Learning new things feels awkward. And then it gets easier. That happened this spring when I started making face masks. I looked at several patterns, measured, messed up, took out stitches, remeasured, tried again. It took forever! Now I can whip one together in minutes. I reminded my students that learning can be frustrating today when we tried to write three-story thesis statements during our Zoom session. We were meeting on Zoom because most of our class today consisted of small group work, much easier and safer online than in our classroom. Most of their experience from high school classes focused on five-paragraph essays, and now we move beyond that to a more organic style. Starting with this kind of thesis feels strange. I answered several questions during our sessions: Am I doing this right? Is this working? Can this be improved? I also needed that reminder today. It was my first day using Zoom breakout rooms, and several times I had to ask my students for feedback because I felt uncomfortable and clunky. Is this working? Are you seeing the screen I want you to see? Is it strange when I join up with your group? By my second class of the day, my tech use felt more fluid. I remembered to have them introduce themselves and do some informal sharing in small groups before digging into coursework. It got better with time. I'm hopeful that will be true with each additional Zoom class. This was also the first day of Distance Learning 2.0 for my sons. They are both in high school now, and today was hard. They were tired when I woke them at 8 after months of staying up late and starting their mornings leisurely. We had forgotten to connect one new iPad to the WiFi, and one son had to continually be reminded that he needed to have lights on in his workspace, that it wasn't nap time. The schedule was new; the setup was different. Am I doing this right? Is this working? Will I ever figure this out? I'm giving my students, myself, and my children some extra grace today. This is a new educational world we are venturing in, and the learning will feel different. It might be painful. We will mess up. But we will be make it through. Because I don't know what the alternative is.
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September 2020
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