Empress of Dorsa Update:
Total words today: 1,476
Manuscript total: 48,338
Currently on-track to finish the second draft of Empress of Dorsa by October 31st or somewhat earlier.
My high school alma mater (well, almost my alma mater — this neighboring high school was opened up in 2007, while I graduated from the county’s original high school in the mid-90s) made national news with this lovely photo of high school students utterly failing to socially distance or wear masks.
And meanwhile, my own school spent the week teaching us new hires critical reading strategies, progressive discipline expectations, and how to build a sense of classroom community in an online environment.
In comparing the photo of the high school I would be attending if I were currently sixteen to my on-boarding experience at my new school, I just kept thinking about how INCREDIBLY lucky I am.
…as well as how much I feel for my teaching colleagues at other schools, who have been dragged unwillingly into a political and epidemiological experiment.
One of those colleagues is an old high school friend of mine, J, with whom I recently reconnected on Facebook. J and I were fellow nerds in high school; if memory serves, he was my co-captain on the Quiz Bowl team we were both on for two or three years. LOL. It’s been lovely to reconnect with him.
And these days, it just so happens that J is teaching at the very high school featured in the photo above.
I worry about him and his family.
I sent the photo of the crowded hallway of teenagers without masks to my mom (a retired teacher from the same school district in question) with the comment,
“They haven’t changed a bit in thirty years.”
“Nope,” Mom said. “The good ol’ boy network is still alive and well.”
Yep. Tribalism over science; politics over public health.
(And it’s ironic, given that those of us who lean left are the ones accused of “identity politics.” Turning masking into a political issue is absolutely a variation of identity politics.)
Teaching online is weird and far from ideal, but good will come out of it.
Yeah, you know what? Teaching online is going to suck in some ways.
It’s going to suck for parents, who need to be at work AND need to have their kids learning from home; it’s going to suck for families who don’t have reliable Internet connections (our school is working with families and businesses to fix this problem); it’s going to suck for kids, who want to socialize and learn in-person (and/or get away from dangerous home lives); and it’s going to suck for all the teachers who have to totally reinvent their “best practices.”
BUT
But I’m really optimistic in general, and in this situation in particular, one of the things we have talked about as a staff is what long-term good we can wring from this short-term suckiness.
One bit of long-term good we might be able to seize upon is the flipped classroom model, in which lectures and knowledge dumps happen through short video instruction outside the classroom, while practice with applying that new knowledge and re-teaching over material that students don’t understand happens inside the classroom.
Personally, I’m super excited to try out the flipped classroom model. I think it could have a long-term positive impact on my teaching practice.
But man oh man… this is NOT what I envisioned my first year of teaching to be like! Not in my wildest dreams.
Hang in there, everyone!
Let’s keep reminding ourselves and each other that the current situation is not permanent. Teaching in a distance learning environment is not permanent. COVID-19 ravaging our world is not permanent. We can get through this; we can treat our neighbors well, we can wear masks for however long it takes, and we can be extra cautious until we no longer have to be.
Sending love to everybody out there, especially those teachers like J who are in schools similar to North Paulding High. You have a nation of teachers with you!
4 Comments
Les · August 10, 2020 at 1:12 am
Political Correctness is far more important for those on the Right than it is for those on the Left. It is way better to infect you parents and children with a deadly virus than it is to be taken for a liberal.
Jan · August 12, 2020 at 8:47 pm
I am so glad you are positive about the opportunity to teach online, as that will certainly translate well to the kids, and your peers. We live in Florida, and in our district, except for a very small number of online only teaching slots for those who fit the eligibility criteria, teachers have to teach face-to-face or quit. I left my job before the pandemic, but my wife teaches high school, and goes in tomorrow as staff reports; the kids start 8/24. Her school is teaching simultaneous online and in person classes–in the midst of a pandemic, while having to monitor masks and safety protocols, ‘normal’ class management, umm, implement learning strategies for kids in room who can’t use books, or share materials, [and may not have access to computers], plus differentiate instruction as needed at the same time as kids online–kind of a heavy lift. She’s a fabulous teacher and will adapt to the weirdness of it all to offer good content and experiences, but it’s hard to be comfortable about the safety issues. Even with half the numbers of kids opting for online only it still means over 500 bodies in the hallways–that picture you attached is the expectation. I have almost outpaced your word total in writing letters to legislators, school board, news outlets, etc. trying to keep this in front of everyone’s mind. Our county has one of the highest death counts, FL is still a red zone, but the state will withhold funding if schools don’t open face-to-face–money over people. Unconscionable dictates and acquiescence. My huge hope and prayer is that no one has to get too sick before the inevitable closures. Stay safe, everyone.
The Real Person!
Yikes, Jan. I have a friend from my master’s program in Florida at a m.s. I worry about her.
Teachers are amazing. They will make it work. But it doesn’t mean that what’s being asked of them is fair or right. Keep writing those letters.
Lillith · August 19, 2020 at 7:43 pm
At least you don’t have to live in the classrooms anymore 😔