Educators have gotten a hall pass this time, a school version of a get out of jail free card. Parents and students know teachers and administrators have been in survival mode in this first round of school closures, and they’re cutting us some slack. In our COVID Spring, we’re all in the same lifeboat trying to figure out what works and doesn’t work. Students are studying at their dining room tables and parents are trying to keep up with what is expected of their kids - and what teachers expect of them.
And this could just be the beginning. Just wait until we get to the COVID Winter of 2020-2021.
The scientists are telling us we could spend the next 18 months opening and closing society. Principals should probably go out and buy one of those little signs like we see hanging in the windows of shops and restaurants, the signs that say, “Come on in! We’re open!” on one side, and “Sorry! We’re closed!” on the other side. They can hang it inside the front door of their schools and be ready to flip it from week to week, or month to month, as we sally back into school next fall. We’re open, we’re closed, we’re open, we’re closed.
In this first round of COVID closures, teachers and administrators have worked amazingly hard to transition into the remote learning space. (And to get food distributed to students. Bravo!) But after talking with a lot of educators and reading about what’s happening around America, I’ve noticed two areas where schools need to be better if schools close again: logistics and lesson design.
1. In the first days of this closure, teachers and administrators scrambled to take care of the logistics. Systems had to be quickly planned and implemented for distributing Chromebooks, assignments, and lunches. A lot of hard lessons were learned about the need to improve communication and who was taking care of what. It was new territory, and the only way people could communicate was online and through a smart phone. Considering the circumstances, American schools transitioned as well as most American businesses - meaning they got it done but it has to be a lot smoother next time.
2. The academic results, for the most part, have not been great. Most schools have taken a “We’ll just survive this period” approach. Most teachers and administrators have been justifiably careful not to overwhelm students and parents with the demands of the instruction, which means most of the rigor has been below average; however, some parents have complained that some of the teachers have been asking too much of them, which means there’s been a lot of frustration and incomplete assignments. Again, we got the job done in that we got assignments into the hands of students, but the lessons need to be more effective in the next closure.
So, every teacher and administrator should have two goals that are pinned to the top of their to-do list. The first goal is for every district office administrator, every building administrator, and all teacher leaders to work together to plan the next closure. They need to start the conversation now, and kick it into overdrive when (and if…) school resumes in the fall. The attitude has to be, “What would happen if they told us to close tomorrow? Would we be ready? And would we be better than last time?”
The second goal is to ensure the quality of the lessons will be better than they are this time. We’ve had a three-month closure this year. What if we have another three-month closure next year? Are we, as professional educators, really going to be content to provide lessons with average (or below average) rigor for a combined six months of the year? We need to determine the proper length of assignments, what students and parents can handle, the role of technology in the learning, and just as importantly, how some teachers were able to push their students to think critically while others used read-this-passage-and-fill-in the blank packets. Let’s think of Goldilocks and the Three Bears and have a Goldilocks Remote Learning Principle: the assignments can’t be too easy, and they can’t be too hard - they have to be just right.
The good news is American educators work hard and can be incredibly innovative. More than ever, they need to have a long-term vision. This first closure was a shock. The second closure won’t be.