- What might we learn from all this?
- What needs to be re-evaluated?
EDUCATION:
#RemoteLearning – Does it work? For some, maybe. For all? Probably not, but the question education needs to investigate is what do students HAVE to learn? What is key?
Some students may discover they can get a day’s work done in an hour or 2.
Around 1999, when one of my 2nd grade students had to be on home/hospital (taught at home by district staff), I would go after school and, in less than 2 hours, was able to cover everything I had taught the rest of the class that day. No recess, no lunch, no transition to library/computer lab/etc., and no disruptions from announcements, behavior, tardy students, etc.
Once in high school, most know how to read and do basic math, so what is important? Back in September, I started writing a post asking the question: Are we preparing students for the next grade or for life?
Life Skills? Job Skills? Collaboration? Team Building? What are work places looking for? That you know what year the American Revolution began?
Before the comments fly, please know that I have my single subject credential in history and I believe history is VERY important, but, in my opinion, it is more important to ANALYZE historical events than memorize dates. Dates can be discovered through a quick internet search. Analyzing the reasons behind the American Revolution may not be so quick to find.
Here are some of our top skill suggestions, but it is by no means a comprehensive list:
- Reasoning
- Common sense
- Balancing a budget
- Determining media bias (#FakeNews)
- How to sew a button
- Pros and cons to using credit cards
- How to search the internet (Need ideas? We’ve got you covered!)
- Working on a team
- Expressing your opinion (or disagreeing with someone) in a diplomatic/respectful manner when possible. (Yelling at someone is probably not going to sway their opinion to your side.)
What needs to be re-evaluated in our opinion? CAMERAS! Some districts/schools/teachers are telling students that they have to have their cameras on all the time during class. Some points to consider thanks to @k_shelton and @torreytrust:
Looking for educational websites to help your children? Check out our Super Wakelet, organized by subject area with elementary and secondary lists.
In need of offline activities to keep your children busy and encourage learning? No problem. Check out this Google Slides or Microsoft PowerPoint collection of offline ideas (same information, different formats), links, and more for activities that don’t necessarily require a device.
FOOD SERVICES:
As more orders go online or takeout, restaurants and food services are having to quickly reorganize to meet the demand. Serving staff may now deliver to cars in the parking lot. Meals may become less about presentation and more about portability.
An accessible online presence is key!
Food businesses need to evaluate their websites for ease of use and accessibility. A lack of either, or both, will result in lost customers equaling lost revenue.
Include image descriptions (alt-text), user-friendly fonts, buttons that aren’t dependent on colors such as green and red for those with colorblindness.
Big thank you to our local BJ’s Restaurant and their handcrafted root beer!
As to re-evaluation, we’ve also seen local restaurants with outside tables in closed tents or with tables back to back. #PhysicalDistancing
STORES:
Shopping. Hoarding. Planning. How many of us will never let our toilet paper supply go below 1 or 2 full packages? Or not wait until we are out of something to replenish? Our local Ralph’s (Kroger) has made their pick up service free and we are hooked! We add to our virtual cart whenever we think of something we need and every few weeks, we submit it, drive to the store during the designated hour, park, and call the number while a worker puts our order in the trunk of our car. #Contactless
BIG SHOUT OUT to the store staff and delivery crews who help keep us safe and supplied.
ENTERTAINMENT:
Will we see the return of drive-in movie theaters? In our area, we already have! A local theater is offering movies on the roof of the mall parking garage.
Are more theaters going to switch to reserve seating to allow seats between individuals or family groups? Will we see more home watching options emerge?
For our home entertainment, we’ve had DirecTV, but cancelled due to changes in their privacy policy (as discussed in this post). Next, we tried YouTube TV, but did not find the user-interface very friendly and then the price jumped to $65 a month (not worth it to us for the frustrating interface). Now we just use our Amazon Fire Stick and found Pluto, a fun Fire Stick app with all kinds of channels, many with shows we remember from our childhood. We miss our DVR and are looking for budget-friendly options. In the meantime, it’s classic tv time with commercials.
CELEBRATIONS:
ONE of us had a milestone birthday this summer. 🎂 The original plan was to rent out a local vintage arcade for dozens of family and friends. COVID-19 had other plans so we pivoted.
A few weeks before my birthday, the arcade was allowed to open with limited guests, masks and gloves required. We invited immediate family and a few friends. The store was closed so it was just our group of 14. Not quite what I had planned, but was grateful for time together. Thank you, Lost Levels Arcade.
Websites/Apps like Zoom, Flipgrid, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet and more came to the rescue to allow family and friends to join together, even if only virtually. Create a family Flipgrid for birthday messages for grandparents, graduation well-wishes, leave video messages for retiring colleagues, there are so many options! The AMAZING Flipgrid Team even created a guide for families. Game nights with friends have now gone virtual using Facebook Messenger and Zoom. We started with Trivia Pursuit since we all had it at home and then moved to Jackbox games online.
August 2020
Months after starting the first draft of this post, we are grateful to be able to work from home as our state has high number of COVID-19 cases.
A guest bedroom has now become a home office, a tall dresser is a standing desk, an extra tv donated by a family member is on the guest bed on top of the unused dining room table insert for a second monitor and life goes on.
Do YOU have any DIY #WFH (Work From Home) tips to share? Suggestions on how to cope during quarantine? What hacks have you found that you would recommend to others.
Comment below to share your discoveries.
GK Techies 