Summarizing the Initial Weeks of COVID Era Instruction

                            

So weeks 1 and 2 are in the books.  We meet with the students every other day and Friday is designed to call in students who need additional support or extension.  If you were to ask me my concerns prior to starting the year they would have been:

• The students remembering what it means to learn
• Trying to figure out how to teach a year of material with depth of understanding while only seeing the students half the time.
• Figuring out how to personally get to know each student
• Safety

As it turns out, safety is the one I feel comfortable with.  My classes are typically filled with sound but this year, with masks, you could hear a pin drop on my carpet.  

I spent a good deal early in the year in the pose of the upper left image and last Friday lived in the pose in the upper right.  Essentially, I will have spent the same amount of class days on a topic I did last year, which means it is going to go twice as long because of the every other day process.  This is not an option!  Furthermore, every time I tried to condense or trust their at home learning skills I was disappointed.  And now, I feel very much like I want to do this:

You see, I needed feedback.  I gave the students an online portion of homework (I love DeltaMath) and a short, thinking-based 10 question online formative.  FYI - last year when we were face-to-face daily I had similar expectations with excellent results.  This year, of the 105 students I have in Algebra 2:

• 53 didn't attempt the formative
• 33 haven't started any of the homework (due tomorrow morning - it is now after 10pm)
• 7 - yes SEVEN finished it

So here I sit, typing when I should be reading or dare I say sleeping, trying to get these thoughts out of my brain as it works overtime.  I've been continually going over this for the past several hours (ok it has been days of this but I didn't want anyone to think I was obsessed) and coming to the same conclusion.  If the students aren't going to do anything when I am not there to encourage and support them this will not work.  Now that I type that I realize it is the same as when we are face-to-face daily but seriously!  We are being asked to do the impossible.  Teach students who forgot what it means to learn and be a student, in an environment that is unwelcome, in half the time...all while accomplishing the same goals in learning.  

So what do I do now....

1. We are reviewing the concepts from the useless formative because ultimately there are 52 students who need quality feedback.
2. I am slowing down to make sure they get the information I need them to this week.  If they are struggling with this the rest of the year is going to feel like climbing Mount Everest.
3. I created a DESMOS activity to support learning that I am giving them for Friday as a pre-teaching session.  I can track who has gone through it.  It has a coding glitch but frankly it is so small I bet only I see it.  If you want to check it out, here it is.
4. I am calling in students (all of them) who didn't finish the formative and/or the homework on Friday.  I am guessing this will be most of my classes.  That should be fun...(sarcasm alert). Oh, and we have been told attendance may be sketchy on Friday's due to travel inability (I kinda get), home life (starting to not totally agree) or work needs (NOPE - sorry, I cannot get behind that).  
5. Monday, we are having a little heart to heart.  Maybe I should just email them this blog and let that do the work for me.  It might be more effective.  
6. Then, and finally, we are going to press a bit.  I am going to force the issue my making the non face-to-face day more rigorous.  Up until now it has been practice and reflection which should have amounted to 30ish minutes a day.  

As a truly dedicated, creative and dedicated teacher (yup, said that twice) this is maddeningly frustrating.  It needs to work.  There is no option and I totally agree this form of instruction is the best we could do at this time.  However, that doesn't mean those of us who care about the kids won't get frustrated.  We will and do.  This is one massive, high risk puzzle.  Last year we patched together a quarter and the outcomes were not great.  This year, we can't do that.  Studies say that 1-year with a bad teacher can take 2 or more to recover from.  Imagine 5 quarters of partial instruction where the issue isn't the teachers effort or ability but the students.  Can one recover from that?

Now, I will pick up a book, read for a while and see if the brain is willing to shut down long enough to recharge.  Then, go to work and see what I can make the day bring.  After all, it is another chance to solve this puzzle.