Thoughts on COVID-19 from the front lines of teaching
(Editors note: We asked Alex--our opening speaker at the inaugural Digital Learning Annual Conference--to write about her experience as a teacher in a brick-and-mortar school during the transition to remote learning. Alex is a high school English teacher working for the past six years in a traditional public high school within the Oshkosh Area School District (Wi). Throughout her career, Alex has sought to integrate technology seamlessly within her classroom and personalize instruction to maximize student outcomes.
We’ve left behind the bells of the school house, the pressures of standardized testing, and the demands of 1-to 30 student-teacher ratios.
We’ve left behind lectures, endless standards, and educator effectiveness measures.
But we’ve also left behind human connection, social and emotional supports, counseling, and guaranteed meals.
In a system characterized by continuous attempts to reform, the Corona Virus has been a force to be reckoned with, shifting our schools more than all reform efforts combined.
The pandemic is compounding issues that have long existed, illuminating the burdens of poverty and deep-seated systemic inequity plaguing our public educational system, problems we can no longer ignore.
People rarely choose poverty. Kids never say, “I sure hope I am poor when I am older.” Poverty often works in a vicious cycle, as students living in poverty have a harder time achieving educational outcomes that will lift them into a higher socioeconomic status. Too often, our schools carry the brunt of addressing economic inequality, continuously seeking innovative ways to ensure all kids learn despite their background.
The closing of our schools has revealed a reality educators across the nation have known for decades. For so many students and families, schools provide the means for physical and emotional survival.
Daycare. Meals. Safety. Emotional support. Counseling. These are students’ basic, survival needs, and they have to be achieved before learning will occur.
Once those needs are met, schools and students can focus on learning (the original purpose of public education) the chance for a future, and a potential chance to escape cyclical and situational poverty.
Our society is finally recognizing how important schools are for serving our communities. The entire nation has its eye on education right now. We need to capitalize on this and demand change.
Technology access was a critical component to student success well before the pandemic hit. All students deserve the right to learn using current modes and methods, no matter their background. With the shift to remote learning, education has discovered that technology use in the classroom is a non-negotiable. Lacking the money to pay for the internet or purchase a computer should not be a barrier for a student’s success. Receiving a grade should not be a privilege provided to those who have the money to access technology in all spheres of their life. Physical impairments should not limit one’s capabilities when we have the technology to reduce these barriers. When technology is our future, we need to ensure that all groups of people have access to that future. It is imperative that we ensure school provides equitable access to technology in the form of 1:1 devices and mobile hotspots.
We have two ways we can go in terms of equity in education. We can either unite and actively fight it by investing in our students, or we can exacerbate the disparities existing for already disadvantaged populations.
To me, it would be grossly irresponsible not to use this epidemic as an opportunity for systemic change.
Like I mentioned, a key tool in fighting inequity is technological access. It is not the magical silver bullet, but it sure makes learning a whole lot easier, and we will see change in our public schools in regards to accessibility.
The schools that have had a strong technological infrastructure are experiencing the most success right now. My district, Oshkosh Area School District, coincidentally piloted our first trial digital learning day the first week in March, and I know the seemingly serendipitous coincidence benefited our high school immensely. Teachers were at least familiar with our LMS and strategies for engaging students when using technology. They had been provided with professional development for weeks prior to creating an entirely digital lesson. Curating course content into a LMS was an act that most could manage. Although for teachers who had rarely used our LMS managing their course well is an entirely different conversation, they are in a relatively stronger situation because of our district’s prior work on technology.
Schools that have yet to jump on the 1:1 trend are definitely going to feel the pressure to do so because the schools succeeding now are the schools who had strong technological infrastructure in conjunction with strong pedagogical practice prior to COVID. Schools are also realizing that students can have meaningful learning experiences without physically being present in the classroom, and this is going to push more schools to strengthen the technology within their districts. This situation may shift more schools to hybrid learning. Schools recognize that they have the capacity for hybridity, and all of our experiences with digital learning may make traditional schools think less about seat time and minutes in classrooms and more about delivering quality learning that promotes mastery. Current legislation requires a certain amount of seat time prior to seeking intervention methods. I believe, or at least, I hope, we will be re-examining seat time policy and emphasizing personalized mastery of skill sets necessary for success in modern society. We have been trying to push personalized learning in the world of education for years. I think we might just see it take off!
Although this shift to digital learning has possessed myriad challenges, I have been trying to find the silver linings. The most blatant silver lining I have seen is a better ability to personalize the curriculum I am teaching and more opportunities to offer voice, choice, and pacing options through the use of formative assessment. Technology is certainly making this shift easier, so I am leaning in to technology right now and using the incredibly innovative programs to my advantage.
Since I am not serving student needs physically or being pulled in twenty different directions, I have been able to shift my teaching to promoting mastery more frequently throughout my units and focus further on pacing options. I can use formative assessment strategically, stopping students from moving forward in the curriculum if they do not achieve mastery---redirecting them to video lessons and individualized and small group video meetings if their first attempt on a formative assessment does not demonstrate proficiency. I can also publish enough of the curriculum to enable students to keep moving forward if they can master a skill on their first attempt. I feel more equipped to provide help for students who need extra help while further pushing students who have already mastered essential skills, especially since I am not trying to manage behavioral issues while teaching. Remote learning is forcing teachers to design units that focus on skills rather than units that depend on teacher-driven content.
Additionally, I am able to provide feedback in many different forms. I can provide written feedback, video feedback, auditory comments and a combination of these formats for students who need information explained in multiple ways. Again, the fact that I am not trying to keep students on task while providing feedback, answering questions, and teaching lessons has allowed me to make feedback more meaningful. We have really been focusing on skills rather than content, and I think that has been helping with student participation.
I truly hope this situation changes grading as well. We should have less penalties for the lack of brain development among students (we penalize kids because they have yet to fully develop their executive function...what makes sense about that?). Since so many districts are focusing on essential standards and removing penalties for late work, we are actually seeing our grades reflect skill level.
As a teacher of SPED populations, I am definitely seeing two sides to the issue: some kids are really finding success in being able to take their time when completing assignments. The pressures and constraints of the school bell have been alleviated, and some of our students with IEPs are turning in higher quality work that is more reflective of their skill sets and less reflective of the problems of the traditional schoolhouse. For some of these kids, they are seeing their strengths for the first time in their schooling career. On the other hand, some students are struggling with the lack of their physical support systems. We have so many great technological supports, but nothing can truly replace the impact of a caring teacher that can physically work through materials with students. Access to video and text platforms have truly been a blessing though. Being able to work with a student individually, sharing your screen, and walking through lessons makes a huge difference for so many students, not just those with IEPs.
We do have an incredible advantage in front of us, despite the numerous obstacles that seem to drown out any bright spots in our current teaching reality. For years, numerous educators have recognized the problems of the public school system. This teaching shift is allowing us to abandon some of the outdated pedagogical practices that cannot be sustained in an online learning environment and fail to prepare our students for their future: entire class period lectures, teacher-driven content and an emphasis on content over skills, completion over mastery, reliance on worksheets. The list goes on and on.
For once, our world has slowed down, paused, and given us time to truly reflect on what needs to change in our schools and our society. To waste this time of reflection and continue with business as usual would be the worst injustice public education has seen in several decades.