There’s a lot of negativism about what might happen this coming fall when the schools reopen. Wouldn’t it be great if we could apply our creativity to this situation and come up with ideas that might produce a more positive learning environment for our children and a more fulfilling teaching environment for their teachers? I have a germ of an idea for the coming school year that I want to offer up to get people thinking. No pride of authorship here, but please don’t start by telling me it can’t be done. Instead, think about whether it might be valuable if we could get it done. Or, toss it away completely, but only if you offer your own suggestion!
So, here’s the deal. I think we all recognize that there is a high likelihood that some portion of the curriculum will be taught remotely, or virtually, or whatever you want to call it. This might happen on a daily basis, a weekly basis, or from time to time when disease outbreaks force school closings. (Other students who are at medical risk might even spend the whole year working remotely.) I think we all know, too, that online learning attempts can lead to uneven results at best. What if there were some way to engage students as teachers’ aides for other students?
Imagine, for example, that a high school student was assigned a pod of five younger students. Their job would be to meet virtually on a regular basis with the group during their out-of-school intervals and review the teacher’s latest assignments, helping with problems and reinforcing good results. To be clear, they would have conversed with the teacher beforehand to get a sense of expectations; and they would also report to the teacher regularly on students’ progress. (The 1:5 interactions could even start during in-school sessions, to create the foundation for connections that would come into play during the out-of-school intervals.)
Now visualize a cadre of such students at various grade levels through the school system. Beyond the outreach assistance that they would offer the teachers and beyond the help they could offer the younger students, we would have created a growth opportunity for the teachers’ aides. For one thing, their own academics will improve because–as we know–you really have to learn something to teach it. For another, imagine the sense of personal responsibility and growth that would come with the role. (For those applying to college, there would also be another notch on their belts to toss into their applications.)
Think, too, about the possibility that some of our teachers will be unable to return to school at all–even when classes are in session–because they are at high risk with regard to the virus. I can’t imagine they want to stay home detached from a profession they love. Perhaps they could have a role here, providing training and support to the teachers’ aides and helping to coordinate lesson plans between the in-school teachers and the teachers’ aides.
OK, go at at it! Please, no gloom and doom comments. Let’s hear things that would enhance the school year rather than grousing about what could make it worse.
While I would have LOVED that idea as a kid (I volunteered as a high school student in a local elementary school), my two kids would have hated it. I think you are describing a volunteer/future teachers club, which I love. I would have joined it. However my older kid, who likes kids, doesn’t want to spend school time on such things. And my younger kid is missing the curriculum of school. She breezed through the last part middle school pandemic style. She said through her whole school career, when you finish your work early, you help your classmates. She said she likes that part, but didn’t miss it through her virtual school. What she missed the most was learning new things every day and being pushed while being supported to think outside the box. Every day. Five days a week. In person. She misses that (and her friends).
I love your idea. But only students who thrive on it should sign up.
Meanwhile, we are trying to figure out what to do with our incoming high school freshman. She is very anxious about the fall (and honestly she normally isn’t an anxious kid). Watching her live through this has been very painful. The very social child and the very school loving child, is anxious about starting school in the basement and not learning the way she needs. How will she meet new kids? How does one talk on a zoom class when one doesn’t know a soul (or a friendly face)? How does she learn what the teacher is like if it is only once a week? What happens if she doesn’t understand a concept? So many questions. Zero answers
Hi Paul, great idea! Jane Frantz, you know a lot about these things. What do you think?
My daughter who graduated this year (virtually) would have loved this.
I fully support using our collective creativity for the betterment of our community!
I see and participate in creative solutions everyday in the business world, why not use that power for our community, in all areas?
We can’t depend on City Hall to do everything.
Michael – The answer is complex because there are so many unknowns at this point. IMO, DESE has presented roadblocks to innovative thinking and continues to do so and that is frustrating.
During the spring shutdown, aides were not allowed to meet with students alone (via Zoom obviously) unless a teacher was present so the idea Paul presented is not an option. Will they be allowed to in September? I surely hope so. I always had high students in my class as both an elementary and HS teacher so I’m fully supportive of the idea of students helping one another, but you can see from this example that thinking outside the box can run into roadblocks.
I suspect that in the end, the biggest challenge will be a logistical one. At this point, no one knows which teachers will not be able to work within a school building because they’re at high risk for serious disease. Imagine elementary school X has 3-5 teachers in that category. Who teaches those classes? Where can teachers at high risk be deployed? Clearly there’ll be a need for remote teaching at some level so there’ll be a position available, but where and what will the student/classroom needs be? I don’t have any answers, but I’ll tell you this – the HR department will have earned their salaries at the end of this year.
As for the pediatricians – it was their responsibility to comment on the effect of the shutdown on children and advocate for solutions ASAP. I have young grandchildren and completely agree with their assessment. However, they stepped out of their area of expertise when they dictated a solution that put a group of adults at risk for serious disease. I kind of don’t get why they took that step – it’s pretty obvious kids can’t teach themselves and they didn’t know or understand the implications of the constraints the state departments were going to put on school districts.
As an FYI, this problem does not affect me personally but I know of teachers who are very concerned.
Paul,
I fully support finding a way to get kids back into the classroom while minimizing risk to high risk individuals. With a kid still in high school, I would support any reasonable strategy to get them into the classroom as much as possible in the fall. Only speaking for my son’s experience, the end of the year distance learning was heavy on the distance and extremely light on the learning. One thought my wife and I discussed on a recent walk into Newton Centre was to find a way to minimize the risk to teachers who may be in a high risk category. Would there be a way for those high risk group teachers to teach remotely while the students are actually in the classroom? The pitfall there is finding a way to make sure students in those classes are actually paying attention and participating in the learning process and not goofing around. I thought of this specifically because my son would most likely be one of the those that needs some focusing. Could there be some way the classes could be monitored by someone other than the teacher (lower risk group teacher/aid/etc.) while the teacher teaches remotely? At this point, with the data I have seen, kids are in the lowest risk group in all categories, so we should push to get them back into the schools as much as possible, while looking for a way to work with those at risk. Just my two cents.
Patrick – That’s the kind of thinking that will be necessary to open safely. Can a teacher do a whole class remotely? Doubtful, but IMO, you’re moving in the right direction. For example, a small cohort of students won’t be able to return to school because they’re at high risk and most likely will need some type of remote learning. Then the issue is more confined in scope – what teacher has the skill set to teach the student? Also, students who benefit from one on one instruction can in some cases be taught remotely within a classroom setting.
One size will not fit all students or all teachers/staff. Remaining open to solutions (within the confines of state requirements) will be essential.
Thinking outside the box: using retired adults (teachers or not) as mentors. In another thread, I explained how I helped my grandkids this Spring while their parents were working. I was physically there but one mentor would not have to be: one of my task with the second grader was to help her decide where to start; she had a long list of assignments in math, reading, writing and art. Did she want to do the easy assignments first or use them as a break? Did she do her 4 ‘ boxes’ (I forget what they are called) with 4 different points before she wrote her paragraphs about Pandas? Does she understand the instructions on the math worksheets? I also sent her outside before her next Zoom class.
The fifth grader needed to realize that she was slowing down and staring at the window and my job was to help her recognize she needed a break and it was OK.
The Nursery School one needed physical presence to trace letters, to cut and glue; not sure that can be done on Zoom.
Basically, a mentor could check with a kid several times a day; help the student be accountable and help with some of the content.
One of the best ways to truly learn material is to have to teach it to others.
I could see some excellent ways to apply this – and I hope the age and ability level a student works with would be close to their own for exactly that benefit (I guess I am making assumptions here on high schoolers).
No better way that to really (re)learn geometry/US History/chemistry than to help support teaching it to the year below, perhaps?
The idea of students teaching one another is great, and I fully support it and used this strategy as an integral part of my elementary and high school classes. But it’s not a solution to the problem of teachers and staff who are at high risk for serious illness being in a school building. Schools haven’t been deemed high risk spaces as yet because they shut down before the surge began. But they do align with the criteria for such a designation: an indoor space with many people in close quarters for a sustained period of time.