(Part 2) Mt. Zion's Learning Plan: Will it work?

In part 1 of this blog post, I discussed the problems with allowing parent-choice blended learning and the lack of teacher time for remote instruction, but these are just the tip of this dangerous iceberg. We also need to be willing to cooperate to ensure the safety of our students. 

First and foremost, during this pandemic, we all need a willingness to adapt. Parents, students, teachers, and administrators know that plans are constantly being changed, especially during the past months of daily updates from Governor Pritzker, new phases of restriction, and altered regulations for churches, businesses, and restaurants. To say that a plan is unchangeable is an insult to us all. We know that JFL and the IESA changed their fall plans for sports, and Springfield, Bloomington, and Taylorville school districts all chucked their original in-person plans for full remote learning this week. Even the MTZ plan was changed to allow for an open campus at the High School which appears to have been added without any mention of this idea to the planning committee. And change doesn't have to take very long if the administration is on board, as we all know Mt. Zion's Spring "Learn at Home" plan changed within a matter of days to allow teachers to use video instruction with students, a beneficial tool that was originally banned. Every plan, even our own US Constitution, has options for amending as situations change. The "it is what it is" response is a deflection of responsibility and administrative duties. Besides, no one believes that teachers or the union would voluntarily approve a plan with these requirements! 

So, let's move on to the issue of safety.  Mid-pandemic everyone has forgotten that violence has been increasing in our schools and even our own neighborhoods. Shootings at block parties, looting, riots, and child trafficking spatter the news between the Covid-19 updates. In fact, teachers closed and locked classroom doors at all times last school year. They learned first aid, carried classroom keys with them, kept windows closed, and conducted active shooter drills. Even visitors had to produce a photo ID to enter the buildings. But, luckily, Covid-19 came along and completely eliminated these safety concerns. (insert eye roll) Now the virus is a greater threat to safety and classrooms, so the rules have changed. Teachers can now open windows and doors to improve ventilation since we aren't social distancing properly. If you want to enter the buildings, I guess you can walk right in, folks! There is nothing but a screen to stop you. Funny, isn't it, that we aren't worried about clear backpacks, gun violence, or what students will do when they leave mid-day and head to Fletcher Park between classes. None of this matters as long as students are at school.

And, I know that some of you are tired of the hype about masks and social distancing. So am I. And I want to believe that it is all a farce to hijack our freedoms. But, I can't wrap my head around this contradiction:

• In Decatur, mayor Julie Wolfe has said that businesses can be shut down if they don't follow the guidelines for masking and social distancing. So, large Xs are on every other table in restaurants.
• Our school board is permitting students to sit within 2 feet of each other all day long, 5 days a week with no repercussions at all.

The thinking must be that we all deal with flu season every year, so let's just go on with business as usual. Deaths from Covid-19 in Macon County as of today are only at 23 total or 0.022% of the population. But, we know that cases are spiking. With the current numbers, though, only one of our students, teachers, or district employees will probably die from COVID. That's great odds! But remember that these children live in families who will also be put at risk. Families who are caring for aging parents, newborns, and people with health concerns. So the question becomes, is it worth it to change the plan and protect that one person? Maybe not, unless that one child, parent, or grandparent is yours. 

But, don't misunderstand me. School is very important! Research says that our most at-risk kids especially need the stability and support of our schools for their physical and mental health. Some lack meals, a place to escape from abuse, and emotional support. Suicides among our children are on the rise since the pandemic began, too. I mean, did you put on weight sitting around during the pandemic? Anyone feel anxious or depressed? Are you struggling with fear? Our children are, too. I want "normal" for my daughter, and as the only child at home, she thinks we are pretty boring these days. So here is a novel suggestion to solve this problem: Cooperation. 

This whole situation reminds me of a 5th-grade history lesson about King George and the English Colonies. The colonists had concerns about taxation without representation, but the King taxed the colonists anyway. Now don't misunderstand, King George had sent troops to protect the colonists during the French and Indian War and he needed money to pay for these expenses. He had a good reason and the right to impose these taxes. But, he ignored the concerns of the colonists. Instead of working together with his countrymen in the New World, he dug in his heals and added one tax after another. If you lean on me I will push back on you was the thinking, and the Intolerable Acts ensued. When I taught this lesson, I always asked my students this question, "What actually caused the Revolutionary War?" And a few 5th graders every year were discerning enough to realize that pride and power ruled the day. In fact, King George called the colonists "unruly teenagers" who needed discipline. This lack of concern and respect cost England the New World.

But the value of studying history is the lessons we learn. A little compromise, a little compassion, and a little willingness to negotiate could have prevented an uprising for King George and so many deaths.  We all need that same respect, understanding, and willingness to work together now more than ever. So, don't you think it is time to sit down with the "soldiers" on the front lines, students, medical professionals, and administrators and actually seek out solutions to these problems.

So I challenge you to make this your rally cry by letter, phone call, or email! Work together now and compromise! Too much is at stake for a war.

Mt. Zion's Learning Plan: Will it actually work?

The short answer is: No! 

I have been quietly reading the posts from parents who are deciding among remote instruction, blended learning, and in-person school attendance. I know this choice is weighing heavily on you just as it is on me. I am a parent, too. But since retiring from teaching in May after a 35-year career, teaching in a 1:1 Chromebook classroom, and earning a K-12 Technology Specialist Degree, I think I understand the educational implications of Mt. Zion's Learning Plan better than most. So, let's look at two reasons that  I believe this plan is not feasible: Blended learning and teacher time for remote instruction.

I know, I know. The blended learning option is what all of the parents like most about Mt. Zion's proposal but it is the most detrimental to your child's education. No other district in our area (check my spreadsheet here to review my data) is allowing parents to choose their own "blended learning" plan or the days for in-person or remote attendance. It might seem like a great plan for your family, but it has serious educational consequences. Unpredictable student attendance will cause slower academic progress for the entire class and put students in the blended plan at a significant disadvantage.

Why is the blended plan a problem? In Mt. Zion parents need to give only 24 hours notice to change from remote to in-person learning or alter their days of attendance. Full flexibility sounds great! We are in the middle of a pandemic, you know! If there is a test on Friday, I can decide to send my student to school, or perhaps I will keep her home so that I can help with the questions. Tennis meet on Tuesday? Let's not attend on Wednesday. Grandma is visiting? Let's take the week off. Plus, work doesn't need to be submitted until midnight of the following day! More sleep and time for work completion. Perfect, right? I know that is what some are thinking, but the opposite is true.

Here is how this scheduling nightmare might play out in a classroom. Beyond the confusion of tracking absences and work submission, the learning progression will be inevitably slowed by absences. Let's look at a simple scenario to show you what will really happen this year, and if you don't believe me, talk to any teacher you know. For simplicity, let's pretend that only 8 students are assigned to my class instead of 24 or more. This table  might be representative of my classroom population multiplied by 3 with in-person (IP) and remote learners attendance as follows:

Name	M	T	W	T	F
Joe B.	remote	IP	remote	IP	remote
Ellen D.	IP	IP	IP	IP	remote
Betsy D.	IP	remote	IP	remote	IP
Colin K.	remote	IP	IP	IP	remote
Nancy P.	remote	IP	IP	IP	IP
JB P.	remote	remote	remote	remote	remote
Donald T.	IP	IP	IP	IP	IP
Julie W.	IP	IP	IP	IP	IP

 So, I would need 7 desks in my classroom (which translates to 21 for a regular class), as long as JB doesn't change his mind, but only 4 students (12 for a real classroom) would be at school for instruction on Monday and Friday. During the first few days of school, I usually review classroom expectations, learn names, and orient students to expectations. But if I do this on Monday, then Joe, Colin, and Nancy will not be up to speed. I could record myself explaining rules for 1 hour to post online, but what about the other 4+ hours of the school day that those students missed? Did in-person students learn nothing of value in those other 4 hours? If that is true, then in-person classes are unnecessary in the first place.

Usually, teachers are able to handle absences, no problem. We just pull those students aside during work time and do a small group review of what they missed. Oh, wait! Teachers can't use small groups or be in close proximity during this pandemic, so the rest of the class will have to wait while the teacher reviews everything from Monday again on Tuesday. At the beginning of the year, though, reviewing expectations might be a good idea. What about a typical week?

Let's suppose that on Monday, I teach the class how to divide by a fraction. I record my instruction and post it to Google Classroom by 3:00 pm as required. I won't have time to edit the video, so classroom interruptions and misbehavior will be recorded for all students and parents to see. (But, that is for another post...) Then Joe, Colin, and Nancy can watch the video and do their homework. According to the learning plan, students have until midnight Tuesday to finish Monday's work which is ample time to get the work done. Well, in theory! But, reality will be much different. These 3 blended learning students MUST do all of their Monday work between 3:00 pm and bedtime including watching the hour-long video of core class instruction from the school day. If they don't complete ALL of their work, they will be missing key understandings that are needed for Tuesday's math lesson. In addition, the blended and remote students will not be present as the teacher reviews the most difficult concepts and clarifies misunderstandings. Have a question? Ask your parent. Remember, 1 hour of core instruction will probably include about 10 minutes of reading, 10 minutes of math, 10 minutes of science, 10 minutes of social studies, 10 minutes of spelling, and 10 minutes of grammar each day. Your child will get only 10 minutes of the 60-minute math lesson and no personal assistance from the teacher. We all know that skills build on each other, so the blended/remote students will require tutoring to keep up.  

And finally, there is the problem of timing. What were Joe, Colin, and Nancy doing on Monday during the day? Nothing! Their schoolwork won't be posted until 3:00 pm Monday afternoon since teachers have live students all day. These blended learning students actually signed up to take night classes. If your family thought blended learning would be less stressful than full time remote or in-person learning, think again. Blended learning students will have little consistency in their daily schedules and high evening stress on family time.

Wait, there has to be a solution... Perhaps teachers could post assignments the previous day,  at 8:00 am for online students, or upload each video after that subject is completed. That would work, right? Remote learners could do their work during the day without so much wasted time. This sounds like a great workaround, in theory!

To understand why this won't work, we need to look at a typical teacher's day. Before COVID-19, teachers at the Intermediate School began work hours at 8:00 a.m, turned on computers, posted daily assignments, answered emails, collaborated on projects, and prepared for their classes. Students congregated in the cafeteria, hallways, lockers, or all-purpose room while buses were arriving, and students would report to classes between 8:13 and 8:30 when school began. A similar scenario occurred at the end of the day when students left the classroom at 3:10 to report to the pods and wait for the final buses to pick up students. This year, students will report directly to each classroom as buses arrive, which means every teacher will be supervising students beginning at 8:00 a.m. At the end of the day, children will remain in individual classrooms until all buses have arrived, too. Considering that additional bus routes may be added, due to the 50-student bus restriction, teacher contact time could be extended even more. Regardless of how it appears, the 2020-2021 "early dismissal" does not provide additional planning time for teachers to record lessons, upload videos, or work with remote learners. In reality, the plan states that teachers may be asked to cover other teacher's classes (with no compensation) during their scheduled planning periods due to the substitute teacher shortage and will also help with additional cleaning in their classrooms each day. No time is provided for these additional responsibilities.

So how are other schools making this work? Most districts are providing additional days and hours each week for teachers to work with remote learners or assigning teachers to remote instruction only. Mt. Zion's plan does not provide either option. Teachers must plan classroom instruction, teach in-person students, record an hour of class time each day, digitize lessons for ancient textbooks, and upload videotaped instruction by the end of the school day. So, although the number of students on the class roster may not have increased, teacher workloads for the coming year will be nearly doubled, and remote and blended learners are the ones who will suffer most. You see, even for a tech-savvy educator, teaching remotely requires significant computer time. Have you ever tried creating and editing a one hour video? I'm sure it took more than one hour to complete and upload. Have you waited for a digital assignment to load? Teachers do that for every single student assignment. Just reminding a student to turn in work now requires accessing a web program, entering a password, waiting for the program to load, clicking files to locate the student work page, opening a comment box,  typing a reminder to the student, sending it, and then posting grades to Skyward when it is turned in. When do you suppose that teachers will do all of these tasks?  Asking teachers to post videos at the beginning of the day would force them to do even more. They would have to teach every subject twice--once in class and once the evening before. Would you work an extra hour or more each day for free? I mean, Walmart paid bonuses to workers during this pandemic. Remember, teachers have in-person students in a crowded building from 8:00 am to at least 3:00! 

And we haven't even discussed the fact that an hour of videotaped instruction does not constitute remote learning. It is merely "remote viewing" with absolutely no engagement required. Are any of you parents expecting to be able to call the teacher for help? Did you expect interactive assignments, comments on classwork, and personal engagement with a professional educator? Are you hoping to build a relationship with your child's instructor? Everything takes time, so these will only happen if your child's teacher chooses to volunteer after work hours. But, we all know that most teachers are selflessly generous, and Mt. Zion is counting on their charity to make this plan work. 

Thus, parents, if you chose blended or remote learning, just recognize that 10 minutes of recorded instruction (15 minutes in HS) in each subject is all your child is required to receive unless a dedicated teacher decides to bless you with more. And if you aren't happy with this scenario, you should be making your feelings known.

Mt. Zion can still solve these problems by following the lead of area districts:

1. Increase teacher planning time with reduced in-person attendance days or earlier dismissal times. (Decatur, Maroa-Forsyth, Springfield, Clinton, Sangamon Valley, Effingham, Meridian, Cerro Gordo, Argenta-Oreana, Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond, Lincoln)
2. Assign specific teachers at each grade level to do only remote instruction and others to in-person instruction alone. (Springfield, Clinton, Bloomington, Shelbyville)
3. Allow changes in educational planning only at quarter or semester time to allow for consistency in the classroom. (Decatur, Maroa-Forsyth, Warrensburg-Latham, Okaw Valley, Springfield, Clinton, Bloomington, Sangamon Valley, Effingham, Cerro Gordo, Argenta-Oreana, Shelbyville, Central A&M, Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond, Lincoln)
4. Eliminate parent-choice blended instruction. (Decatur, Maroa-Forsyth, Warrensburg-Latham, Okaw Valley, Springfield, Clinton, Bloomington, Sangamon Valley, Effingham, Meridian, Cerro Gordo, Argenta-Oreana, Shelbyville, Central A&M, Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond, Lincoln)

At least now, I hope you recognize that Mt. Zion School District is asking their teachers to go above and beyond the expectations of any other teachers in our area. These professionals are working voluntarily during the summer, paying for outside assistance to prepare their classes for the school year, and sending their own children to daycare each day for you. So, when school starts, be sure to treat teachers with consideration and respect. To make this school year work, their efforts will have to be truly heroic!