Yesterday, we were informed that the current rise in new cases for our section of the district necessitates that we move to fully online instruction (in most cases) for the first couple of weeks of school. At that point, the data will be revisited and a decision will be made for the following week(s). Even though I was fairly certain that this was going to happen, I was still found myself taking the news rather poorly. I love teaching and working with my students. Online simply is not the same.
That said, we have been preparing for this. Certainly, I might have put off some of my online preparation as I was setting up my physical classroom, but everything will still be ready for our students so that we can give them a place (even if it is virtual) to socialize and hone their skills. There are still some concerns about those students whose parents have not yet registered them, as we are not certain about their needs, but we are working on contingencies for them as well.
Thankfully, my point system is fairly adaptable and allows for students to demonstrate their knowledge and ability in a variety of ways. The main frustration that I'm dealing with at the moment is that the digital versions of our textbooks are no longer available (this was really the wrong year for that to happen). Thus, I have to spend extra time seeking and preparing online materials which had been readily available to students in previous years.
Oh well ... I'll overcome that problem too.
That said, we have been preparing for this. Certainly, I might have put off some of my online preparation as I was setting up my physical classroom, but everything will still be ready for our students so that we can give them a place (even if it is virtual) to socialize and hone their skills. There are still some concerns about those students whose parents have not yet registered them, as we are not certain about their needs, but we are working on contingencies for them as well.
Thankfully, my point system is fairly adaptable and allows for students to demonstrate their knowledge and ability in a variety of ways. The main frustration that I'm dealing with at the moment is that the digital versions of our textbooks are no longer available (this was really the wrong year for that to happen). Thus, I have to spend extra time seeking and preparing online materials which had been readily available to students in previous years.
Oh well ... I'll overcome that problem too.
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