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!