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I do not know about this. I have two kids, 7 and 10, and yes, its messy but this is mostly because the teachers have not yet realized that they need to adapt an

I do not know about this. I have two kids, 7 and 10, and yes, its messy but this is mostly because the teachers have not yet realized that they need to adapt and simplify their methods and, most importantly, communicate properly with the parents. With a few simple tweaks the kids could learn just as effectively as they do in regular school, in fact probably more, provided the parents are willing and able to step in.

arbitrary_name 7y ago
Don't blame the teachers. They have been thrown into this with little support or guidance, nor the long term clarity that is needed to comprehensively redesign the coursework to meet existing standards - which may or may not change over the next few weeks/months. And lets not forget the equity issues inherent in redesigning classroom content for a class that now consists of kids with no internet, no laptop, old PCs with old browsers, kids being expected to look after young siblings, etc This isn't just 'tweak a few things so they work better on a laptop', it's really a fundamental shift that needs time and careful planning to address.
- zarkov99 7y ago
  I am not blaming them exactly. Its a though situation for all involved and at least my kids teachers are clearly working as hard as they can to make this work and the school district has provided laptops and written materials to the relatively few kids that do not have access to those. Having said that, I do think they could do much better if they accepted that this situation will last indefinitely and their methods must change to rely more on parent supervision and kid autonomy.
  - eitally 7y ago
    You would think that, and they might also think that, but they're largely not allowed to behave materially differently than they are accustomed to. fwiw, until our district settled on a specific set of policies, one of my kids' teachers had already -- the first week of WFH -- setup Google Classroom, used Classdojo to communicate with parents, shared a weekly agenda with links for augmentation material, and setup Zoom meetings 3 days/wk to teach & help the class. she's had to scale back some of this because it's against policy. My other kid's teacher was absent the first two week and, since the district's policy has clarified, is following it to the letter. Thankfully, a stay-at-home dad in the class has created a class email alias, is organizing multiple online sessions per week with parent led code.org, drawing, art history, music history, daily math check-ins, and informal "recesses" (social hours). You may or may not be surprised how few parents are qualified to supervised their kids' learning.
    - zarkov99 7y ago
      How are they not allowed to behave differently in these times? At least in my district there is a huge variance in how the teachers are handling it so it seems they have a fair bit of latitute.
flatline 7y ago
I have a six and nine year old. We are both working full time and even with a sitter the kids only get a couple hours of “school” in per day, tops. The six year old really not so much. If one of our jobs goes away we may actually be able to provide our kids an education but “remote learning” like we have now requires a dedicated parent educator or kids old enough and interested enough to be self directed. I don’t think it will ever be viable at scale.
- zarkov99 7y ago
  I am in almost identical situation, two kids, roughly same age, both parents work full time. My wife and I had a rough time in the first couple of weeks but now the kids have gotten into a routine. They plan their day a day before and they are able to get through all the assigned work in about 5 hours. I think this can work. Everybody is still figuring it out but its seem to me we can and will do much better when the materials are better structured for online access and there is better communication between parents and teachers.
jdmichal 7y ago
The wife of one of my good friends was on the county school board for 12 years. According to her, it was an unspoken secret was that parental involvement was the biggest predictor of / contributor to student success. The reason it was taboo was because you absolutely cannot expect anything from the parents. It was political suicide. I would put dollars on the table that such is already happening for every parent that is willing and able to do it, because they were already doing it before too.
- zachthewf 7y ago
  I find it bizarre that that was taboo. It seems incredibly intuitive and obvious to me.
  - Leherenn 7y ago
    The issue might be obvious, but the solutions certainly aren't. If you cannot talk about the solutions, then you're probably better not talk about the problem either.
  - jdmichal 7y ago
    It was taboo from a political perspective. You can't tell parents they are failing their children, and still expect them to vote for you next election...
- eitally 7y ago
  100% this, and all those parents are also now wondering and worrying what will happen to their child next school year, when they're either at or ahead of grade level, but half their class is most of a semester behind. I had been reasonably happy in public elementary school until now, but am seriously considering private schools for next year because I'm convinced this reacclimation process will be much, much smoother with fewer regressions.
kilroy_jones 7y ago
You could fix almost everything with education as long as parents stepped in and were competent enough to do so.

arbitrary_name 7y ago

Don't blame the teachers. They have been thrown into this with little support or guidance, nor the long term clarity that is needed to comprehensively redesign the coursework to meet existing standards - which may or may not change over the next few weeks/months. And lets not forget the equity issues inherent in redesigning classroom content for a class that now consists of kids with no internet, no laptop, old PCs with old browsers, kids being expected to look after young siblings, etc This isn't just 'tweak a few things so they work better on a laptop', it's really a fundamental shift that needs time and careful planning to address.

zarkov99 7y ago
I am not blaming them exactly. Its a though situation for all involved and at least my kids teachers are clearly working as hard as they can to make this work and the school district has provided laptops and written materials to the relatively few kids that do not have access to those. Having said that, I do think they could do much better if they accepted that this situation will last indefinitely and their methods must change to rely more on parent supervision and kid autonomy.
- eitally 7y ago
  You would think that, and they might also think that, but they're largely not allowed to behave materially differently than they are accustomed to. fwiw, until our district settled on a specific set of policies, one of my kids' teachers had already -- the first week of WFH -- setup Google Classroom, used Classdojo to communicate with parents, shared a weekly agenda with links for augmentation material, and setup Zoom meetings 3 days/wk to teach & help the class. she's had to scale back some of this because it's against policy. My other kid's teacher was absent the first two week and, since the district's policy has clarified, is following it to the letter. Thankfully, a stay-at-home dad in the class has created a class email alias, is organizing multiple online sessions per week with parent led code.org, drawing, art history, music history, daily math check-ins, and informal "recesses" (social hours). You may or may not be surprised how few parents are qualified to supervised their kids' learning.
  - zarkov99 7y ago
    How are they not allowed to behave differently in these times? At least in my district there is a huge variance in how the teachers are handling it so it seems they have a fair bit of latitute.

flatline 7y ago

I have a six and nine year old. We are both working full time and even with a sitter the kids only get a couple hours of “school” in per day, tops. The six year old really not so much. If one of our jobs goes away we may actually be able to provide our kids an education but “remote learning” like we have now requires a dedicated parent educator or kids old enough and interested enough to be self directed. I don’t think it will ever be viable at scale.

zarkov99 7y ago
I am in almost identical situation, two kids, roughly same age, both parents work full time. My wife and I had a rough time in the first couple of weeks but now the kids have gotten into a routine. They plan their day a day before and they are able to get through all the assigned work in about 5 hours. I think this can work. Everybody is still figuring it out but its seem to me we can and will do much better when the materials are better structured for online access and there is better communication between parents and teachers.

jdmichal 7y ago

The wife of one of my good friends was on the county school board for 12 years. According to her, it was an unspoken secret was that parental involvement was the biggest predictor of / contributor to student success. The reason it was taboo was because you absolutely cannot expect anything from the parents. It was political suicide. I would put dollars on the table that such is already happening for every parent that is willing and able to do it, because they were already doing it before too.

zachthewf 7y ago
I find it bizarre that that was taboo. It seems incredibly intuitive and obvious to me.
- Leherenn 7y ago
  The issue might be obvious, but the solutions certainly aren't. If you cannot talk about the solutions, then you're probably better not talk about the problem either.
- jdmichal 7y ago
  It was taboo from a political perspective. You can't tell parents they are failing their children, and still expect them to vote for you next election...
eitally 7y ago
100% this, and all those parents are also now wondering and worrying what will happen to their child next school year, when they're either at or ahead of grade level, but half their class is most of a semester behind. I had been reasonably happy in public elementary school until now, but am seriously considering private schools for next year because I'm convinced this reacclimation process will be much, much smoother with fewer regressions.

kilroy_jones 7y ago

You could fix almost everything with education as long as parents stepped in and were competent enough to do so.