“These stories aren’t told for the same reason you can’t go to the circus and see yetis riding on unicorns while playing bagpipes built out of skittles.” – Peter Greene, CURMUDGUCATION
I have two kids enrolled in MNPS. One is in 5th, the other in 6th grade. Both are remaining virtual for the duration of this school year. My thinking is, back in August I enrolled them into one experiment, why would I jump mid-stream into another experiment. And that’s exactly what in-person schooling is currently, an experiment.
It’s one that comes with heartwarming pictures and anecdotal tales of sudden student rejuvenation. It’s sold as a return to “normal”, whatever that is. But like most things in education, everything that glitters is not gold.
A return to school building means excepting a plethora of new protocols – safe distancing, rotating teachers instead of students, lunch in classrooms, and masks. Every input has unintended outputs. At this juncture, we have no concept of the long-term impact of these protocols intended for short-term safety. The reason being, we’ve never done school like this. Just like with remote schooling, we’ve never done in-person schooling with this level of safety protocols currently employed. As CONTINUE READING: CONSTRUCTING UNICORN BARNS – Dad Gone Wild