Tips for my Kids for School from Home

I'm thinking of you a lot, mis monitos. I hope you are staying healthy and aren't suffering too much from all this extra time at home. Our school district is doing its best to provide you with what you need. Call the school if you need anything--not just schoolwork. We can help with food and supplies, too, just ask!

Some of you are working hard on your schoolwork, I know. I've been getting assignments turned in and questions to answer and reports from the different services letting me know that you're accessing the work I put on-line for you. A lot of you are working hard and slaying the schoolwork.

Others, I expect are struggling. Working from home is different than anything you've done before, except for the few of you who have home-schooled before. It can be really difficult, being your own boss.

So here are a few thoughts that might help:

1. Plan your work out

Without bells sending you from room to room and dividing up your time for you, it's up to you to decide when you work on what. This is a great opportunity to do your work the way you want to. You don't have to stop in the middle of your math just because it's 10:00 and time for science now, right? You can finish what you're doing at your own pace.

What's important is setting a pace!

I've got a middle schooler at home myself, so here's what we did.

First, we made a list of all the work she had for each class. We did ours on a big piece of paper and stuck it to the wall where we can see it. Since Dad and I are both working at home, too, we can help make sure she stays on track, but if your family had to go to work, this is a way you might keep yourself on track too!

Then, we sat down and divided the work into chunks, deciding which days she would do which part of the work. She decided she wanted to follow a version of her school schedule, so she's doing the work in the same order that she would have done at school. 

If it was me, I'd do the stuff I like the least first, saving the work I find more personally interesting or fun as my reward. 

Here's her checklist for ELA, for example: 

2. Set a schedule.

It's easy to let these days just slip through your fingers, sleeping till noon and getting nothing done with your time. You don't have to work the same hours you would have done at school, but it's a bad idea to try and squeeze all this work into the last moments before we go back to school too!

Work it out with your families and choose what makes sense. If you're going to need help on your math, maybe work on math when someone is available to help you, and do the reading and science when your adults are busy if you can do those on your own.

You can set a schedule with lots of breaks, bribing yourself with the promise of something you enjoy like playing with you dog, or some time playing video games.

Remember, too, that your teachers are still there, just an email or phone call away. You can reach me through school email, and if you don't have access, you can call school and they'll get a message to me for you.

3. Communicate! 

With you guys at home and me at my house, I can't see your beautiful faces. Your faces are my biggest hint sometimes that you are confused! School from home is NOT the same as being in the same room together, so it's extra important that you speak up if you're having troubles: if something doesn't work, or you don't understand, or you don't have something you need, tell us!

We're lucky that this is happening in the 21st century, where there are so many technological helpmates at our fingertips. You've got the laptops our school provided to you, as well as telephones and other devices you might use to reach out.

This includes your social life. It can get pretty lonely away from all your friends. If you feel down or depressed from the isolation, let the adults in your life know so they can try to help. We can't make the sickness go away and hold a school dance for you just yet, but we'll do our best to help you feel less alone!

Love you kiddos. Take care of yourselves and come back to me strong and brave and knowing a little more than you did when you went home. (Hugs)

Teaching From Home? Pandemic Precautions

So, my school district is closing to help prevent the spread of the Corona virus. I've been through a small version of this once before--when my school closed because so many teachers had the flu that we couldn't get sufficient sub coverage to soldier on--but this is new territory. We're doing school from home--there will still be lessons, the kids just won't come to school.

Overall, I think this is probably wise. History may show that we over-reacted and the virus was not that virulent, or it may make us look prescient, but really we're just people making the best decisions we can with the information we have.

We want our kids safe and healthy. So, getting some "social distance" may be the best way to do that.

I'm worried about my monitos.

It takes discipline to work from home. My students are 11-14 years old. Some of them have that kind of self discipline and some of them really don't yet.

Some of them will be at home with their parents or other family members, which will help, but some of them will at home alone if their families' and caretakers' jobs don't allow for working from home. The siren call of the Xbox is strong. Some kids will try to do it all in the last five minutes and their learning will suffer.

That's what I'm worried about! 

Some of my kiddos rely on school for meals. I know we have some plans in place for that, but I still worry that they'll be hungry.

While most of the kids will have a laptop to use (we're a one-to-one district, with laptops for our students, but some kids have lost the privileges from misbehavior), not all of them have WiFi access, so the district provided Chromebooks become just a hunk of plastic.

After becoming accustomed to media-enhanced digital presentation, being handed a pile of dead trees (we're providing paper copies of work for students without WiFi access) is going to feel dull and not-sparkly. I worry they'll get bored or disheartened, especially if motivation was already on the low side.

They'll get lonely, too. Separated from their friends and the busy social life of a middle school, I worry that some of them will wander dark mental highways. Social interaction is the heart of middle school.

For myself, I'll be fine, assuming I stay healthy. Like most teachers, I'm used to being in charge of myself and getting things done even when no one is really tracking what I'm doing and not doing. I love the online environment and teach in hybrid style every day. In fact, I found it kind of difficult to "un-technologize" my lessons and make them paper-doable for the kids who needed it.

My dog will be so happy to have all his people at home!

Even though North Carolina doesn't have a great track record regarding how it treats its teachers, I trust that I'll still be paid and they'll work out something about how my work is tracked and credited.

Yeah. I'm worried about my monkeys. Here's hoping we swing into spring, happy, healthy, and learning!

If not for the last minute . . .

I'm a plan-ahead girl. Partly this is natural to me (thanks Dad!) and partly it's occupational training. A teaching day goes better if it's planned in advance, with all materials prepared and two backup plans for changes in circumstances (like no wi-fi or half the kids pulled for some other thing).

My students . . .well, not so much.

A lot of them are barely keeping one hour ahead of where they are now. So, they're in my Spanish class panicking over the math that's due next period.

I used to get really "het up"over things like that. Early in my career, I took as a sign of disrespect, that kids thought my class less important than their other classes. It took a while, but I've learned to relax a little.

Not that I don't still raise a fuss when deadlines are missed, but I spend more time sitting down and helping the kids who are floundering.

I realized that not everyone had my father, who thought on time was okay, but a week early was even better. They look at the pile of things to do and have no idea how to prioritize, organize, and make progress. Some kids have never been shown how to plan the steps to get done what needs doing, or how to select what to do first.

So, here's the Bryant plan for efficiency:

1. Make a list of everything you can remember that is on your to-do list. I like to do this in a three column chart, listing what I have to do, when it's due, and my estimate of amount of time needed.

2. For big tasks, break it down into smaller parts and assign yourself mini due dates on the way to the big due date.

3. Reorganize the list so it's in order of priority--what you should do first, second, third, etc. Often this is doing what will be due first, then second, and so on, but you also need to consider those mini-tasks on the way to bigger ones.

4. Look it over and arrange for any help you need. Do you need Mom to take you to buy posterboard? Do you need another copy of a handout? Do you need to ask the teacher to explain something to you again because you don't really get it? Add those to-dos, too.

This backwards planning is a revelation to some kids.

Sometimes we all need to remember, especially in middle school, that we're teaching students, not subjects. I teach sixth, seventh and eighth graders. Spanish is just our context. So, helping them succeed may involve teaching them something that doesn't seem like Spanish :-)