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Back-to-School
If we ever get off the virtual learning bus
I taught in a suburban high school for 23 years. In normal times, a back-to-school essay like this would be timed to drop sometime in late August or early September. Well, here we are in mid-December, and there’s no normal in sight.
My former colleagues — I’ve been in retirement mode since 2017 — are on the digital, stay-at-home, teach remotely bus. There’s very little “in-person learning” going on right now in my old school district. Laptops are the new lectern for teachers, with students plugged in on the other end.
Of course, the kids still learn from certified educators — they’re just receiving information digitally. The district has tried hard to build in some structure and variety — yes, there’s PE and sometimes art, depending on one’s grade, and I’m told there’s a lunch break built into the virtual day — but I’m finding it difficult to imagine teaching students I’ve never met except over the Interwebs and keeping 30 kids per class (so, a high school English teacher in my district would have to do this five times, for a total of 150 kids each round) interested in The Great Gatsby when they have so many digital distractions right at their fingertips.
Things are difficult at home these days, but high-schoolers were easily distracted before they started virtual…
