...and we're BACK!

                                               

Usually I would make a comment at the beginning of the school year about how it seems like summer just flew by. I can't really say that this year. Summer didn't seem very quick this year. That's probably because it wasn't a normal summer. And this won't be a regular school year. I mean, gosh, walking back into my classroom for in-service felt a little strange, like I hadn't been there for 6 months...oh, wait, that's right, it has been 6 MONTHS!

This was an in-service like I've never experienced; of course, that's because we are living in a time where much of what's going on hasn't been experienced in a very long time. However, I think our district has handled things well. And the number one thing that was done correctly was providing us with time. We are needing to prepare ourselves for teaching in a way that a large majority of our staff has never done before. Sure, we made it through teaching at the end of last school year, but we are bringing things to a totally different level this year. Our administration identified the fact that we were going to need time to tackle these challenges, and I am very thankful for that. I have friends who teach in other school districts who told me they had to attend sit and get meetings for up to 4 hours on some days! Don't get me wrong, it wasn't just a free-for-all in Sheboygan Falls; we did have meetings, but they were organized in a way that made me feel like our time was respected. And, in many cases, the meetings that we did have were designed to help us to carry out work that is key to our online teaching environment. 

I've mentioned it in the past, but our school district has a strong focus on UDL--Univeral Design for Learning. On Monday, we were virtually visited by Niel Albero of CAST, an organization dedicated to advancing UDL. Niel worked with us to help plan for scaffolds for our students. These scaffolds are going to be vital for our students during these interesting times. We worked with a lot of great information, but one that really stuck with me was a routine that he used related to self-regulation when he began each session. He posed three questions:

1. What could set you up to do your best learning, collaborating, and thinking?
2. How do you want your workplace arranged today?
3. What do you want to have on your screen?

I think these questions will be very valuable for the students at the start of each day. I'm going to make a poster to help me remind the students to think about the questions when they are preparing for the day! Thanks, Niel!

On Tuesday morning there are going to be kids back in our school for the first time in 6 months. It's going to be a shock to a lot of their systems. It's not going to be normal. It will take quite a bit of time to adjust to the new routines. I'm sure there are students and families that are not going to like how things are now. My hope, however, is that they realize that there are a TON of teachers who are doing the best that they possibly can to teach in a situation that is far from ideal.