The Week That Was...in Remote Learning

After a four-day week of "Strong Start" (Seattle's term for the abbreviated first five days of school), we had our first week of remote learning using our regular schedule. Our traditional six-period school day is now split so that we have three classes a day, with each 1hr. 45min. class period divided into synchronous(whole class) and asynchronous (individual/small group) time. 

The "Strong Start" schedule, while frustrating and exhausting, also allowed us a low-to-no-risk setting in which to see what would succeed and fail once nearly every student in the was logged on to the same platforms and the network limits would be tested by the extreme rise in use. The SPS tech department worked diligently to update whatever needed to be broadened, strengthened, or otherwise adjusted to suit the district's needs. Even now, going into our third week, we are frequently advised to reboot our district laptops (often more than once) so that our hardware and software are performing based on the most recent updates. Especially in the context of other districts that have been suffering from a lack of leadership and vision, I feel fortunate to be working here. 

"Strong Start" also gave us teachers the opportunity to put theory into practice and then spend our afternoons addressing the problems that came up. Breakout Rooms in Teams, for instance, proved to be chaotic when students weren't signed in using their district credentials and used the browser version rather than the app. There were sites that I had expected students to be able to access easily through the links I provided, only to discover that they were being asked to log in and could not easily determine how. Meanwhile, we were also able to use that time to get to know our students and let them get to know us. 

I take great pride in my eye-catching color choices and 

clear-to-read font choices.

After the four days of continuous trial and error, we began our first week of full classes in a much more prepared and confident place. I spent a lot of time planning the timed out details of the class, mindful of the restlessness to be expected from my students. I would keep them at the screen for no more than 15 minutes, and would ensure that they get scheduled time away from it.

In adapting my traditional curriculum to the remote learning format, I had to think about how I was going to translate the interactive elements of my class. The first substantial writing assignment I am giving is the "Where I'm From" poem. They start off by reading published examples by George Ella Lyon and Willie Perdomo, and then move on to examples written by former students of mine. Each of the poems takes a different approach to the concept, hopefully encouraging students to feel confident in approaching the task. We also analyze how the poets use imagery and sensory detail to appeal to the senses. 

Once we've analyzed what others have done, the students are sent off to spend some time observing, daydreaming, and recording the sensory details they associate with "where" they're from (for some it is the physical location they are in, for others it is not). Back in the days of in-person teaching, I would have chart paper taped up around the room, each titled "Where I'm From (insert sense here) like..." The class spends some time wandering the room, adding their details to the posters and examining what others have contributed. They gather, they look, they laugh, and they see lots of great examples that might be helpful to them later as they draft. It's one of my favorite activities, and I have always found it incredibly valuable, so I didn't want to have to give it up. 

Fortunately, the answer was not hard to find. In recent staff meetings and training, our principal had used a word cloud engine online, Mentimeter.com. 

When the time came during the class period, I released my class to spend 10 minutes daydreaming, brainstorming, and jotting down the sensory details that came to mind (or nose, or ear, or hand, or tongue, or eye). They were instructed to, upon their return, enter their words and phrases into the links. Once enough students began to contribute, I put the presentations up on my designated "share screen" for them to see as they developed. As they watched, I asked them to use the meeting chat to call out any that they found particularly relatable, vivid, or otherwise stood out to them. While I love the look of the hand-written word cloud, the virtual substitute did the job it needed to do.

Based on what I've experienced and what my colleagues here have relayed, it could be said that this represents our current state. The virtual substitute may not necessarily be preferable to the "real deal" (although some students and staff, myself included, are finding some advantages), but it's doing the job we need it to do. 

Signal-loss Hurting Instructional Time Happens

I knew I was flying too close to the sun. After nearly two weeks of having things run relatively smoothly in terms of my internet, there it went this morning. Over the course of 90 minutes, I dealt with my home network failing and restarting several times. I was in the process of attempting to get my students started on an online pre-assessment when I realized it, and then heard the steps upstairs from me, telling me that the problem was clearly affecting the entire house. 

My class was patient, standing by and following whatever instructions they could see on the screen or hear in the moments when I was able to connect. However, they surely saw me hustling around my office, plugging and unplugging modems and routers, responding to texts from my wife (when the wifi's not working, neither is the wifey), and I thankfully muted myself before my frustration poured out in a deluge of profanity directed at my computer, my modem, Xfinity WiFi, and the entire internet. 

As my wife, frustrated by the internet cutting out as she was about to present to a large group, headed out the door to take the 30-40 drive to her office, she was remarking on all the things it could be. I love to find a place to lay blame, but I didn't have the energy. I gave the only answer I felt was acceptable in the moment - "these things happen". I had no other explanation, but I didn't want one either. In that moment, I needed to accept that this was entirely out of my control and not the result of equipment I had purchased or anything else that I had set up in terms of our account. It was still frustrating, and I'm especially grateful that it didn't throw off any lessons that I had planned, and that I had my second period prep to deal with the issue. So all things considered, if it had to happen some time, it might have happened today. Now it just needs to never happen again.

Otherwise, things have been going well. Perhaps "as well as can be expected", perhaps even a little better. I'll be posting in more detail about what I've learned about remote learning in the past two weeks, what I've done to improve the experience, and what I need to work on most urgently to engage more students and continue to engage those who have already bought in.  To be continued...

Whatchagonnado?????

I've been in the throes of preparation, so no time to post! The first day has passed, we all had problems, and we got through it. I personally felt good, and will elaborate on that in an upcoming post. For the time being, I'll leave you with this video of me cutting an old school pro-wrestling promo on remote learning the night before the first day of school...

TRI Days are TRI-ing

It is Friday, and one week from now I will be entering the last hour of our first school day with students. Yesterday, we began our District TRI days - days during which staff participates in a number of building- and district-directed discussions, activities, and meetings. We take time to meet in departments and get aligned on various items on the agenda. Today, we discussed two different daily schedule models, and our school's IC (Instructional Council) voted on them. 

Our choices were between two options:

A - Students would attend synchronous classes, during which the teacher and entire class are expected to be signed on to Teams, for 50 minutes, then would go into an asynchronous session for another 50 minutes; This would happen for three classes a day, twice a week (Wednesdays are reserved for Advisory, counseling, etc.).

B - Students would attend 50-minute synchronous sessions in the morning for three classes, then participate in asynchronous learning for those classes during 50-minute sessions in the afternoon; This would happen for three classes a day, twice a week.

The Language Arts team discussed the options at length yesterday, unanimously arriving at schedule B as the preferred schedule. Overall, we determined it to be the most equitable for students who were relying on public wifi (i.e. sitting in a Starbucks parking lot for wifi) and those whose families are relying on them to care for younger siblings and/or work. It would allow us to work with those students and make the schedule work for them. 

Now, after the staff had the opportunity to discuss the schedule together, and my department was even stronger in our conviction despite the arguments others made against our preferred option. So many opinions were being formed based on teachers' and students' experiences in the spring, when we were flung into the remote learning situation without preparation. We also heard that several students preferred option A, but these students were not those "furthest from educational justice" who we needed to keep central to our planning. 

As you may have predicted, our school chose option A. I logged off exhausted and frustrated, after voicing my concerns and opinions to anyone who would listen. I was concerned that the school had just failed a portion of its community, students and teachers alike. I was hopeful that others had clearer foresight than I did, and that they would turn out to be right. I was concerned that they wouldn't.

This was disappointing professionally and personally. Not only did I feel that B would've been more accommodating to students, I also felt it was more accommodating to teaching parents such as myself. It would have allowed me to schedule my asynchronous afternoon activities around also supporting my daughter in her learning. It would have potentially allowed me to employ high school students for child care during those afternoons, based on their schedules and flexibility. Now, I'm not quite sure what we're going to do, and I'm trying not to freak out.

"This Is Me" - Crafting my introduction

Last school year, one of my colleagues introduced Adobe Spark to his students. When I saw some

examples of what they did, I saw the potential. Spark is an online platform that allows for easy creation of social media posts, visual presentations, and brief videos. Once our school district committed to a 100% virtual return to school, I realized that learning Spark needed to move up on my priority list. 

A Spark video functions somewhat like a movie trailer. It should be brief, move quickly, keep viewers engaged, and communicate necessary information in a memorable manner. Spark allows you to add pictures, video, music, and text to your project (though it is more limited than platforms such as iMovie). The first project I decided to tackle was an introductory video to give students a good idea of who their teacher is. I approached the project much in the haphazard way I tend to approach things that I just want to get done, beginning the project and then deciding what I wanted to add as I went along. The procedure I'm going to outline here is the way I'll be instructing my students to do it. 

1. Create folder on your desktop titled "Adobe Project Files".
2. Choose your focus. For my video, it was to tell students about me, my family, my education, my career(s), my interests, and something I'm passionate about. 
3. Open a Word document, title it, and save it to your new folder. Use this document to outline the content of your video. The order shouldn't be a priority since Spark allows you to easily move content around.
4. Using your outline, determine what imagery you want to use in your video. If these are image files that you already have, save or copy them to your "APF" folder. If you need to download them from Google Images, make sure that they are saved as JPG files in your folder (you should also keep track of the sources for the images so they can be credited). 
5. Log in to Adobe Creative Cloud online using your SPS e-mail and password. Navigate to Spark.
6. Open a new SLIDESHOW project (there are several options), and either choose a "theme" (a template for specific types of presentations) or "start from scratch". 
   
7. You can then begin adding images by dragging and dropping, or uploading from your folder (once they are uploaded they will be stored in the Adobe Creative Cloud for you to use on future projects). 
8. To add text on top of an image, select "Caption" under the LAYOUT tab, and you can add your text.
9. To add voiceover, simply hold down the MIC icon and speak. Keep the voiceovers between 10-15 seconds per slide. You may re-record as many times as you'd like, and the new recording automatically replaces the old one.
10. Review your video to make sure that it flows smoothly, the information is in a logical order, and that the voice over is clear and expressive. Once you're confident that your video is ready for the world, click SHARE to get a shareable link or download your file to your "APF" folder.

I hit quite a few challenges in making the video. It took me a few days to figure out what I wanted. I knew I wanted to introduce myself, but how much was I going to include? Would I talk at all about the class itself? Would I let them know that I also direct plays at the school? How much would I tell them about my family and background? Should I include pictures of myself with famous people? (That last one was a pretty quick "no").

My first full cut came in at over six minutes long, though it only took about 30 seconds for me to realize that my voiceovers were too long and that I had way too many images. I had to trim the fat, which meant focusing the video on a single simple task - introduce myself. They'll have a full school year to get to know me, and some of the things I thought of including felt too forced, like I was a comedian trying to squeeze 30 minutes of material into a ten-minute set. 

During my first pass at trimming down what I had, I focused on the images. On the slide introducing my brothers, I had two photos - one of us from circa 1983, and one from 2015. I couldn't introduce them without having to specify which picture I was talking about, then had to remember that they won't really know what I look like either, so I had to be extra clear not only about my brothers and their names, but about which one in the picture was me. The solution, to eliminate the 1983 pic, also allowed me to change the frame layout and add a caption with our names, which makes the visual aspect of the slide much more digest-able. 

When it came down to the voice-overs, I had so many little pauses and awkward transitions that I had to

find the most direct way to explain each slide. Any asides or commentary had to go, and it had to be, in the words of the fictional Sgt. Joe Friday from Dragnet, "Just the facts." I kept recording, reviewing, and recording again, until I realized that I would never be satisfied and would always cringe at my voice, no matter what I said or how it actually sounded. 

The video comes in at just under four minutes, and will give students a solid introduction that doesn't overstay its welcome. As for the other information about the class, expectations, etc, I plan to create short Spark videos for each subtopic. Based on my experience, as well as the feedback of many a teenager, I have a better chance at getting them to watch and retain things from a shorter video with less going on than a self-indulgent epic. It remains to be seen (as does the video).

That said, here's the video in all its glory. I appreciate all of your commentary and feedback!

                                                                                           

Head in the (Adobe Creative) Clouds

As a Seattle Public Schools teacher, I have free access to the Adobe Creative Suite, and I'm finally taking advantage of this. It's been on my to-do list since earlier in the year, when one of the esteemed History teachers and tech gurus at the school introduced Adobe Spark into his classes. Spark is like a more defined version of iMovie, and it allows users to create a veritable plethora of media presentations. I decided that I'd use it to create a short video to introduce myself to students. Last summer, I had decided to begin using a video on the first day of school rather than attempting to introduce myself, answer questions about curriculums, and introduce classroom exceptions, all within a 15-minute period when the kids are all fired up anyway. A video could be more memorable than my rambling, and would be available for later viewing. Being that much of my video revolved around classroom expectations and routines, as well as establishing my personality, I figured it would be best to make a new one for our virtual start to the year.

For the time being, I'm sticking to still photos, text, and voice-over for content. If I decide to add

Spark's interface is user-friendly and allows users to create the type of
short, engaging presentations that will be helpful to both teachers
and students who are using blended learning strategies.

 video, that won't be a problem. I started my video with a title card reading "Welcome to Intro to Literature & Composition with Mr. Wiener" next to a screen shot from last year's video. From there, I go into my personal history - where I'm from, my family, my education - then my teaching history - then personal philosophy and expectations (this is where I might bring in some video). I also added one of the music tracks provided by Adobe, though Spark does provide the option to upload your own music.

For a few of the slides in the presentation, I wanted to show multiple pictures on one side of the layout, but couldn't add more than one at a time. Fortunately, one of the Spark presentation options is a collage, so I didn't have to leave the program in order to create frame that included both images. Images are stored on the Adobe Creative Cloud, so adding the collage to the video project was simple and straightforward. 

Ultimately, I see a lot of potential in using Spark with students. I'm planning to assign them each to create a video similar to mine that introduces them to me and their peers. Other areas where I can see Spark being used on a regular basis are in vocabulary and reading. Students can demonstrate understanding of words by creating videos that teach the words in an engaging way. They can report back on independent reading by creating book trailers or video book talks. 

I still have a lot more learning to do with these programs, but I'm excited to finish my introduction video and continue on to make more. 

Things I'm Tired of Hearing and Why

Note: There are exceptions and counterpoints to pretty much everything in this post. There are students who will absolutely be at a disadvantage without an in-person return to school. These students should be prioritized in terms of providing in-person learning, which could potentially be done safely for them if those who can learn from home do so. This post speaks to the experience of families who are in a position to keep their kids home, and why remote learning would benefit their children as well as others.

"Schools provide essential services"

Agreed. It's why we're having this conversation and not just closing up shop like we're Sam Goody.

No matter how much I spent there,
Sam Goody is no more :(

What "essential service" is a public school primarily meant to provide to its entire population? Education (it's a broad term, but it generally covers the top priority of a school). There are certainly secondary services, such as meals and child care, that are important to the population and essential to members of that community. These are two different parts of the equation.

As for the educational aspect, while it's what we're used to and what we know we like, education does not need to be delivered in person. Since the spring, teachers have been preparing for a new form of education, regardless of whether or not their schools are opening. We have been considering what worked and didn't work in the Spring (more on that later), and relying on colleagues near and far to guide us as we work hard to ensure valuable and engaging learning experiences for our students. We are learning new platforms and abandoning some personal preferences so that we can be consistent across the building (I have had to figure out Microsoft tools instead of my usual Google Drive, and it hurts). 

Many families rely on public schools to feed their kids, and at least in Seattle, that has not stopped. My high school has had tables set up outside the building for safe and sanitary meal distribution. At these pickup locations, SPS has also made a wide variety of free reading materials available for students at all grade levels.

Then there's the child care aspect, which is also a challenge to many teachers who are also parents of school-aged children. This is a big challenge to consider in keeping schools closed, as there's no easy way around it. It's not like a child care center can be opened much more safely than a school. That said, if schools were closed to the general population, as they have been, it would allow space for a small number of staff to safely supervise and work with the students whose families absolutely cannot accommodate them working at home. For those arguing that it's not fair to allow some students in and not others, consider that it would also not be fair for those students to be held to the same standards as those able to learn and work in a safe, comfortable, home environment. Ensuring equity for those families means that other families fortunate enough to not be in these circumstances might have to make that sacrifice.

On top of all that, schools that reopen are unlikely to be open for full school days, and many extracurricular activities may not be able to take place this fall, at least not in person. Speaking from my experience as a director for my school's drama program, we are planning a production that can be produced and rehearsed virtually, as many summer programs have been doing these past few months. 

"Our kids will fall behind!"

Behind who, exactly? The rest of the world? For whatever it's worth, American students have lagged academically behind those in other countries for quite some time. As of 2015, when the last PISA

(Programme for International Student Assessment) was administered to 15-year-olds from a range of developing and developed countries. According to Pew Research, the results "placed the U.S. an unimpressive 38th out of 71 countries in math and 24th in science." This was during the Obama Administration, before COVID-19 closed schools and even before the election of Trump. For what it's worth, a study conducted a few years earlier showed that American adults fared even worse compared to counterparts elsewhere in the world. This not only takes some wind out of the "falling behind" argument, it also shows that the American education system was in need of some serious updating to keep up with the times. This includes providing equity for all students, especially those historically furthest from educational justice (this involves ensuring that all students have access to technology that allows them to participate in online learning); revising reading lists so that they are inclusive of writers and perspectives from multiple cultures, backgrounds, etc.; removing stigma from mental health and learning disabilities; using Restorative Justice methods rather than punishments to address behavior. 

Last spring is a non-factor - most countries closed schools and very few opened back up before the end of the school year. In most of those countries, however, there were much stricter regulations around travel and mask-wearing, and people generally abided by them, so many schools around the world are opening back up in person for the fall, because it's been deemed safe. In the United States, very few areas have been able to get the virus under enough control to re-open safely, and based on what I've seen from both my drives around Seattle as well as news coming out of places like Georgia and South

Dakota, it'll be some time before we do (if anyone dies after catching COVID at the Smash Mouth concert, "Literally Died To See Smash Mouth at Sturgis" should be etched on their tombstone). 

The risk in students truly falling behind and disengaging from school lies much more in districts that re-open and then have to close down again, or where groups of students and teachers are quarantined. They likely don't have a Plan B and will be in the same situation that they were in last Spring. Add to this the anxiety that an informed student might have attending a school before they are confident in its safety, and the tension that could build in a classroom every time someone sniffles or sneezes (which can happen without being infected by COVID). This sets up a very tentative learning situation, and the more students learn of other districts closing back down, the more of a possibility it will seem to them. They're counting on us to be the leaders, but are likely aware that going to school in person will increase their risk of getting sick, so how much confidence should they then have in that leadership?

Perhaps I'm biased because I work here, but I've been grateful for Seattle's relatively early commitment to a 100% virtual start to the school year. I wish we didn't have to, but the virtual setting will relieve much of the stress and complication of attending school in person at this time, and having the time to prepare has allowed us teachers to move forward much more confidently than if we made a tentative in-person return. We also have time to learn and experiment with digital platforms and even take steps to make education more equitable. As our IC (Instructional Council) has said, the students furthest from educational justice should be kept at the core of our planning. 

"Virtual learning this past spring was a bust!"

Yeah, maybe. Some teachers with foresight were able to do some preparation for remote learning, but I personally didn't expect to be out for the remainder of the school year. I also had a Kindergartner whose education I became almost entirely responsible for, and who demanded much of my attention and energy. Fortunately, the quarantine began in mid-March, when students had already completed about 3/4 of the school year. While I ended up omitting some of my curriculum, I was able to establish a routine for students to get weekly practice using the skills and knowledge developed up until that point. Remote learning in September should and will be a different story. Beginning the year virtually will allow us to set appropriate expectations and protocols for remote learning that can then be carried over as we move back towards an in-person model. 

"Kids need to socialize!"

Absolutely. My daughter, Chloe, is an only child and doesn't have siblings. I'm her primary playmate, though she often prefers my much-busier wife. We've been lucky this summer to have found some camps that followed strict safety precautions, so she's attended some of those, and we've also been "bubbled" with a few other families from her Kindergarten, so she's been able to play with a few of her friends. She's starting first grade at a new school this year, and I would love for her to meet and play with her new friends this fall, but there's no way it can happen safely. 

Think about the way kids play - they run, jump, push, pull, swing, hug, tackle, spit, sneeze, slobber - they're adorable, but not the most sanitary people around. Anyone who's following re-opening procedures know that kids won't be able to play in the way that comes most naturally to them.

Can you easily imagine first graders playing freely while keeping their masks on and distancing? To quote Vizzini in The Princess Bride - "Inconceivable!"

Kids who go back to school in person will be carrying the added anxiety of an ongoing pandemic in addition to the usual anxiety of school. They are also still kids, who are capable of the cruelest yet most innocently stated remarks. It used to be humiliating to fart in the middle of class, but farts are funny. Some of these kids might hear a sneeze and then spend the rest of the day worried that they could've caught something. Their imaginations run wild. An elementary classroom could easily turn into a production of The Crucible Junior - "I saw Goody Proctor with her mask off!"

On top of that, they're going to be in much different classrooms, where desks are isolated and shields

separate them from their classmates and teachers. It reminds me of one of my favorite moments in film, from 2001: A Space Odyssey. A group of primates in prehistoric times leap about, playing, fighting, generally being primates. One takes hold of a bone and flings it into the air, and as the camera follows its trajectory into the air, the film cuts to outer space, and the bone is now a spacecraft flying through the void of space, isolated on all sides for cold, remote, miles. This is how I see the transition from the school environment in prior years compared to the environment of schools this fall. In fact, my concern is that an in-person return could do more harm than good for kids whose families can accommodate and support remote learning. These kids can be in a warm, comfortable, HUMAN environment rather than what could very well look more like a sterile laboratory than a classroom designed for kids. They can interact (virtually) safely without masks, and see each others' faces. In the classroom, they will be

separated by space, if not also by plexiglass. They'll be further separated by the masks that will obstruct much of the facial expression that can help teachers spot frustration, excitement, interest, or confusion. From my own experience, I can say that learning students' names with their faces covered will likely be much more challenging than without (virtual meetings also display students' names, so here's hoping I learn them faster this year). 

"Teachers already don't have to go to work all summer, and now they want to get out of doing their jobs!"

To be fair, I haven't really heard this, but I'm sure that some crankypants somewhere has said or thought this, so I'm addressing it. In our classrooms, we already struggle with the realities of the world as it is currently is, the added challenges of poverty, trauma, learning disabilities, bullying, puberty, school shootings, racism, homophobia... I could go on, I trust I don't need to. Now they are being flooded with conflicting information about a pandemic that affects people very differently - some get through it with nothing more than cold symptoms, others are hospitalized for extended treatment, and others die. Imagine you're a kid and you're already confused about the world, and then all of a sudden thinking that if someone sneezes it could kill you. Now try to get them to listen to why they should use an Oxford comma and really invest in that. 

Since the Spring, teachers have been looking at what worked and what didn't when we all dove into remote learning, and have been working over the summer to structure a day and a school-wide system to keep this from being any more challenging to students as it is. Teachers who have used physical materials for decades of teaching are now learning new technology and platforms. We are preparing pre-recorded lessons so that synchronous learning sessions are used productively and students do not drift

off while a talking head lectures them. For my part, I've been looking at the videos my daughter has been learning from on PBS Kids and YouTube (our favorites have been Xavier Riddle & the Secret Museum, Molly of Dinali, and Jack Hartmann's educational music videos), and considering what they do effectively to engage kids. I'd like to create videos that, much like those binged by my daughter, are concise and re-watchable, and since I haven't done much film making or video editing in the past ten years that's some other work that I'm doing, and I'm sure I'm not the only one self-teaching crash courses in platforms such as Adobe Spark and iMovie. 

We are also establishing school-wide expectations that students are expected to follow, such as logging in to meetings on time, dressing appropriately, and refraining from use of irrelevant or inappropriate virtual backgrounds. While many teachers were early adapters of blended learning and have maximized the use of technology in the past, many are not and they are adapting in a very concentrated period of time compared to their more tech-savvy colleagues. 

 

We're all challenged right now. Understanding our own levels of privilege and those of others, as well as the various challenges that they may be facing, can help us do right by our kids and the teachers who will end up gladly risking their lives to do right by them as well.