I have no idea what next school year will look like, but if I had to guess I would suspect a blended approach where X% of students go to school f2f and Y% of students go to school remotely, all on a rotating basis, with periodic shifts to remote-only during covid-19 surges.
If this is the case, the more we can prepare our educators for this type of long-term flexibility, the better. There is nothing good about the way we are being forced to do this, but all hope is not lost for our kids.
I have been so impressed and inspired by my daughter's first grade teacher, and she's certainly not alone in offering this to parents. This is an excruciatingly difficult time in education, but I'm inspired by the focus that I'm seeing on social and emotional supports and equity.
Not everyone is getting this right, of course - this isn't a time for opportunistic medium posts about "disruption" from edu-celebrities - but there are so many people out there are doing so much right now to support kids and their families.
I hope this continues as we approach a bizarre and unprecedented school year in 20-21. It's easy to be cynical right now - there are no shortage of reasons to be so, and I've found myself lingering there - but there's also reason for hope, and I find myself there, too.
So many people out there are focusing on making sure that the least among us get the support that they need, laying the foundation for student learning through social and emotional skills. Equity isn't just something that sounds good, it's something that makes us good. </end>