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Ok, let me describe a little about "remote learning". I think there are many out there who truly believe digital learning is the wave of the future and that teachers are just whiny old curmudgeons who are resistant to change. I will tell you about my experience.
I teach special education for grades 1st-3rd (that's ages 6-9) at a public Montessori school in Chicago. We have a number of poor or working class families at my school, but are also a magnet school, which means we have a genuinely mixed income and racially diverse population.
I love Montessori, which is an approach which relies heavily on physical materials & the prepared classroom environment, lots of individualized or small group lessons, lots of choice and creativity, social interaction. The transition to digital learning was hard from the get-go.
But I jumped in feet first, like so many educators. I versed myself completely in Google Suite. My google classroom looks pretty nifty. I learned every possible google extension. I started recording myself while sharing my screen. I bought hundred of $$s of new digital materials.
I tried to make my lessons interactive, with lots of choice, and options of non-digital projects that tap into kids creativity. I recorded videos, created google slides, converted pdfs to editable digital material.
I even tried to incorporate Montessori practices into my remote teaching. I am in every Montessori fb group, I've spent hours searching out digital or DIY ways to use Montessori materials.
I tried to keep my lessons focused on the whole child & culturally relevant. I purposefully wasn't scheduling all live lessons b/c I knew many of my families have parents who are essential workers. So I tried to allow flexibility. And I tried to personalize it whenever possible.
We hold live Peace Circle meetings and I sit in to many of the live Morning Meetings with my gen ed colleagues and students. We focus on connecting as much as possible, despite the limitations of a format like Google Meets. Our social worker and TAs and SECAs all contribute.
I try to do weekly check-ins with every family. I have created individualized schedules and materials. I have dropped of work and tech at my students' homes. Basically, I have done what most of my teacher/school worker colleagues across the country are trying to do.
But here's the thing. It. Is. Not. Enough. There is nothing, NOTHING, that can replicate the in-person, social, very personal experience of teaching kids in school. The pressure on staff and on parents is absolutely overwhelming. And we are constantly left feeling...guilty.
It's like we are doing more of the work of teaching than ever, but the usual little moments of joy and human connection that fill up our buckets daily are removed. And we are now empty.
But still our districts, the state, the federal gov, are all still demanding "accountability". Every day we are bombarded with email after email of you must fill out this paperwork, and enter into this tracker, and write these IEPs, Remote Learning Plans, lesson plans, grades...
STOP! I want to scream it from the rooftops. Leave us alone! Let us do what we can and let that be enough. Stop threatening us during a GLOBAL PANDEMIC with discipline, firing, & shame! Trust us. Let us determine what each family needs with the actual humans affected. PLEASE!
