A Summer of Uncertainty

The summer of 2020 is unlike any other, and these days my inbox has been flooded with questions from teachers all over the world.

We’re all creatively figuring out new ways to meet the needs of our students, and we truly don’t know what this school year is going to look like. What is a forward-thinking, well-prepared teacher to do?

Wallow in the Unknown

I don’t know about you, but for the first part of this summer, I just could NOT wrap my head around preparing for 20-21. Things felt so uncertain, I was just stopped in my tracks. I’ve been working closely with my school’s pandemic response team to develop a plan, but without more information about that plan, I felt like I just couldn’t do anything.

So, I didn’t. Though usually the ideas start flowing and they encourage me to sit down and start planning, that just didn’t happen. As a result, I feel woefully behind in my planning.

Consider What Will Be Different

The thing that finally helped me get unstuck, was thinking about supplies. (Nothing like a little retail therapy to help the medicine go down.) I started thinking about the different things my students would need to keep organized as they go back and forth between in-person and online learning. Here are just some of the things I came up with.

• These plastic document pouches to protect main lesson books, composition books and other paper materials from getting wet (we do live in Oregon, after all.) I ordered the A3 size to fit our new smaller main lesson books.
• A large enough pencil pouch. Each student will have all of their own supplies — no sharing due to COVID — so their pouch needs to hold sharpener, scissors, glue stick, etc. I ordered this one and put block crayons in the mesh pocket, and I think it’s the one I’m going to order for my students.
  
  I also ordered this one, which I actually like better — it’s larger — but it doesn’t have as much separation.
  

• Homework folders. As I was looking through supplies, I realized that really nice materials is one way I can build some enthusiasm and excitement about this unsettling year. I looked at all kinds of really nice stuff — Moleskine, Decomposition Notebooks, etc.. And if my students were older, I might invest in some of those really high quality materials. Instead, though, I realized that another way to help them build some enthusiasm for the school year, is to get them involved in the school supplies shopping. Because supplies are purchased by teachers, my students don’t get to have fun with picking out any of their supplies. This year, I’ll let them pick out their own homework folder. I’m just imagining the cute puppies, kitties and aliens that they’ll choose. Not quite what I would choose, but a small compromise in the interest of fun and building enthusiasm.

Get to Work as Usual

So, now, finally, the picture is getting a little more clear and though I’m certainly thinking about the different ways I’ll be presenting content (audio, video, Zoom, Google Classroom), I’m REALLY now thinking about the content itself. I finally feel like I’m at a place in my planning where I can map out my block rotation, figure out skill-building goals and plan out the year — just like I usually do.

And I’ve noticed that many of you are feeling the same. The questions I’ve received lately haven’t been about how to use the technology, but they’re about what content to teach when.

Phew! This is the stuff I know how to figure out!

That said, I wanted to share with you a few things about how my planning is changing this summer, with distance learning being a strong possibility.

I did some basic research about how distance learning is different than learning in person and came away with the clear perspective that I need to prioritize my distance learning approach. This is because distance learners have even greater needs than our in-person students. If we put them first, we’ll have our bases covered for in-person as well.

More Interaction

Distance learners need more intentional, direct interaction with the teacher. Though in-person students can rely on their classmates for questions, or even benefit from the questions that their classmates ask, online learners need to ask the teacher. And teachers need to plan lessons that have a LOT of scaffolding, so a lot of those questions just don’t arise.

More Planning

Learning moments don’t naturally arise as easily in the distant environment. You need to actually plan and actively create them. It’s a lot harder to respond intuitively to your human connection with your students, so you need to plan ahead enough that you can envision the lessons that they’ll need, and when they’ll need them.

On top of it all, class parents will be actively involved in their children’s learning (it’s like they’ll be invited to every lesson!). Now don’t get me wrong, I feel like their involvement is a HUGE blessing and I am incredibly appreciative of the partnerships we’ve created. But the downside is that parents may not be as forgiving of unprepared lessons, and you can’t just shoot from the hip online.

Staying Engaged

Distance learners have a much harder time staying engaged — there are so many distractions on the computer and at home. You and your lessons need to be the most interesting things going on.

Behavior and Protocols

Distance learning behavior expectations and routines for working are completely different than in-person. In-person students already have an intuitive idea of what is expected in the classroom environment (especially if they’ve been with you for awhile). But distance learning students need to learn a whole new way of working. And you’ve got to teach them.

Feedback

It’s really hard to get the feedback that you need when teaching at a distance. And I’m not talking about surveys, polls and test results. I’m talking about the kind of feedback that you get when you look out into the eyes of your students. Do you see twinkles of recognition? Or blank stares? You need to actively plan how you’re going to find out if your lessons are hitting the mark or if you’re way off base.

Okay, now, if your school is facing online learning in the fall, you might be feeling a little discouraged right now. But here’s the thing. . .

All of these things can be resolved. You just need to be aware and build it into your planning.

I’m actually really excited about finding new ways of teaching. And while the challenges are many — so are the blessings. We’re all realizing the importance human connection and your students and class parents are probably yearning for more of it. Those connections can’t emerge as naturally as they once did, so we all need to put active energy into finding ways to connect. And often, the format that those connections can now take is one-on-one. So many of my students got one-on-one support with their learning this spring (whether it was from a parent or a teacher) and I’ve had lots of FaceTime chats with kids who just want to connect. They see my house, my kids in the background and we talk about whatever is going on for them. It’s real connection! (And if you’re like me — TERRIBLE at small talk — don’t worry. Kids talk.)

And the big takeaway from that is that Waldorf is really doing something RIGHT by placing the emphasis on the human connections that form in our communities. The entire world is realizing that though social media is fun, it’s no replacement for true human connection.

So, build community, create partnerships and weather this storm together. We’ll come out just fine on the other side.