What Am I Doing?
So this is the official Day One of the New Normal of schools being closed. I’m still feeling my way around and trying to develop a routine.
I’ve decided that as long as I have any say over the matter, I am not worrying about doing anything with the expectation that it will be graded. I just have no way of knowing with confidence what every one of my students has the time and opportunity to access. I don’t know how well email and other electronic communication is going to help me give feedback and guidance. I feel queasy about grades under the best circumstances, and these sure aren’t the best circumstances.
That said, for people who are at home and would like some kind of academic activity, I’ve resolved that I’m going to make one post a day on Google Classroom. I’m going to spend a lot of this time trying to figure out what’s going on in the world and also improving my understanding of my subject material. So why not share that process with the students? I’ll share at least one article that I’ve read each day and the questions it raises in my mind. I might even “workshop” some assignments and share them to let students kick the tires.
I’ve been making video lectures for my AP Government class for years. I’m still not quite done. So I think I’ll take this time to write scripts for the last batch I need to do (until they redesign the course again). I used to record the lectures as a sort of stream of consciousness with my notes, but I got tired of watching myself pause to collect my thoughts along with my other verbal filler tics. At least I’ve learned how to turn my iPad into a TelePrompter. (The Pages app has a scrolling display feature.)
If this stretches on for as long as I think it will, I might have to get more ambitious. But for now, let’s all give ourselves time to settle into something that resembles a routine.
About Dave Thomer
Born and raised in Philadelphia. Studied philosophy at Fordham University in the Bronx, where I made many great friends and met my wonderful wife. We moved back to Philadelphia, where I studied philosophy some more and became a teacher. Online and off, I'm looking for ways that we can be better citizens and build stronger communities.