Teaching During COVID-19

Welp, it’s been six weeks of “distance learning” here in NJ. Our governor hasn’t made the call yet to cancel the remainder of the school year, but considering how the rest of the states are trending, my guess is we will be closed, too.

At this point, my feelings are so mixed. I’m ready to get back to “normal,” but also I’m scared of this disease. I want us to be as safe as humanly possible before we get back out there.

I’ve been hemming and hawing on writing this post. I’ve started it so.many.times only to just abruptly hit “delete” and shut my computer down. I just can’t bring myself to sit down and offer advice on how to handle this situation. My guess is because I don’t actually feel like I’m “handling” it. Every single day is a roller coaster of thoughts and emotion. Some days are beautiful and I feel so grateful for this time and period of “slow.” But, then there are (many!) others where I’m crying in the bathroom and drinking way too much wine and failing to shake the elephant sitting on my chest. And what gets me most on those days is the guilt. It does not escape me – ever – that I am so blessed to live in a household where neither my husband or I need to leave the house AND our income has not been affected by the shut down. My kids are warm and safe and well-fed. Aside from complaining of being “bored” during the hours when they are not allowed screen time, they eventually figure out how to play with (and enjoy!!) the insane amount of toys, games, puzzles, sports’ equipment, bikes, etc. we have and move on with their day.

I have nothing to complain about… and yet…

This is hard.

No other word for it. THIS.IS.HARD.

Teaching online is hard. Not seeing your students in person is hard. Zoom meetings are hard. Teaching your own children is ~~impossible~~ hard.

It’s all hard.

And, I’m not sure it’s all that effective either. There. I said it. Distance learning is blah, at best. Take it from someone who is educating four kids at home.

My oldest, who is 10, is autistic. He is highly-functioning, but school is a struggle. While most 4^th graders are doing 4-6 hours a work a day, he has about three due to his modifications. However, a 15-minute (modified!) assignment can easily take him an hour because of all the scaffolding, bribing, coaxing, and crying he does. While we know he is capable and he’d be doing it for his special education teacher, we understand that our home is nothing like his classroom. And the relationship he has with his father and me is nothing like the ones he has with his teachers. We need to take multiple breaks, provide lots of snacks and opportunities for movement and “rewards,” and quiet time each day just to keep him going. Also, he cannot be left alone to work. One of us needs to be by his side, keeping on talk at all times. Needless to say, we get about 1.5-2 hours of his 3 hours finished each day. And both he and I are crying by the end every.single.day.

My twins are bright and energetic. They love school and learning. They happily come to the table every day with big smiles, ready to go! However, they are six. They are just learning to read. There is nothing, absolutely NOTHING! that they can do by themselves. And, being six, their attention spans are about 90 seconds at most. So, while they gladly do their work and love that my husband and I are their teachers, we get about 2 hours of actual work done in the 6-hour window we are using for “school time.”

My only kid who seems to be doing fine is my middle child. She is completely self-sufficient, remembers to charge her Chromebook each night, and runs her own class meetings each day with her friends. And because she reads several grade levels about where she should and is gifted in math, she has needed zero help from her father or me. But, when an 8-year old is completely running her own show, is real actual learning even happening?!? Is she being challenged and frustrated and thinking critically if she requires zero help from an adult?

(Please know, I am not being critical of anyone here! EVERYONE – teachers, administration, parents, kids – are all working to the best of their ability. We are all trying and doing our best job!)

Anyway, because of my experience with my own kids AND because I’m a stickler for equity AND because I’m blessed to work for a district that has encouraged us to come from a place of calm and compassion, leaving the rigor and pace of our regular curriculum for activities that foster community and support, I haven’t been bending over backwards to teach online.

Most of my “work” time is spent conversing with students online, talking to them and their parents on the phone, and providing feedback on the work kids are doing. I’m not making videos of myself lecturing, holding class via Zoom, grading till all hours of the night, or converting all my regular lessons to be compatible with Google Classroom.

Nope. Nope. Nope.

Now, I’ve refined my assignments since the beginning, but have stuck with the following over the last two weeks and I’m pretty sure I’ve found the “sweet spot.” Thinking it will stay this way till for the remainder of quarantine. It just seems to be “enough.” The kids can do it on their own (because so many of my kids are home alone during the day), it’s not overwhelming, and it’s engaging enough.

Weekly ELA Assignments for Distance Learning:

Twenty minutes of self-selected reading per day – books, magazines, the newspaper… just read!
Two Newsela articles per week, along with the quizzes, Power Word activities, and writing prompts
Twenty minutes of free writing per day

Not too bad, right? I know that for some of you, it probably seems too light. You’ll also notice that there is no new “instruction” happening, rather, the kids are just practicing everything we’ve been doing all year. That is purposeful. Knowing how hard it is to get work done in my own home, where there are two parents present, a device for each person (at least!), and dependable WiFi, I want to be fair in my assignments and expectations for my students who might not have all that.

So, I’m not sharing this with you to compare. Not trying to spark any type of debate over what distance learning should look like. If you are doing what works for you and are meeting your district’s requirements, kudos!

But, I’ve been getting so many questions about what I’m doing during this time and I wanted to respond. I wanted to wait, though, till I felt like I was getting it right. And this work load feels “right.”

Later this week, I’ll be sharing some of the things that I use for free writing. But, this post is long enough, so I’m signing off!

I’d love to hear about your assignments during quarantine, so feel free to reach out over on Facebook or Instagram!

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Let’s Connect