School Closures Came Too Late for Immunocompromised Teachers | Bitch Media

School Closures Came Too Late for Immunocompromised Teachers | Bitch Media

Immunocompromised Teachers Are on the Frontlines of Coronavirus

As COVID-19 continues spreading around the world, many people are paying lip service to the idea that precautions, such as social distancing, will prevent the immunocompromised, myself included, from contracting the virus. It’s an idea that has especially taken hold as some colleges and universities enact emergency protocols that will remove faculty, staff, and students from campuses and switch entire schools to distance-learning curriculums. Though colleges and universities across the United States have swiftly acted, closing their doors to students for the remainder of the semester, the damage may already be done.

On March 9, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, located about 100 miles west of Boston, switched to digital classrooms and advised their students not to return to campus after Spring Break. Harvard followed suit on March 10, after the school’s administrators learned that 77 of the Greater Boston Area’s 95 cases of COVID-19 could all be traced back to a meeting held in late February by the Cambridge-based biotech company Biogen. But I, a disabled, immunocompromised instructor at Emerson College, took Boston’s light rail to the school on March 10 to teach. (Public transportation is my main mode of transportation because my disability prevents me from driving.) At that time, no classes had been canceled and my 8 a.m. freshman research writing course would be the first of my classes meeting after the college’s Spring Break. However, the majority of students had already commingled with other students during Monday class sessions and in their on-campus dormitories.

That morning, I discovered many of my students had spent their breaks visiting European countries. Most—if not all—of my students were under the impression that COVID-19 wasn’t a big enough deal (after all, they said, they knew the outcomes of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, and Swine flu had gone) to cancel their Spring Break plans. If my 8 a.m. class was a microcosm of the student body at-large, then at CONTINUE READING: School Closures Came Too Late for Immunocompromised Teachers | Bitch Media

Education Research Report: The most popular Education Research Reports – All time

Education Research Report: The most popular Education Research Reports – All time

The most popular Education Research Reports – All time

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Teacher Tom: There Are Plenty of Things to Worry About Right Now: Your Preschooler's Education is Not One of Them

Teacher Tom: There Are Plenty of Things to Worry About Right Now: Your Preschooler's Education is Not One of Them

There Are Plenty of Things to Worry About Right Now: Your Preschooler's Education is Not One of Them

Increasingly it's looking like our children aren't going back to their schools until, at best, May, but quite possibly not until the fall. The world is in crisis, but let me assure you, it's not an educational crisis. We are confronting a health crisis, an economic crisis, a mental health crisis, and even a child care crisis, all of which will leave holes in our society that will take years to refill. But when it comes to the education of our preschoolers, we can and should relax.

Young children were built for this. Young children are the masters of learning from whatever life throws at them. Indeed, from the perspective of a typical preschooler, getting to stay home with the family might be the best thing that's ever happened. Oh sure, right now it might be hard. Right now the kids might be going a bit bonkers, but give it another week or so. Give your family a chance to find a rhythm. Soon the novelty of not having to separate from mom and dad each morning will begin to wear off and you'll get a better sense of your new normal. 

For many parents it's not possible, but those who can, I invite you to step away from your computer, hang up the phone, and just let your child climb all over you. Talk to them for as long as they want to talk. Snuggle as much as they want to snuggle. Play Candyland or read that favorite book, or listen to that special song over and over. Let your child know that for the foreseeable future they don't have to be anxious CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: There Are Plenty of Things to Worry About Right Now: Your Preschooler's Education is Not One of Them

Silver Lining for Learning: Conversations about Reimagining Education in Times of Crisis - Education in the Age of Globalization #silverliningforlearning

Education in the Age of Globalization » Blog Archive » Silver Lining for Learning: Conversations about Reimagining Education in Times of Crisis

 Silver Lining for Learning: Conversations about Reimagining Education in Times of Crisis

Silver Lining for Learning: Conversations about Reimagining Education in Times of Crisis

Silver Lining for Learning:
Conversations about the Future of Education
5:30-6:30pm EDT (US) Saturdays
Watch at: URL to be announced.
Twitter: #silverliningforlearning
Don’t waste a crisis — M.F. Weiner
The “dark cloud” of the Coronavirus crisis continues to cause havoc worldwide and seems a generation-defining event. In education, this crisis has forced schools and universities to close, pushing often unprepared institutions to move teaching and learning online. The already stressed educational ecosystem now faces unprecedented difficulties that will fall disproportionately on students of low socioeconomic status and marginalized groups. This situation continues to worsen and … Education in the Age of Globalization » Blog Archive » Silver Lining for Learning: Conversations about Reimagining Education in Times of Crisis

What If Schools Are Closed for More than a Year Due to the New Coronavirus (COVID-19)?

The outbreak of the new Coronavirus (COVID-19) has already forced schools and universities to close in China. It has also resulted in increased difficulties for international students to travel to attend their educational institutions as well as stoppage of on the ground operations of supplementary education (tutoring) services. Korea, Japan, Iran, Iraq, Italy are closing schools in the infected area and more countries are considering or preparing the closure of schools. And the situation seems to worsen globally, likely to affect more people and more schools.
This unfortunate event gives us … zhaolearning.com

Education in the Age of Globalization » Blog Archive » Silver Lining for Learning: Conversations about Reimagining Education in Times of Crisis

Chasing Success and Confronting Failure in American Schools | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Chasing Success and Confronting Failure in American Schools | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Chasing Success and Confronting Failure in American Schools

2020 is the 11th year I have been writing posts for this blog. In those 11 years, I have also written a few books. Every time I have had a new book come out, publishers and friends urge me to advertise the book on my blog.

I am torn, however. One part of me thinks that it is too pushy, too braggish, to tout my book in the blog. It is not that I am inherently a modest man but the thought of blowing my trumpet about what I do or did, well, makes me wince in embarrassment.

Yet another part of me says: “Hey, at a time when screens and the air are filled with constant grabbing for attention,” (eyeballs, as flacks put it), “I need to do the same.” After all, I am not on Facebook and only tweet titles of my posts when I publish them. Social media is largely foreign to me although readers of the blog, tweet about posts I have published–so I do benefit from that. Consider further that over a million self-published books come out a year (2017). Book readers have to be especially selective.

Moreover, with this abundance of reading material at a time when sustained attention to read a 200-page book competes with reading one’s Facebook pages and twitter feed, getting reviewed in a national newspaper, magazine, or media publication is rare–the New York Times reviews less than three percent of new books it receives. Yes, you can cadge reviews for your book on Amazon, but the cachet is limited. So why not blow my trumpet–that other part of me says.

This back-and-forth interior conversation is what occurred when I CONTINUE READING: Chasing Success and Confronting Failure in American Schools | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

NYC Educator: Uncharted Territory

NYC Educator: Uncharted Territory

Uncharted Territory

I often think of the apocryphal Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times." It crossed my mind quite a bit when Mike Bloomberg was mayor. But the times seem to get more and more interesting.

I've never seen a time like this. My mother once told me she got scarlet fever as a child and was quarantined. Back then they weren't as advanced as we are. They, you know, actually tested and diagnosed you, even if you didn't happen to be Tom Hanks.

Now I go to work, what's left of it, and everyone is wearing masks and gloves. I understand, of course, the urge to protect yourself. Still, last week we were in the building with 4,999 other people, right up until Friday. We weren't wearing masks or gloves then, or the day before that, or the day before that. We haven't got a diagnosed case in our school. This notwithstanding, I only know of one person who's been tested. I cannot imagine that no one is carrying the virus. Far easier, for me, is to imagine everyone has it.

Then there are our jobs, which have changed substantively in the space of a week. I was excited about trying new technology with my classes, excited about seeing my students and perhaps guiding and supporting them through these troubled times. Then, of course, Part 154 popped up, with its demand for a certain number of minutes. Evidently the geniuses in Albany could not waive that for anything so simple as a deadly pandemic, even if the classes they mandate don't remotely meet the needs of ELLs. It appears to me, at least, that to meet the CONTINUE READING: NYC Educator: Uncharted Territory

A field engagement strategy for COVID-19: How to adapt teacher education in this crisis environment | Cloaking Inequity

A field engagement strategy for COVID-19: How to adapt teacher education in this crisis environment | Cloaking Inequity

A FIELD ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY FOR COVID-19: HOW TO ADAPT TEACHER EDUCATION IN THIS CRISIS ENVIRONMENT

Our University of Kentucky College of Education leadership team has been communicating nearly around the clock via meetings, texts, calls etc. the last few weeks to respond to the Covid-19 crisis. Our leaders, faculty and staff have sought to be innovative to address the challenges of teacher education in this crisis. Margaret Mohr-Schroeder, UK College of Education Professor & Associate Dean, penned this excellent post on our UK strategy. She can be reacher at m.mohr@uky.edu (Don’t try to steal her to be the dean at your institution)

When the COVID-19 pandemic started taking hold stateside, our immediate concern turned to our students. At the University of Kentucky College of Education, like many colleges of education, about 75% of our students have some sort of field experience requirement within their coursework. As K-12 schools began to announce closings, our challenge was broad, yet simple – How can we continue to engage our students in the practice of teaching during uncertain times?

We first divided our students into different categories based on where the experience took place in their program (e.g., before admission to the teacher education program, after admission, student teaching). This helped provide structure for our tasks.

 

Initially, the university announced it would suspend in-person classes for the two weeks that followed Spring Break. Our first plan was written with the expectation that our students would eventually return to campus. However, due to growing concerns about the spread of the virus at the state and national levels and K-12 school closures, the university announced during spring break that it would move to online or alternative formats for classroom instruction for the remainder of the semester. We expected this could happen, and made some quick decisions. You can find our full plan here, but to recap:

1. Field experiences were canceled for students not yet admitted into a teacher education program.
2. For students who had been admitted to a teacher education program, field experiences were initially suspended. However, after it was announced we would be in an alternate delivery mode for the rest of the semester, we developed an online Canvas course for students to complete modules.
3. Student teachers were encouraged to stay in their school until that school made a decision to close. Once that happened, they switched to completing modules in Canvas.

Student Teachers

First, we set our expectations for what this was going to look like for our students. Our biggest struggle was deciding on the amount of time each week they should be spending on material. On the one hand, our student teachers are in a school for 8 to 9 hours a day. But, we felt it was unreasonable to expect students to complete online modules for that many hours, especially given the uncertain circumstances. We studied SACS-COC contact hour requirements. We studied Kentucky Department of Education regulations for “non-traditional instruction” days  (the program many Kentucky school districts use to continue to provide instruction to students through virtual or other non-traditional means when schools must cancel days due to health or safety reasons).

 

In the end, we settled on 3-4 hours a day for a minimum of 18 hours a week. Our state tracks days for student teaching and so we landed on 210 minutes = 1 day. You can view our expectations here.The key takeaways: (1) student teachers need to engage each week day and (2) student teachers cannot work ahead. When we thought about how we prepare our teachers and the standards all our programs ascribe to, we knew we had an obligation to ask our students to engage in the practice of teaching each week day.

 

We held YouTube LIVE sessions for our student teachers to orient them to our plan, to assure them we were keeping them on track for graduating, and to answer all their questions. We broke them into four categories based on numbers and similar questions they might have. We encouraged program chairs to be with us in person or online to help field questions and make sure we were all on the same page. You can view the sessions here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugbuFZjdSaI

 

A basic script of what we followed can be found here.

 

Our university uses Canvas as our learning management system. We created a special Canvas Course and put every Spring 2020 student teacher in it. It is modules-based. Some are self-created while others are pulled from Canvas Commons. We invited students to tell us what else they wanted; we wanted to be sure their voice was included in what we were doing. Some have sent us additional online PD they would like to complete. That student teachers themselves have advocated for what they need to be successful in completing their requirements and learning plans. We gave them a lot of choices in the Canvas course and I think that’s what makes it unique. Many of their cooperating teachers are still engaging with their classroom students through various means. Some of the student teachers are engaged in that work and they get credit for that (e.g., online Zoom sessions for students, YouTube read-a-louds, packet planning for home work). Others are working on their Google Level 1 and 2 certification. Others are engaged in high leverage practices. Still others are working through modules on implicit bias, cultural competency, and growth mindset. This resource continues to grow daily. All 188 of our student teachers have engaged every day for a minimum of 3-4 hours. They are excited about the opportunity to stay engaged and we’re thrilled to be able to offer a stable, alternate method during a time of such uncertainty.

 

Practicum Students (e.g., 1-3 semesters before student teaching, but after they are admitted to a program) – Links coming soon!

 

Our practicum students were in the middle of their placements (most spend 4-5 continuous weeks of the semester in their school) when COVID-19 began to swiftly spread through the Commonwealth. We first suspended their placements, holding on to the faint glimmer of hope that our K-12 schools would return sometime this spring.

 

However, when the university made the decision to suspend in-person coursework for the remainder of the semester, we created a Canvas Course (link coming soon!) similar to the one designed for our student teachers. All of our teacher education students in the state must earn 200 hours after they are admitted to the teacher education program and before they can do their student teaching. Therefore, most of our courses are pretty well-defined in terms of the number of field hours expected. In our new plan, they simply need to complete the remaining number of field hours in the online module environment. The expectations are a bit different for this group as they are still engaged 2-3 times a week with their methods instructors. We are allowing students to complete the number of hours they need at any time prior to the end of the semester.

 

We know this is not a perfect solution. We know we will probably have to pivot and create contingencies for other challenges (I’m looking at you ETS…). However, we think the systems we’ve put into place for our students (a) allow for flexibility and encourage self care; (b) allow them to stay engaged in the practice of teaching while also taking care of things most important to them right now; (c) allow them to complete course requirements and teacher certification requirements so they can be eligible for graduation and certification at the end of the semester.

 

If you have questions or have suggestions for us, please reach out to Margaret Mohr-Schroeder, Associate Dean for Clinical Preparation and Partnerships and Professor of STEM Education, at m.mohr@uky.edu

 

This work would not have happened without the teamwork and effort of Rosetta Sandidge, Senior Associate Dean; Sharon Brennan, Director of Field Experiences; and our Program Chairs and Supervisors of our Teacher Education Programs (http://education.uky.edu).

 

To read more about UK’s response to the coronavirus, please visit http://www.uky.edu/coronavirus

 

Quick Links:

• Our plan for all our students – https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iWwDNc-KJLcxVtbVYWYhmMnJLcl9vLoHInjHebafg0c/edit?usp=sharing
• Link to our YouTube LIVE sessions that we did to orient our student teachers to online and answer their questions – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugbuFZjdSaI
• Script for YouTube LIVE session – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HStWXkZApZQmIcW-_zWG-8Z9v23syPW6/view?usp=sharing
• Student Teaching Canvas Course (you should be able to copy it) – https://uk.instructure.com/courses/1986291
• Expectations for the student teachers – https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-UUwxVosP2oDTxkqY_2IlTB77u2JN0jmreZlbzoVMjQ/edit?usp=sharing
• Practicum Canvas Course (coming soon!)
• Expectations for Practicum students (coming soon!)

This is cross-posted on https://cloakinginequity.com/ and https://www.margaretmohrschroeder.com/

Hope this is helpful. Email Margaret if you have any questions.

Please Facebook Like, Tweet, etc below and/or reblog to share this discussion with others.

Check out and follow my YouTube channel here.

Twitter: @ProfessorJVH

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A field engagement strategy for COVID-19: How to adapt teacher education in this crisis environment | Cloaking Inequity

Educating The Whole Child At Home During Quarantine: Helping kids cope with anxiety and learn from life–Diary of a Teacher During the Coronavirus Crisis, Entry #3 – I AM AN EDUCATOR

Educating The Whole Child At Home During Quarantine: Helping kids cope with anxiety and learn from life–Diary of a Teacher During the Coronavirus Crisis, Entry #3 – I AM AN EDUCATOR

Educating The Whole Child At Home During Quarantine: Helping kids cope with anxiety and learn from life–Diary of a Teacher During the Coronavirus Crisis, Entry #3

During this period of mass school closures around the country and around the world due to COVID-19, Seattle teacher Jesse Hagopian is sharing his experience with educating his kids at home and helping social movements to promote public health. Below is Jesse’s “Diary Entry #3.” You can follow these posts at http://www.IAmAnEducator.com. Jesse is conducting a free webinar on Thursday, March 19th at 1pm Pacific Time titled, “Education in the Time of Coronavirus.”  In this presentation he will talk about his own experience transitioning from being a classroom teacher to homeschooling his children, share resources to support parents who are looking for activities for their kids, and talk about how we can build a collective struggle to support the most vulnerable students and families who are hardest hit by the closure of schools and the lack of a social safety net in this country. You can register, while space is available, here.

—

As the coronavirus news continues to worsen, I am determined to build a positive space at home to help my two kids understand what is happening in our world—in an age appropriate way—and contribute what I can to the struggle to uplift the most vulnerable people during this crisis.  

The updates on the impact of the coronavirus today have been severe.  Reports today reveal that one in five households have already experienced a layoff or CONTINUE READING: Educating The Whole Child At Home During Quarantine: Helping kids cope with anxiety and learn from life–Diary of a Teacher During the Coronavirus Crisis, Entry #3 – I AM AN EDUCATOR

SSPI Thurmond Hosts COVID-19 Webinar - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)

SSPI Thurmond Hosts COVID-19 Webinar - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)

State Superintendent Tony Thurmond Hosts COVID-19 Webinar to Support Schools and Clarify New State Guidelines

SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent Tony Thurmond today hosted a webinar for district, school and county office education leaders to walk through new state guidance documents released last night, covering the areas of distance learning, special education, meals/nutrition services, and child care support. The document issued by Governor Newsom yesterday was created under the March 13 Executive Order N-26-20 to address many of the immediate concerns that teachers, administrators, and parents are facing in the wake of COVID-19-related school closures.

“We are currently experiencing very difficult times, unchartered territory, experiences that we’ve never seen before. In spite of that fact, Californians are resilient and I want to acknowledge the resilience of our students, our teachers, our staff, our administrators, and the parents of our students,” said Thurmond during his opening remarks.

To view the guidance document and for more information about coronavirus (COVID-19), please see the CDE’s Coronavirus web page.

State Superintendent Thurmond, State Board President Linda Darling-Hammond, and California Department of Education staff are working diligently to answer questions as quickly as possible. The California Department of Education will issue updates to this guidance and others every Friday, in addition to issuing new and updated guidance as the need arises.

Thurmond Supports Statewide Guidance Issued by Gov - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education) - https://www.cde.ca.gov/nr/ne/yr20/yr20rel12.asp

Tony Thurmond — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5602, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100

SSPI Thurmond Hosts COVID-19 Webinar - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)

CURMUDGUCATION: Trust And Teaching

CURMUDGUCATION: Trust And Teaching

Trust And Teaching

Among the may lessons we get to glean from the coronavirus semester is this one: trust matters.

Trust matters a lot. And it matters in little things as well as big things, because little things set the stage for big things. You can start out with silly stuff like "My inauguration crowd was the biggest ever," and folks can just wave it off as harmless, but at the other end of the road is a major event for which the public needs a dependable national-level source of information, and there is not one to be found.

Trumpism is a symptom of a larger disease, fed and watered by the internet (which is neutral on the subject of truth) and actively supported by the fringe media (which is actively opposed to it). Fox is only the most successful of the breed. There are plenty of others out there pushing conspiracy theories and fear-feeding bullshit (go see just how much is out there pushing the idea that the coronavirus is caused by 5G phone networking). Both sides do it, but the right does it more effectively (Fox News).

Trust is a quality that literally erodes-- the more of it that is worn away, the harder it is to build, and the faster even more is lost. In the absence of trust, fear grows. And fear makes people stupid. And people who don't know how to build or gauge trust become increasingly desperate for someone or something that will tell them what to think, what to feel, what to do.

That leads to the most classic of mistakes--mistaking confidence for competence.

This is a mistake that young humans are particularly prone to make (I once read a piece arguing convincingly that the key to being popular in high school is being confident).

So what is a classroom teacher to do?

First, earn the trust of your students. Create a trust-filled environment, and put the maintenance of that trust at the top of the list of your teaching values. That means being honest, including about CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Trust And Teaching

Jersey Jazzman: Edu-Blogging In the Age of COVID-19

Jersey Jazzman: Edu-Blogging In the Age of COVID-19

Edu-Blogging In the Age of COVID-19

Just a quick note:

At first, it seems kind of ridiculous to be blogging about education policy at a moment like this. I don't think we've had a national crisis of this magnitude since WWII. Why would we debate school policy now?

But the more I think about it, the more it seems we should be engaging on K-12 policy at exactly this moment. We have, for all intents and purposes, shut down our nation's schools. That's not the same as shutting down schooling, of course. But we are still being presented with a moment where we can step back and think carefully about what we should expect from our schools, whether we've set them up for success, and what "success" might really mean.

So I'm going to continue blogging about education, and not always through the lens of COVID-19's consequences. Because this crisis will pass at some point, and we ought to be ready then to go back to school with the goal not of returning to normal, but returning to something better.

Stand by...

Jersey Jazzman: Edu-Blogging In the Age of COVID-19

Stick To The Science, Stick To The Facts, And Stick Together – Los Angeles Education Examiner

Stick To The Science, Stick To The Facts, And Stick Together – Los Angeles Education Examiner

Stick To The Science, Stick To The Facts, And Stick Together

… a great mantra, as important for quotidian matters as during this time of pandemic. It was invoked as the guiding light of the State’s Covid-19 task force according to Carmela Coil, head of the CA Hospital Association (@1:04:04). Our public officials have been scrabbling all day to forward practical advice and transparency amidst directives hewed from excruciating tradeoffs – earnings, childcare, learning, economic impact, public health, safety, protection.

As Mayor Garcetti says, the choices we each make to further social distancing, do matter. See an example of our actions “flatten the curve” here (@ 5:25). And an exploration of geometric growth (@ 2:34) that demonstrates its potential convincingly and explains the course of a pandemic. Empirically simulate these phenomena for yourself to comprehend more intuitively how quickly these numbers grow, and may be contained. Figure 1 below shows the progress to date of diagnosed cases in CONTINUE READING: Stick To The Science, Stick To The Facts, And Stick Together – Los Angeles Education Examiner