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I realize this has been said already, in several different ways by those more erudite than myself, but here& #39;s the thing with "e-learning" right now...
If you have the sort of kids who can benefit from creative challenges and online discussions and virtual interaction and your efforts to keep school going long-distance, then great! Keep finding ways to make the magic happen; go easy on yourself when it doesn& #39;t...
And some of you, no doubt, are under bizarre pressure from your district or building administration to REACH THESE LITTLE $@*$^% MEANINGFULLY AND DRIVE THEM FORWARD EVEN IF IT KILLS US ALL! I sympathize - I really do...
Although YES, learning is valuable and school is good and the skills and knowledge you wish to impart are no doubt essential... well, we& #39;re all hiding at home hoping everyone doesn& #39;t die. Maybe iambic pentameter can wait until the coming fall.
It& #39;s also useful in this sudden, strange "e-learning" environment to try to avoid making all parents everywhere hate us and everything we stand for. That could come back and bite the entire profession in ways I can& #39;t even enumerate at the moment.
You know YOUR kids. You& #39;re the best judge of what& #39;s appropriate right now. If that means learn them little darlings up every day as hard as you can via Google Classroom or Zoom or whatever, then YOU GO, TEACH! KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!
But if you can tell you& #39;re losing them and your frustration is rising with every e-learning survey your district sends out and you can tell they& #39;re not getting it and your kids just aren& #39;t the sort to push ahead without you there - in person - cajoling, encouraging, etc...
Dial it back, Teach. Assign enough to keep the district happy. Promote a few basic skills you hope they don& #39;t lose before August. Let them know that YOU know this sucks & it& #39;s weird. We can& #39;t control the chaos around us, but we don& #39;t have to turn over our "classrooms" to it.
(repeat all the usual cliches about relationships and knowing how much you care and blah blah blah - because yeah, THAT.)
