker
We'll give Terry a moment here.
00:57:27
Speaker
Yes, there you are.
00:57:28
Speaker
Great.
00:57:31
Speaker
Let me try the headphones and I don't know if there's a speaker on them.
00:57:33
Speaker
Hold on.
00:57:34
Speaker
Let me try again.
00:57:34
Speaker
Yeah, everything sounds fine on my end.
00:57:38
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:57:40
Speaker
Okay, perfect.
00:57:40
Speaker
Okay.
00:57:41
Speaker
Hi, everybody.
00:57:42
Speaker
I am not in the school district.
00:57:46
Speaker
I'm not in a classroom.
00:57:48
Speaker
I was in a classroom for 20 something years.
00:57:51
Speaker
And then I was a personalized learning coach for several years.
00:57:54
Speaker
And
00:57:55
Speaker
I've now gone out on my own.
00:57:58
Speaker
But I'm very much an advocate for personalized learning.
00:58:03
Speaker
And I'm hearing you talking about flipping basically from the content to the
00:58:09
Speaker
what's actually going on, the context, and then making the disciplines fit into the context, into the content that we teach, right?
00:58:18
Speaker
And I hear, I'm so glad to hear from, I'm not sure, the woman from Hawaii, but it's good to be able to hear, you know, from your perspective, because, you know, we are very well connected.
00:58:31
Speaker
I'm in Florida.
00:58:32
Speaker
You know, we've got everything, you know, we've got delivery service and, you know, everything that we need here.
00:58:37
Speaker
So to hear...
00:58:39
Speaker
from you and the struggle that you're facing is, I'm sorry that you're going through that.
00:58:45
Speaker
And I'm always looking for opportunities for children to have problem solving.
00:58:50
Speaker
And I'm thinking about many of you are high school students, teachers.
00:58:54
Speaker
And what if you connect, you know, your high school students to solve a real world problem?
00:59:00
Speaker
And
Real-World Problem Solving and Community Support
00:59:01
Speaker
that is these students that are not connected there.
00:59:04
Speaker
And it gives them an opportunity to study the culture that you're talking about, where, you know, there's these multigenerational families living together.
00:59:14
Speaker
It's a great opportunity for them to learn more.
00:59:17
Speaker
real world reasons to learn about these people and then to do some creative problem solving on how you know, like the adults are doing the creative problem solving.
00:59:29
Speaker
And we have kids who are sitting here and they want to make a difference and I'm the person sitting here to say okay i'm not in a school i'm what can I do.
00:59:38
Speaker
you know, and the, you know, the big kid in me is coming out right now, but I mean, how can we connect the students that do have internet access in Hawaii with students who have access to somewhere else?
00:59:53
Speaker
And how can they learn from with each other and, and, and talk about, you know, connecting and, you know, really, you know,
01:00:02
Speaker
finding out how they can make the difference and not learning because I deserve to learn, but learning because other people need me to learn so that I can make a difference and contribute something back.
01:00:17
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's spot on.
01:00:19
Speaker
Skylar, do you want to maybe have the last comment on here and then we can start to wrap things up unless other people want to speak as well.
01:00:26
Speaker
Sure, I was just going to echo what Terry was saying about
01:00:31
Speaker
connecting students with internet access with those without where we, that was something else that our students came up with.
01:00:37
Speaker
Cause we have a few, you know, we only have 30 students and but we're in a rural district and a handful of them don't have reliable internet access other than their phones and their phones aren't super reliable either.
01:00:50
Speaker
And we did a few of them did arrange to like meet at various times, assuming that, you know, they're able to,
01:00:59
Speaker
given the whatever the lockdown or quarantine procedures end up being.
01:01:04
Speaker
But I think that relying on those like community supports that are already there is really important to remember too.
01:01:16
Speaker
Absolutely.
01:01:16
Speaker
And I think so.
01:01:18
Speaker
What I think if there's a positive lining that comes out of any of this, I mean, obviously, anytime that there's going to be kids left, it's stuck in the gap between, you know, online learning and the
01:01:32
Speaker
David Vogelpohl, Jr.: on an unavoidable ness of school closures, I think, is going to be a problem that we're going to have to overcome, but if the silver lining of this if anything good comes out of it is knowing that it's going to take a big hybrid approach to meet all those kids and and maybe that's kind of the.
Hybrid Approach as a Long-Term Solution
01:01:49
Speaker
the thinking that was needed all along.
01:01:51
Speaker
And maybe if the end result of this is that more kids' needs are met because we realize that we can't just be one-to-one or we can't just be physical materials, maybe there exists some alternate schedules for kids to be in a physical space if they need it or online space where they need it or flex some time so that way they can work a job or be the caretaker for their family.
01:02:15
Speaker
I think just the flexibility to come out of this might be a silver lining, maybe not a month from now, maybe not six months from now, but maybe as we're planning for, what if this happens again?
01:02:27
Speaker
What if this reoccurs next winter?
01:02:30
Speaker
What kinds of plans are we going to have in place to make sure that kids' needs are met, whether it's food or security or safety?
01:02:38
Speaker
and not just content or passing the test or AP or standardized or otherwise, how are we just gonna keep kids and communities connected and growing?
01:02:49
Speaker
So maybe with that, I'll let Tracy have the last word and then we can all get around to our families and solving the world's problems together here.
01:02:58
Speaker
What do you think, Tracy?
01:02:59
Speaker
Well, I think you made an excellent point.
01:03:01
Speaker
And I just wanna tell you that four months before Hurricane Katrina, my friend came home
01:03:08
Speaker
And said that we have no plan in place if we have a hurricane.
01:03:15
Speaker
And I just met with all these people and told a bunch of people and everybody wrote it off.
01:03:21
Speaker
And then we know it happened.
01:03:23
Speaker
Now that we're in this position and we've had this conversation and we're seeing the importance of like hybrid learning and maybe flexible schedules and, you know, all the things that we've discussed, building communities and having resources for kids without resources.
01:03:38
Speaker
I think we owe it to ourselves, our students, our community, and the world to be advocating for that.
01:03:46
Speaker
So not to be silent when all this is over, that we are mindful that this is our responsibility to now advocate for this and not forget that we're in this position.
01:03:59
Speaker
Because I can tell you 15 years after Katrina, a lot of people here are starting to take things for granted again.
01:04:06
Speaker
And I think this is probably bringing up a lot for people, but I think it's our responsibility to keep these conversations going when we go back to the new normal and really plan for this.
01:04:22
Speaker
I think that might just be a perfect ending note just to think, yeah, write about these experiences or bottle them up and use that energy to transform something later on for kids.
01:04:35
Speaker
Elect people who are going to do right at the school board level.
01:04:39
Speaker
Make politicians accountable to these issues.
01:04:42
Speaker
Make teachers' organizations accountable to these issues.
01:04:47
Speaker
make everything around this more accountable to kids and more accountable to better outcomes for everybody.
01:04:56
Speaker
So yeah, thanks for joining in the three C's tonight.
01:05:01
Speaker
Yeah, be sure to, you know, you can follow me at CovingtonAHS and obviously at HumResPro for the Human Restoration Project.
01:05:09
Speaker
If you don't follow us already, I don't know how you found this link, but
01:05:13
Speaker
Yeah, we'll stay in touch.
01:05:15
Speaker
I think we'll probably do a lot of talking in the next few weeks.
01:05:18
Speaker
But if you have questions, reach out.
01:05:21
Speaker
If we don't have each other, it's going to be a long time.
01:05:24
Speaker
So just thanks all for being here tonight.
01:05:27
Speaker
And yeah, I hope you all have a good rest of the week.
01:05:31
Speaker
So until we meet again, have a good night, everyone.