There's No Place Like Gnome! Gnomalizing Pedagogy with Online Learning, Research, and Human Connectictivity

Successfully conducting week #2 of online learning, with the remaining weeks to stay the same (we will not return to face-to-face instruction this semester)(The Governor of Connecticut, too, announced yesterday that K-12 schools are out until April 20, perhaps longer)(Yes, we are all aware that 4/20 is national smoke out / weed day and our kids have been quick to point this out).

Although my intentions for educational action research is full scale ahead (and I can adapt as needed), I did take time to whirl around with students to see how their schools are handling the switch to online learning and to get a grip of how I might better serve them from the University castle. Teachers discussed the need to take five-minute breaks from the work, simply to have mental space to regroup and find meaning in the craziness that is their lives right now. Several discussed that parents reported to them they are overwhelmed by the amount of material being placed on kids to accomplish at home - work they don't feel prepared to oversee and monitor with their students. Many said that teachers are merely assigning, and not necessarily teaching, which is a burden on parents. The word repeated most often is that this is "heavy" on the parents at home. Some reported long periods of waiting for support from their districts, while others have been mandated to turn in extensive lesson plans, only to be discarded at the district level, ignored, and surpassed. Teacher expertise is overlooked to an administrative design of packets and control. Some administrators are trying to enforce packet instruction so that all students get the same lessons on the same day so they can pass the tests (um, what tests?)

One teacher discussed at length how she spent two days looking for ways to make meaningful work for her students only to be told, 'meaningful doesn't matter right now.' Another teacher said that all of her students received instructional packets written only in Spanish, which a majority of her students are not Spanish-speaking. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting. So many are just waiting. A majority feel they are working harder than even if they were in school, simply trying to resolve issues they know their students are having and trying to stay in communication so that the kids know they are loved and supported. It's difficult for many to keep the instruction simple and to a minimum.

Sadly, teachers across affluent and struggling districts are reporting the same thing - students are not necessarily doing the work assigned to them or meeting the daily tasks. For teachers in poorer districts, they simply hope they'll hear from their kids. Many are emailing three times a day hoping to hear some response. They simply want to know, "Is the instruction working?"

Obviously, my notes here are only minimal, as I only have a dozen or so educators to learn from, as they report form 7 or 8 school districts in the county. Mixed messaging from administrators seems to be a cultural norm, with directions of what's to be done coming at various times of the day with instructions that contradict what was just learned.

What I hear, however, is that teachers just want to be in control of teaching their own students. They miss the faces, the human connection, the joy, the laughter, and the togetherness most.

I went with a gnome-theme last night, simply because there is no place like gnome and everything is ab-gnomal right now. I also explained that I sent my sophomores on a nisse hunt one summer in Denmark, where we all researched the history of gnomes in Nordic countries (we were curious and never found a single one).

Ah, but I did get smarter for looking.

Okay, Tuesday. I believe this is the day we try to master the Tik-Tok video! That will be the goal for tonight's class.