Posted by Oliver ten Broeke, Editor-in-Chief
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Dearest Teachers and Administration:
With the coming second wave of the pandemic, likely due to coincide with the back-to-school season, there is a non-zero possibility that school remains closed. While there are myriad solutions to allow for quality education in these unique circumstances, there is one bit of advice I’d like to offer, and I trust that it will be received with understanding, and linger in your minds a while. It’s this: Do a poor job with your virtual lessons.
I mean it – sort of. I admit that it doesn’t sound particularly salient, but allow me to articulate my point a little further: Frankly, it’s difficult to stay engaged with a recorded video lecture. Obviously there are students and courses that videos are very-well suited to, but there are always better ways to teach.
One of the strongest (and best ways) to pass information on is to teach students to teach themselves – this is something some teachers have been doing for a long time already, like when classes get that staple visit from Mrs. Arkans to discuss the reliability of sources on the internet. This is incredibly effective. Verily, I say, the responsibilities of pedagogy needn’t lie solely on the teacher’s shoulders! Delegate the learning to the pupils! Dismantle the education system! Off with their heads!
Oh, geez. This isn’t supposed to be any sort of manifesto, and I don’t suppose I can convince many of you to join me in a revolution. But, that’s another point I’d like to make: knowing your audience. There’s this odd belief that my generation, and those younger than me, are “digital natives” that know everything there is to know about computer usage. For some of my friends, this is certainly true. But otherwise it’s a falsehood: you often know better the tools you’re using than do your students.
But, we’re a clever bunch. We’ll learn, we’ll adapt, we’ll do the work. In order for that to really happen, and to truly be effective, a few things need to happen. First, patience and accommodation – if school remains shut down, there are worse things going on than idle hands and unstimulated minds. Social isolation can contribute to domestic violence and mental health problems, which adolescents already struggle with.
The second thing that would be incredibly helpful to students is the chance (even obligation) to periodically visit school. It’s possible to host outdoor classes and abide by all COVID-related guidelines. I honestly believe that if students were to get a chance to see each other and their teachers, even once a week, they would feel more connected with school and more motivated to complete schoolwork. Because, let’s be honest, a lot of students took the school’s closing as license for an early summer vacation.
And this is where it’s going to be worse, because school closing in the fall is worse than school closing in the summer. Closings, and the resultant isolation, will synergize with seasonal affective disorder and make it harder for students to remain engaged in their education.
Really, things just aren’t very ideal right now, especially for a pandemic. If the education system was ideal, there would be many more schools with a greater teacher-to-student ratio. Unfortunately that’s not the case, but we’ll make do.
And listen, thank you so much. The teachers, administration, and PTA alike put a great deal of effort not only into setting up Google Classroom, but into the welfare of their students. The occasional (perhaps clandestine) video chat with students, the lunches being handed out at the middle school, the humbling amount of love and care that went into graduation. The preparation offered for APs put many minds at ease, as did the change to grading for the final chunk of the year. Truly, thank you.
To be honest, it’s tricky for me to offer any advice to you at all. You know more about teaching than me, all I have is recent experience as a high school student. Things are going to change, too. So, play it by ear, and keep the health of students a priority.
If you focus on health, then education, and then grades (in that order), I reckon things will be okay. Fall schooling will be fall schooling, and not the fall of schooling. Well, good luck, in any case. Thank you for teaching me.
Powell, Alvin. “Rising Mental Health Concerns in the Coronavirus Era.” Harvard Gazette, Harvard Gazette, 24 Apr. 2020, news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/04/rising-mental-health-concerns-in-the-coronavirus-era/.
Taub, Amanda. “A New Covid-19 Crisis: Domestic Abuse Rises Worldwide.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 6 Apr. 2020, http://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/06/world/coronavirus-domestic-violence.html.
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