I asked yesterday or Saturday or sometime, and I don’t remember where, but why can’t they just have classrooms broadcast to students? What is the barrier to that?
My friend’s kids go to a private school for kids with disabilities. From the second week forward they had full on school every day from 9AM - 1PM. Her kids sat with their computers on and the teachers stood in their classrooms and broad cast the classes. Her 9th grader had teachers switch out and her 6th grader had one swap.
What keeps this from being the norm across the board?
ETA another friend had this as well, but only three days a week.
I live in Arizona and while I’m not concerned about getting sick right now, I’m concerned that if people don’t wear masks when out and about that we will soon have a major outbreak. I don’t want government-mandated closures or other measures because I think they’ll only make it (i.e., the bickering and anti-government sentiment) worse. But I really wish wearing a mask hadn’t become a partisan issue.
I guess I didn’t understand your question? You asked about the barriers to a specific learning model, so that was the only model I was considering, not barriers that would be unique to it compared to a different model not mentioned.
The device issue is relevant for any electronic learning.
Some schools tried paper based distance learning because they just couldn’t manage enough devices/hot spots. I’m not sure how successful that was in comparison.
But, yes, any distance learning is going to have issues if parents are expected to provide active support and they are simultaneously trying to full time telework (or aren’t even there for older kids).
As long as all businesses are open, you cannot just limit to essential workers. My county is in the green phase In our state, which means most businesses are open at the minimum 50% capacity. Distance learning would not be feasible in that situation. My school district is looking at a cyber school model with 4-5 hours of work with a parent coach for those children who are high risk and cannot attend in person? If the parents are working, who’s going to coach? I can’t even imagine parent coaching when working from home either. I had enough difficulty when they did it for 1- 1 1/2 hours a day.
I mean why can’t teaching go live every day in a broadcast format? Why is it staccato? Why is it only some hours? Why aren’t all kids doing school all at the same time?
I’m wondering if every kid had a computer, could I just log in the morning and do a long distance classroom experience?
I can attest to this. We had a K, 2nd and 3rd grade student as well as a 3 y/o during lockdown. And we already have a hybrid school model - they are in class 2 days a week and at home the other two days during a normal school year. So our transition was on those two classroom days and it was still very challenging - especially for my Kinder daughter. She was so excited about the video calls for lessons for like…a week maybe? And then after that she was over it. And she only had to be online for an hour. But (and I’m sure anyone who has been a K teacher can attest) they NEVER work non-stop for an hour at school. They are always breaking up the work with songs, wiggles, stretches, etc.
It was very difficult managing three students through a virtual school model. And that was with both my 3rd and 2nd graders being pretty independent. And with us as a family already used to being at home for school two days a week. I’m sure some of these issues would be resolved with more practice and time with a full at home model (because tons of homeschoolers figure it out all the time!!) but my 2nd grade son had a particularly difficult time with testing at home. He couldn’t focus his attention and I struggled finding a ‘peaceful’ spot to set up for uninterrupted work.
The way Texas is going, I’m not sure that’s going to be the scenario if this thing comes roaring back in the fall, regardless of what the governor says.
But regardless…
My DH’s employer had already told them to expect to work from home through at least September. Some other companies are doing similar.
If I wasn’t a stay-at-home mom, he could at least make sure our kids were safe at home. Essential front line workers need to go to work. What are essential workers supposed to do in a hybrid model where their kids are in school part time and at home part time to keep numbers down?
We are in the middle of a global disaster. I’m just considering what solutions might be in the best interest of the community.
I don’t know if that’s accurate. I think anything this Fall (whatever options are chosen) will be infinitely better than this Spring. Mostly because people will presumably have more than mere days to mentally and physically prepare their homes. Our campuses transitioned into full blown virtual school over Spring Break this year and no one was prepared for this prior to breaking for SB. It’s really, truly insane to think about how resilient everyone was! Honestly, I have been so inspired by the teachers and parents in my circle.
I do think a hybrid model is extremely difficult for working families, particularly ones with jobs where they can’t work remotely.
The hybrid model won’t work for some families. My DH and I are considered essential workers. I’m a social worker, mostly working from home with a day here and there in the office. At some point, we will be doing home visits again. My DH works in food/beverage manufacturing. Despite working different shifts, a hybrid model or distance learning would be very difficult for us. I can’t imagine what others would be able to do with being on the same shift. The schools are going to have a difficult time figuring out what will work best for the most people. I’m glad I’m not the decision maker on that process. But there is no simple solution. I do know that if businesses are open, in person school will need to happen.
Maybe an essential point is that in-person school for younger grades isn’t a person standing in front of the room all day? Or even most of the day?
You’ll give them brief instruction and then something hands on to do and walk around and support and redirect. It doesn’t work well for a zoom call because your one-on-one comments distract the others kids or if you shut them off, you can no longer monitor them.
