Desperate parents need help as coronavirus forces us into homeschooling

Desperate parents need help as coronavirus forces us into homeschooling

Desperate parents need help as coronavirus upends our lives
We’re all exhausted, some of us are going hungry, and more and more of us are getting sick

As an education reporter, I’ve watched hundreds of teachers lead classrooms and I’ve learned that their job is one of the hardest in the world. The best teachers seem to have endless supplies of energy, patience and creativity. They manage to inspire both love and awe, keeping kids simultaneously inspired and on task.

It’s a job I know I could never do myself. And yet here I am. Here we all are.

My 4-year-old and 6-year-old attend public school in New York City, which closed schools Monday, March 15, to slow the virulent spread of the coronavirus here. During the first week, our school sent home a handful of worksheets and some links to educational software and shows. I made a color-coded schedule accounting for every hour of the day that usually fell apart by 10am.

A week later, we were hit with a flurry of instructions about how to set up remote schooling on laptops and iPads in our homes (parents who needed devices were instructed to apply for them online, of all things). The Google Classroom page for my first grader included multiple assignments from multiple teachers, plus instructions on how to teach her to type in a pdf.

That first day seems like years ago. I feel exhausted and frayed by this new expectation that I add homeschooling to the already CONTINUE READING: Desperate parents need help as coronavirus forces us into homeschooling

Kennedy HS whistleblower sues charter group | The Lens

Kennedy HS whistleblower sues charter group | The Lens

Kennedy HS whistleblower sues charter group

A former charter school network administrator who was fired last year after alerting superiors to suspicious grade changes at John F. Kennedy High School, is suing the school’s charter operator — the New Beginnings Schools Foundation — citing the state’s whistleblower law. 

In the suit, the former administrator, Runell King, alleges he was fired immediately after threatening to go to the media when the charter group dismissed his concerns. 

The timing, the suit charges, suggests that his refusal to participate in apparent grade inflation, telling his bosses about it and then threatening to go public were why he was fired. 

King ultimately did go public with his concerns last year, shortly after his firing. In March 2019, he told The Lens that higher-ups at the New Beginnings Schools Foundation initially failed to conduct a thorough investigation into about a dozen instances of students’ grades being inflated at the Gentilly high school. Shortly after the story was published, the network’s board authorized a new investigation, which eventually uncovered much deeper problems at the school. 

The network’s internal investigation — along with work by a contractor hired to help manage the network and probes by the state and NOLA Public Schools district — uncovered widespread mismanagement, special education problems and student CONTINUE READING: Kennedy HS whistleblower sues charter group | The Lens

Ohio Legislature Allows Continued Growth of EdChoice Vouchers in Schools Where EdChoice Now Operates | janresseger

Ohio Legislature Allows Continued Growth of EdChoice Vouchers in Schools Where EdChoice Now Operates | janresseger

Ohio Legislature Allows Continued Growth of EdChoice Vouchers in Schools Where EdChoice Now Operates

Both chambers of the Ohio Legislature came into session on Wednesday to pass an omnibus “coronavirus” bill, which sets the date of the now delayed primary election, waives mandated standardized testing in schools that have been closed during the pandemic emergency, and allows seniors to graduate from high school as long as they were on track to graduate before their school was closed.

The bill also freezes the threatened April 1, 2020, expansion of the number of Ohio’s public school buildings where students can qualify for an EdChoice voucher. The Statehouse News Bureau‘s Karen Kasler reports: “The legislation freezes the number of EdChoice buildings at 517, the same number as this school year—though new rules on criteria for determining whether a building was failing and the students were EdChoice eligible were supposed to have that number soaring to over 1200.”  The number of EdChoice Designated public schools was supposed to have jumped on February 1, but in late January, unable to agree on a plan, members of the legislature gave themselves a two-month extension until April 1.  By acting on Wednesday to freeze the number of voucher-eligible buildings, legislators at least blocked what would have been next week’s massive expansion of the program.

However, the legislature’s EdChoice freeze on the number of eligible buildings will slow but not stop the number of new vouchers students are taking from their local school districts through something called “the school-district deduction.”

In a statement on Wednesday, the  President of the Ohio Federation of Teachers, Melissa Cropper explains why the emergency bill, passed on Wednesday to stop the number of voucher-eligible schools from exploding to 1,200 on April 1, won’t solve the problem for school districts: “The Ohio (Legislature) took action today to freeze building eligibility for EdChoice CONTINUE READING: Ohio Legislature Allows Continued Growth of EdChoice Vouchers in Schools Where EdChoice Now Operates | janresseger

CURMUDGUCATION: Why Teach Literature Stuff: #3 Knowing Stuff Is Useful

CURMUDGUCATION: Why Teach Literature Stuff: #3 Knowing Stuff Is Useful

Why Teach Literature Stuff: #3 Knowing Stuff Is Useful

When I was teaching, and I had extra time on my hands, I would reflect on the work--the whys and hows and whats. So in solidarity with my former colleagues, I'm going to write a series about every English teacher's favorite thing-- teaching literature, and why we do it. There will be some number of posts (I don't have a plan here).

Also, it would be nice to write and read about something positive, and I don't know anything much more positive than what teachers do and why they do it.

It is easy to fall into the habit of thinking that school is about taking material in so that one can just spit it out again on command, like some bites of vegetable that one holds in ones mouth but neither chews nor swallows.

But it is useful to know stuff. Not in a get a good score on the test way, but in a live your life way. Yes, it's useful because it helps you understand the world and how to be in it (see #2). But there's more to it.

You can see patterns, and see that this thing over here is a lot like that thing over there. You can see that events over here are unfolding much like those events way back then. In my years in the classroom, I taught an awful lot by analogy, by examples. The foundation for that was my old-fashioned liberal arts education; I know a little bit about a lot of things, but not everything about anything. And to be able to pull in connections that meant something to my students, I read up on current youth cultury stuff (for a while I knew waaaayyyy more than I wanted to about The Hills).

I know a little bit about a lot of things the only way someone can-- I read. And that has made a difference in my ability to see patterns and similarities and differences, which are all things you CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Why Teach Literature Stuff: #3 Knowing Stuff Is Useful

Audio: The Biggest Distance-Learning Experiment In History: Week One | 89.3 KPCC

Audio: The Biggest Distance-Learning Experiment In History: Week One | 89.3 KPCC

The Biggest Distance-Learning Experiment In History: Week One

For 6-year-old Sadie Hernandez, the first day of online school started at her round, wooden kitchen table in Jacksonville, Fla. She turned on an iPad and started talking to her first grade teacher, Robin Nelson.

"Are you ready to do this online stuff?" her teacher asks, in a video sent to NPR by Hernandez's mother, Audrey.

"Yeah," Sadie responds.
"It's kind of scary isn't it?"
"Kind of."

Sadie's teacher reminds her that they'll be using the educational software that she is already familiar with from her face-to-face classes at Ortega Elementary School: "It's iReady, so we've got that. And we've got WritingCity. And now you know how to meet me in the morning."

Every state has closed at least some public schools to fight the spread of coronavirus, and some are starting to say they expect to be closed through the end of the school year.

Thrown into the breach, public schools are setting out on an unprecedented experiment: With little training and even fewer resources, in a matter of days they're shifting from a system of education that for centuries has focused on face to face interaction, to one that works entirely at a distance.

Diana Greene, the superintendent of Duval County Schools where Robin Nelson teaches, sent an email to her staff on Friday, March 20 that illustrates the magnitude of the effort educators around the country are faced with:

"It is amazing to me that it was just 3 days ago that we made the decision to close CONTINUE READING: Audio: The Biggest Distance-Learning Experiment In History: Week One | 89.3 KPCC

Please Don’t Call It ‘HOMESCHOOLING’ | The Merrow Report

Please Don’t Call It ‘HOMESCHOOLING’ | The Merrow Report

Please Don’t Call It ‘HOMESCHOOLING’

Now that nearly all public schools have closed their doors because of Covid-19, about 50 million school-age children are being ‘Homeschooled,’ and parents are being told that they should be dividing their children’s days into time periods for academic subjects and following lesson plans. That’s how The Today Show approached the subject recently, giving parents a step-by-step map, the first step being “Set Up School.”  That’s exactly the wrong advice, in my view, a recipe for failure on every level.

Unfortunately, it’s not just The Today Show, because a lot of school systems seem to be reflexively behaving as if they could simply transplant school’s routines to the home.  Some are emailing or posting lesson plans that they expect students (and parents) to follow. Distance Learning and on-line instruction are all the rage, but most of this seems to be “same old, same old”–the straightforward presentation of information.  While these may be understandable responses to the crisis, they’re not particularly helpful in my view.

While anxiety is understandable, it’s healthier to look for the opportunities that Covid-19 is creating.  Let’s begin by abandoning the term ‘Homeschooling,’ because no one should be trying to turn homes into schools.  Schools are organized for crowd control and group instruction, which is why they have established periods of time for individual subjects, bells, and lesson plans in order to run smoothly. Homes don’t need bells, et cetera.

But don’t take my word for it, because there’s plenty of sensible advice out there, including this: “Learning doesn’t have to take the form of worksheets and spelling tests. Young children have such a strong desire for knowledge. If you can trust them to lead the way, you may be surprised by how they choose to spend their time and where their curiosity takes CONTINUE READING: Please Don’t Call It ‘HOMESCHOOLING’ | The Merrow Report

NEA Tele-Town Hall with Lily Eskelsen García on COVID-19 - NEA Today

NEA Tele-Town Hall with Lily Eskelsen García on COVID-19   - NEA Today

NEA Tele-Town Hall with Lily Eskelsen García on COVID-19

Understanding the need for clear and accurate information during a time that’s filled with fear and uncertainty led NEA President Lily Eskelsen García to host a tele-town hall meeting on March 25 with more than a thousand association leaders around the country.

While there was much to celebrate on the call—from the valiant efforts of educators who are continuing to teach and support students to the announcement of NEA’s 2020 ESP of the Year—there was also business to conduct.

“The NEA building is closed during this national emergency, but…we’re working by phone, email, and any way to maintain connections [and] we’ve been working day and night to protect our members, students, and our communities,” says Eskelsen García, who was hunkered in place in her home.

The hour-long call focused on policy, advocacy, and legislation, including the $2 trillion stimulus plan out of Congress. Here are some key takeaways:

Policy: Testing, Students with Disabilities, Student Loans, and Meals.

• Testing: The U.S. Department of Education has offered some flexibility, specifically for K-12 (higher education to come), on testing and accountability requirements for the 2019-2020 school year. The Every Student Succeeds Act requires annual testing as an accountability measure of student and school performance. However, states can apply for a waiver and bypass standardized testing. So far, well over half of the states have received a waiver—and every state is eligible to apply.
• Students with disabilities: Additionally, the education department released guidance around supporting students with disabilities and underscored that schools “should not opt to close or decline to provide distance instruction, at the expense of students, to address matters pertaining to services for students with disabilities.” Schools must provide a free and appropriate public education to those with disabilities, the fact sheet states, but the way that’s achieved during a coronavirus-related closure might be different. Educators and parents should work together to find ways to meet students’ needs through digital platforms, over the phone as well as through low-tech options like instructional packets and projects.
• English language learners: While the department of education has yet to release guidance on how to support English language learners, NEA is urging school officials to include this population as part of their planning.
• Student loans: All borrowers with federally held student loans will automatically have their interest rates set to 0% for a period of at least 60 days. Plus, each of these borrowers can apply to postpone their payments for at least two months, temporarily stopping their payments without worrying about accruing interest. This is retroactive to March 13, when the national emergency was declared. Lastly, wage garnishments and collection actions will be held for any borrowers who were moving into a default status.
• Meals: The U.S. Department of Agriculture has made it easier for all 50 states and U.S. territories to ensure students have meals. The implementation of how students will get fed has now moved to state, district, and school level decision makers.

Advocacy: Keep Pressure on Congress.

Members of Congress have seen first-hand how educators quickly work to make sure students are supported—even during a national emergency—as well as how public schools are the economic drivers for employment and the economic vitality of communities CONTINUE READING: NEA Tele-Town Hall with Lily Eskelsen García on COVID-19   - NEA Today

With coronavirus closures, disabled students lose services - Los Angeles Times

With coronavirus closures, disabled students lose services - Los Angeles Times

Students with disabilities deprived of crucial services because of coronavirus closures

Nine-year-old Trevor de la Torre was home with a migraine when his parents got word that his school was closing in response to the coronavirus emergency — and his critically needed hands-on therapies would effectively stop, too.

His one-on-one reading specialist, gone. His speech therapy, gone. His occupational therapist who is teaching him how to write letters, gone. His one-on-one classroom aide is no longer by his side to help him understand assignments and break down lessons into more manageable parts.

Trevor was born with a rare brain malformation called hemimegalencephaly — half his brain was removed when he was 6 months old to stop life-threatening seizures. He has only half of his vision and his mobility, as well as visual, auditory, speech and developmental delays, his mother, Kelly de la Torre, said.

Now the expert support team provided by the Poway Unified School District is only permitted by the district to wave a virtual hello and check in on video chat — and Kelly de la Torre is everything to her son.

“It’s a ton to be balanced. I felt very anxious this week and I don’t usually struggle with anxiety,” said de la Torre, who also has children who are 2 and 10 years old.

Students with disabilities and their parents, like the de la Torre family, were dealt a particularly harsh blow when the coronavirus emergency shut down California schools. Overnight, the intense hands-on assistance required for their children’s education and physical needs was no longer available, and in many cases not suitable for online learning.

Under federal education and civil rights law, public schools are required to provide equal educational resources to students with disabilities. School districts that do not meet the individual needs promised in personalized education plans could be at risk of losing federal funding.

Statewide, 767,560 California students, about 12% of the total, received special education services in 2017-18, according to the National Center for Education Services. In Los Angeles. public schools alone, there are about 70,000 special CONTINUE READING: With coronavirus closures, disabled students lose services - Los Angeles Times

Hope and the History of School Reform | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Hope and the History of School Reform | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Hope and the History of School Reform

Nine years ago I wrote this post after meeting with a group of graduate students working on their Masters in Business Administration. Many had taught for a few years through Teach for America and were eager to apply their knowledge and skills learned in the MBA program to low-performing schools where most students were of color.

So why re-post this piece? As a historian of school reform I hear often from readers, former students, and teachers that my recounting of failed reforms and disappointing results after efforts to transform schooling lead to despair if not cynicism about the entire landscape of school improvement. And that is what I have been hearing recently from some readers. So I decided to re-publish this piece.

A few weeks ago, I was invited to speak to a group of Stanford University graduate students who were completing a joint Masters’ degree in education and business administration.

Many of the 18 students sitting around a seminar table had taught a few years in urban schools through Teach for America. Those who had no direct experience in schools had worked for consulting firms with contracts in major urban districts. Smart, savvy about organizations and passionate about reforming schools, the students wanted to hear my thoughts about reform that I had extracted from CONTINUE READING: Hope and the History of School Reform | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

A Wise Superintendent Offers Counsel for Our Times | Diane Ravitch's blog

A Wise Superintendent Offers Counsel for Our Times | Diane Ravitch's blog

A Wise Superintendent Offers Counsel for Our Times 

Michael Matsuda is Superintendent of the Anaheim Union High School District in California. He served on the board of the Network for Public Education.

Important Message Sent on Behalf of Superintendent Matsuda

Fifty years from now, when our students are old, when they have children and grandchildren of their own, they will look back and say, “Do you remember what happened?” I picture them pensively reflecting, staring silently, breathing deeply, perhaps tearing up, and then after reliving the experience to the very end, smiling, “Those were the times of amazing grace, when people came together with kindness and compassion to support each other, when they made sacrifices for complete strangers, when schools became beacons of hope for families who were food deprived, and when teachers transformed educational experiences through emotional connection, through affirming mental health, and through meaningful learning.”

It was a time when people realized that humanity has no barriers, and that love is limitless if we have the courage to embrace it and to share it near and far, with neighbors and strangers, with old and young, rich and poor, Christian, Hindu, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, LGBT, black, brown, yellow, and white. It was a time like no other, CONTINUE READING: A Wise Superintendent Offers Counsel for Our Times | Diane Ravitch's blog

John Richard Schrock: Distance Learning Is Inferior to Human Interaction | Diane Ravitch's blog

John Richard Schrock: Distance Learning Is Inferior to Human Interaction | Diane Ravitch's blog

John Richard Schrock: Distance Learning Is Inferior to Human Interaction

John Richard Schrock was a professor of science education at a Emporia State University for many years. He also taught in middle and high schools, as well as in Hong Kong. He frequently writes about education issues.

Screen Reading and Online Coursework Inferior

The forced closure of classrooms and shift to online learning from home has revived the hopes of big Ed-Tech companies that they can regain some legitimacy in education. Meanwhile, the general response of teachers and professors is exposing their extensive negative experiences with distance learning.

In the early 2000s, computer enthusiasts predicted the end of “brick-and-mortar” K-12 schools; students would study from home in their pajamas, using online links to teachers who would also teach from home. New digital readers were predicted to totally replace printed books by 2015. And massive open online colleges (MOOCs) would deliver all coursework online and free, replacing university coursework and making college classrooms obsolete a decade ago.

None of these predictions came true. Our armed forces CONTINUE READING: John Richard Schrock: Distance Learning Is Inferior to Human Interaction | Diane Ravitch's blog

Advice for Parents: Talking to Kids About COVID-19 | Cloaking Inequity

Advice for Parents: Talking to Kids About COVID-19 | Cloaking Inequity

ADVICE FOR PARENTS: TALKING TO KIDS ABOUT COVID-19

Below is a blog post from the University of Kentucky College of Education Department of Educational, School and Counseling Psychology’s Candace Hargons about best practices when talking to your kids about COVID-19.

In these unprecedented and trying times, most of us are having to manage our own fears and concerns about how we want to live through the COVID-19 pandemic. However, for those of us who are parents, we are also considering the experience we want to create for our kids and how we help them manage as well. As a licensed psychologist, a former high school teacher turned professor, as well as a married, working mom, I am sharing a few of the strategies I’ve learned based on psychological research and lived experience. Not everything works for everyone, but these can be used to get you started and help you continue to adapt.

1. Allow your children room to identify and express their feelings. In an effort to protect kids, some of us minimize the thoughts, emotions, and sensations they may be experiencing. We figure if we tell them not to be afraid, they will not feel it; however, telling kids not to be scared teaches them to hide fear, rather than to feel less fearful. Feelings give us good information about how a situation is being experienced, even though as the mantra goes “feelings aren’t facts.” Younger kids are more likely to have physical symptoms related to their emotions, rather than emotional language. So, invite your kids to tell you or show you how they feel. It doesn’t need to be a long conversation. You can simply ask: “How are you feeling today?” They can draw it, write it, or talk it out. After they answer, you can respond with gratitude and empathy with “Thank you for sharing that with me” or “That sounds tough. Would you like a hug?” You don’t have to fix it, because you may not be able to.

2. Maintain a similar rhythm in the ways you can. For example, wake time and/or bedtime can be maintained in most cases. If you were already doing a set family meal time, keep that up. This consistency facilitates mental health. Since so many things are changing at once, reducing the overall number of adjustments they have to make can reduce stress.

3. Incorporate time for play. In the rush to maintain academic rigor, your students may be receiving a lot of work. This is useful, but so is play time. Play is how younger kids learn. Social engagement is how adolescents learn. Family play time can be a new part of your week, if it isn’t already. Kid play time if you have multiples can be semi-structured (you set the play activity) or free play (you let them decide within a certain timeframe). Some artists are hosting online paint parties. Other parents are co-hosting digital play dates. For adolescents, support their need for communication and social engagement with peers (within a social distancing context) by allowing Facetime or Google Duo video interaction. Virtual dance parties are gaining popularity, so this may be an option for your teen’s school. Also, make sure there is regular physical activity, which can be incorporated with the play, for everyone.

4. Manage the media. Some news outlets are more sensational than others. Some outlets have more credible information than others. Media literacy is another teaching opportunity. If you don’t already watch, I’ve found Governor Beshear’s evening fireside chat and COVID-19 updates to be refreshingly balanced and informative. Make the decision for your family about what media you will and will not follow and how much media intake to allow. Also, when media sources engage in racial stereotyping discuss it.

5. Take care of you too. You are also adjusting, and it is okay to express when you need a little time or do not know the answer. If you are partnered, asking for a nap break (kids can wear you out no matter how much you love them) may be necessary. Being flexible with family roles and house chores/maintenance is also necessary. Avoid letting it all fall on one person, especially as many people are now balancing working from home.

I hope these tips are useful for you and your family. Below are additional resources for teachers and parents to use with kids:

https://www.apa.org/ed/precollege/topss/lessons/

https://www.mindheart.co/descargables

The University of Kentucky is increasingly the first choice for students, faculty and staff to pursue their passions and their professional goals. In the last two years, Forbes has named UK among the best employers for diversity, and INSIGHT into Diversity recognized us as a Diversity Champion three years running. UK is ranked among the top 30 campuses in the nation for LGBTQ* inclusion and safety. UK has been judged a “Great College to Work for” two years in a row, and UK is among only 22 universities in the country on Forbes’ list of “America’s Best Employers.” We are ranked among the top 10 percent of public institutions for research expenditures — a tangible symbol of our breadth and depth as a university focused on discovery that changes lives and communities. And our patients know and appreciate the fact that UK HealthCare has been named the state’s top hospital for four straight years. Accolades and honors are great. But they are more important for what they represent: the idea that creating a community of belonging and commitment to excellence is how we honor our mission to be not simply the University of Kentucky, but the University for Kentucky.

This blog is crossposted from here.

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Advice for Parents: Talking to Kids About COVID-19 | Cloaking Inequity

CURMUDGUCATION: Why Teach Literature: #2 Humanity

CURMUDGUCATION: Why Teach Literature: #2 Humanity

Why Teach Literature: #2 Humanity

When I was teaching, and I had extra time on my hands, I would reflect on the work--the whys and hows and whats. So in solidarity with my former colleagues, I'm going to write a series about every English teacher's favorite thing-- teaching literature, and why we do it. There will be some number of posts (I don't have a plan here).

Also, it would be nice to write and read about something positive, and I don't know anything much more positive than what teachers do and why they do it.

Young humans routinely work on the oldest questions.How can I fully be my best realm self? How does the world work, and how is one supposed to be in it?

These questions appear in a million different guises, many of them not obviously deep or profound. What should I wear today? Who will I sit with at lunch? Is it okay if laugh at that? Is it not normal that I'm not interested in that? If people know this about me, will they hate me? Am I ever going to find someone with whom I can share a special connection? Am I weird?

Reading provides students with an opportunity to see beyond their immediate surroundings, where everything they know about the world, about being human, even about themselves, is taught to them by a small group of peers and a limited number of CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Why Teach Literature: #2 Humanity

Teacher Tom: We Can Help Children Heal Through the Stories We Tell

Teacher Tom: We Can Help Children Heal Through the Stories We Tell

We Can Help Children Heal Through the Stories We Tell

I went for a long walk yesterday, past Seattle Center to the Olympic Sculpture Park, then along the waterfront as far as Pioneer Square where I hairpined back along 1st Avenue to Pike Place Market, before turning up Pike Street, to Westlake Center, then back home to South Lake Union. On a normally sunny spring afternoon, all of those places would have been thronged with people, but for obvious reasons they weren't.

There were people out, the solo pedestrians all spaced six feet apart, but there were family "pods" walking in groups, still maintaining a distance from others. The only people who didn't seem to be following the protocol were some of the mentally ill street people. Every conversation I overheard was about some aspect of the pandemic. People were sharing information, opinions, a speculation. They were ranting about politicians, sharing their fears, or expressing their fearlessness. There were people in masks and gloves. Indeed, for the first time since 9/11 at least, everyone seemed to share a one-track mind. No one was distracted. We were all focused on this moment and this crisis.

And then it hit me: this is what it looks like when it's all-hands on deck. Unlike 9/11 when we the people were rendered fairly helpless, left to our worries and prayers, this crisis is something about which each of us must do something, and from my perspective isolating here in downtown Seattle, it seems that everyone is taking action. 

It wasn't that long ago in human history that a virus like CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: We Can Help Children Heal Through the Stories We Tell

Searching for Normalcy in a Chaotic World: Teaching, Learning and Living at a Distance | Ed In The Apple

Searching for Normalcy in a Chaotic World: Teaching, Learning and Living at a Distance | Ed In The Apple

Searching for Normalcy in a Chaotic World: Teaching, Learning and Living at a Distance

We have routines, our early morning ablutions, our route to work, shopping, job responsibilities, family responsibilities, now, remote working, remote interactions, and for children the abnormality is unsettling.

Being cooped up in an apartment, not being able to visit friends, not being able to interact with my teachers, “I feel like I’m being punished.”

From a teacher’s perspective: how do I connect with my kids, how can my “teaching” be engaging?  I can’t look over Juan’s shoulder and whisper, “…try that again … how did you get that answer?” You can’t see that light bulb going off, “Oh, yes, I see now,” you can’t give a thumbs up at just the right time, or, a frown.

Is Maria drifting off, is her attention wandering, I don’t know.

Remote learning is remote, it’s far away and it lacks the emotional connection.

The standardized grades 3 – 8 tests are gone, no more test prep, you can follow the curriculum: Is there curriculum to follow? Or, are we talking about the CONTINUE READING: Searching for Normalcy in a Chaotic World: Teaching, Learning and Living at a Distance | Ed In The Apple

Physical Distance, Social Collective Mourning [A Plague On All Our Houses] | The Jose Vilson

Physical Distance, Social Collective Mourning [A Plague On All Our Houses] | The Jose Vilson

PHYSICAL DISTANCE, SOCIAL COLLECTIVE MOURNING [A PLAGUE ON ALL OUR HOUSES]

There must have been a cumulative gasp from every educator in the city when we found out Dez-Ann Romain passed away. If we don’t know her personally, we know an educator like her. Young, energetic, helpful, a team player. Once we clear this curve, may we remember the moments when we sacrificed the helpers we sought out. Those of us who showed up for the three-day ad-hoc professional development training last week all knew we would put ourselves at risk for the same energy that carried us through any number of disasters. For many of us, if “essential workers” like nurses, doctors, grocery store workers, bus drivers, conductors, police officers, firepeople, and other municipal workers had to show up, educators would count ourselves in the number.

Little did we know that we’d be one to two degrees away from knowing someone who’s been affected by COVID, if not ourselves.

For NYC teachers, disaster is another one of those unwritten stipulations in our contracts. We have big budget movies dedicated to this moment except we don’t have stunt doubles coming to save us. I learned of biblical plagues all through my Catholic education. No locusts have shown up thus far, but apathetic politicians substitute quite nicely. What’s more, we’re so faithful to the work that we reconfigure our entire set of pedagogies mid-year, call parents, and deliver electronic devices to our CONTINUE READING: Physical Distance, Social Collective Mourning [A Plague On All Our Houses] | The Jose Vilson

2020 ESP of the Year Offers Guidance, Advocacy During Crisis

2020 ESP of the Year Offers Guidance, Advocacy During Crisis

2020 ESP of the Year Offers Guidance, Advocacy During Crisis

When Ohio announced the closure of schools for the rest of the academic year to help fight the spread of the coronavirus, Andrea Beeman’s thoughts, like most educators, went to her students. A special education paraprofessional in Maple Heights, a suburb of Cleveland, she works with students who have severe developmental disabilities.

“It’s critical that our students stay home during this crisis, but I worry about my students retaining all of the skills and knowledge that the special education teams have worked so hard to help them develop,” Beeman says. “We’ll continue to support them as best we can by distributing more learning packets, urging parents to read to their students, and finding other ways to continue instruction.”

Education support professionals (ESP) are finding many ways to support students nationwide during the school closures – like the paraeducators who put together instructional packets, food service workers who prepare and bag much-needed meals, and the bus drivers who deliver food as well as books and other learning materials. Or the secretaries answering a myriad of parent questions, the technical services staff working to maintain external and internal communications and support the massive move to online learning environments, and the custodians who clean distribution sites and make sure buildings are safe, sanitary and the cleanest they can be when students return, whether its later this spring or next academic year.

“ESP members are the glue that holds our schools and communities together,” says Beeman. “Never in the 21st Century have we ever experienced anything like the CONTINUE READING: 2020 ESP of the Year Offers Guidance, Advocacy During Crisis

CURMUDGUCATION: Where Is Teaching's Dr. Fauci?

CURMUDGUCATION: Where Is Teaching's Dr. Fauci?

Where Is Teaching's Dr. Fauci?

There are Dr. Fauci fan clubs already thriving around the country, in honor of the physician who has managed to thread the thorny needle that is being a nation's medical guide in these challenging times. He's a trusted voice, an expert in his field. He's a reminder that "leading US physician" is a thing, like the Surgeon General is a thing.

So where is the Dr. Fauci for teaching?

This came up in a discussion about nationalizing health care when one person observed that it could end up as disaster, like having Betsy DeVos in charge of education.

Education is different, I pointed out, because teachers have always been boxed out of all leadership positions. Which sucks, and explains a lot, and not just the last thirty-five years of reformster baloney.

Other professions are in charge of their own professions. They're in charge of their training; you can't hand out medical degrees unless you're certified by a bunch of doctors. Ditto for training lawyers or nurses or physical therapists. But any college that wants to start cranking out teachers just has to satisfy some bureaucrats at the state capitol. And these days, you can even set up an "alternative pathway" to teaching and all you need to do is convince some lawmakers to let you do it.

Training for the profession? Done by other members of the profession. Entrance to the profession? Lawyers and doctors and physical therapists have to convince other members of the profession to CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Where Is Teaching's Dr. Fauci?