Want an inside look at remote learning in public schools?

Here's one example...

An intelligent, highly-engaged, experienced teacher I've known for years posted this online today:

Firstly: having 125 students and managing my own children's learning at home is not sustainable, especially because I am not a certified special educator, and my children receive special services. I've worked most of the day today to play catch up.

Secondly: This swift shift to remote learning shows me a LOT about education and what we do and don't value. The College Board has changed AP Exams to be taken online at home, 45 minutes long (from 3 hours long) and only to cover material taught prior to the COVID19 outbreak. (Make that coin, College Board!) EdTech companies are offering free subscriptions to everything, which is great -- if you already know how to use the tools. If you didn't use it BEFORE, don't use it AFTER is my opinion.

Thirdly: It is looking like the folks at Teachers Pay Teachers are making a boatload of money off of this pandemic, because I've printed out enough worksheets this week to choke a paper shredder.

And finally: What happens if we move into multiple weeks out of school and "review" and "enrichment" are just not enough? How are our children going to *actually* learn new material? I know that I can make it work for my own classes that I teach with screencasts, online modules, Google Meet, etc. But what about teachers who simply don't have training with technology? Will it be baptism by fire? Will it be packetpalooza?

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

Notice, of course, that there are lots of emotions running through this message. Frustration, concern, and, I think, genuine curiosity.

In this case, I know this teacher is awesome at integrating education technology into the classroom in an intentional way that has a genuine impact on student learning.

However, she makes an interesting point about not using it AFTER coronavirus if you didn't use it BEFORE.

Actually, I don't agree.

Many teachers are learning on the fly right now. I even had a colleague post today saying, "you CAN teach an old dog new tricks : )"

But my lesson will be this: if you're going to get a whole bunch of new teachers on your platform, and you're going to encourage teachers to use your platform for free right now...then be ready with not only support, but with clear, useful, and interesting content coming their way (that they'll actually read and act on).

Tomorrow, I'll share an example (from outside education) of someone who is still sell right now, but doing it in a way that is perfect for our current context.

Thanks for reading,

Gerard Dawson