My district did this: If a kid was passing before the shutdown, they pass automatically. They didn't have to do a single thing. If the kid was failing before, they at times were passed by going behind the teachers back so to speak.
Do you know the difference between home schooling and distance learning?
That seems like enough to me in order to voice an opinion on a message board - but what do I know?
I would have to think that any kid that gets failed by a teacher in the next 12+ months is going to have their parents scream bloody murder, extenuating circumstances, this is unfair, and it all goes away. And the children in this scenario are the "winners"...
I think that in the beginning, most all of them wanted to teach and help students. Over time the poison of the teacher's union sets in and an attitude of taking care of me first becomes the guiding principle.
That wasn't our experience. My wife distance-taught her second-grade class, and it went well. I assisted, and I saw it first hand. There were a few kids who didn't take it as seriously as they should've, and that was addressed with Zoom 1-on-1s between my wife and the student, and when that didn't work, a conference including the parents. I was surprised how engaged the kids were and how much learning was going on. Part of that was my wife's teaching prowess, but the other part is that kids these days are adept at online and electronic learning.
Sounds to me like the kids were lucky to have your wife as a teacher.
Important point here. Distance learning means more work for teachers. So, if the teachers are advocating for a system that means they will have to do more work, there is probably a very good reason for that opinion. distance learning does not mean taking the easy way out - it's quite the opposite.
But those are problems of low expectations, not distance learning. Probably there is an interaction because not all kids had the right equipment for distance learning and they feared possibly disastrous results from the sudden transition.
spot on
And it's been the same with the college instructors of my younger daughter. I've heard from the range of educators that it's been a lot of work.
Yes and no. With distance learning, 1) a student doesn't have to get up at 5:30 AM, get dressed, ride a school bus; 2) for asynchronous assignments, a student can do them on his own time and at his own pace if there are somewhat flexible deadlines, and 3) the student doesn't have to sit around school for 7 or 8 hours a day. In most cases, the student could finish the required work in fewer hours per week than there are in a normal school week. That potentially can work well for a student who prefers more free time.
Distance learning is most definitely a joke. Even if it's his opinion, a majority of individuals would agree with him. One of my best friends is a middle school teacher down in Rochester who previously taught at a city school in South Minneapolis. He said when they went to distant learning near the end of the year, about 1/3 of the students would show up for virtual lessons. Even more troubling, he would allocate one day for 1 on 1 sessions with students to help them understand the material better, assist on homework, etc. He told me on average he would have about two students show up. Who is going to hold the child accountable during the day if mom and dad are at work? Kids need discipline and they need structure, that is not an opinion, it is fact.
Well, that's just flat out stupid. There's a simple work around for that. PASS/FAIL is the default but the instructor is required to submit two grades: one is pass or fail and the other is an actual letter grade. Students have the option at the end of the session to pick which one they want.
You don't have to design an online course this way. You can design it as asynchronous. Students have materials to review and are tested on them constantly. They can work at their own pace but do have regular deadlines. If they don't do the work, they don't pass. There are numerous ways to handle this sort of instruction. Trying to replicate a face-to-face classroom digitally may not be the best one.
Certainly some courses are much more difficult to do in an online environment. I have less experience with online instruction than with face-to-face instruction but I found that the students in an online asynchronous class paid more attention to the readings and the application materials (they were tested constantly on both). I was also able to make allowances that I normally couldn't do in a a face-to-face class: giving them more time and two attempts at each assessment.
Yes that will work fine with half the kids. The other half, the ones without a solid family life...not so much. There is no getting around the damage that would be done by failing to go back to school for live classroom studies.
Everything I have seen about you posting is that your first attempt at teaching distance learning (5 days to prepare) and the matter of it being end of school track makes me think that going into a class room with you this fall would be vastly improved.
Maybe the private schools will have better luck, but it feels like no one really has a "plan" for how to do this in person while observing social distancing, etc. It feels like we're just going to say the heck with it and try it and see what happens. I can't blame anyone who doesn't want to sign up for that uncertainty. I'll be surprised if a significant % of schools aren't closed and back distance learning by 4-6 weeks in.
I'm doing a ton of research on homeschooling. There are curriculum that appear similar to the distance learning model. Are you able to point to where you found the differences. I am weighing my options.
Sounds like you need to run for school board, Beeg. I don't know of any districts that did that.
Terrific thoughts! I salute you.
Yes. Yes I do.
All right. That seemed like an honest and thoughtful response. Let's remember though that the traditional form of education has had less than spectacular results for a substantial portion of the student population. I'm not convinced that distance education, if designed properly and with appropriate expectations, can't work as well the traditional method at least temporarily.
Hey you posted something that was thoughtful and non-ideological! I'm impressed.
They must not be part of the 1/4th of union members that took the survey.