You Could Be Llamas, For All I Know

I have fifty-one 7th graders in my science classes.

I have never heard most of their voices and I have seen only a handful of their faces on camera.

In a few cases, I wasn’t sure if they were male or female until someone told me. 

The vast majority of them could be llamas, for all I know.  

That’s my working hypothesis at this time.

I have at least worked with my 8th graders in person, so I know they are people. (Most of them, at least.)

I mean, to be sure, they would have to be some pretty darn talented and articulate llamas, who clearly know how to read, type and draw diagrams. (How on Earth can they do that with hooves instead of fingers?)

In any case, I have very little evidence that they are not llamas.

I did say hello to them as they passed through the halls as 6th graders, and I don’t recall any llamas walking past me, but you never really know, ya know? Maybe, I was too focused on finding 50 different ways to say hello and good morning and missed all the pack animals bundled up in their winter coats.

I have had some parent meetings where I did get to see students on camera, and they were not llamas, but that’s a pretty small sample size - not really statistically significant. 

I guess if we get back to in-person school, I’ll know for sure, but for now, I’m assuming all my students are llamas. 

What Student Engagement Looks Like

 Student engagement during remote learning is a thing. It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. Teachers know it when we see it and we can tell when it’s not there, but it can be a challenge to communicate that idea to some students.

Engagement looks like getting your work done, asking questions about the work or what we’re learning. It looks like students participating in class, commenting in the chat, or turning their cameras on (even if just to say hello). Engagement means thinking about the work we are doing and considering how this might apply to you, your daily life and your future.

When we’re together in a classroom, engagement is easy to spot and probably easier for you to give. We are finding that learning from home has lots and lots of distractions - brothers and sisters, gaming systems, phones, extra nap time, handy snacks and lots of other things. 

Maybe it’s easier to describe what engagement does not look like…

• It’s not joining a zoom class, and not participating, not responding to messages in the chat or on your device, or not replying to verbal call-outs in the zoom class. 

• It does not look like playing PS4 or Xbox during school hours. 

• Engagement is not taking naps or letting yourself fall asleep and missing classes or independent work time. (Hint: Staying up all night, will make it harder to stay awake during school hours)  

• Being engaged does not mean spending lots of time in your phone when you should be paying attention in class or doing your work.

• For sure, student engagement is not just vegging out and letting time slip away. 

Not feeling like you can engage might come from not feeling motivated. If you feel stuck, like you’re so far behind that you’ll never catch up, talk to your teachers. Go to office hours, ask to meet with teachers privately. 

I have been seeing more engagement by more students, but there are still a large number of 7th and 8th graders who are not engaged in learning. 

Your future’s coming whether you’re ready or not. If you engage a little now, you can save yourself a whole lot of headaches later. 

Remember, don’t be a Jarrod….

No After Class Work Monday

I will not be giving you work to do after class on Monday.

I have a different kind of assignment for you: Pay attention.

Yes, pay attention because Tuesday is Election Day in America. It’s the day we choose our government.

Now, this might seem more like a social studies assignment but, as I keep saying, everything we do in school is interrelated. No subject stands alone, divorced from the others. ELA supports science, science supports music, music supports social studies, etc.

Science issues have been at the heart of this election cycle - I mean, we’re in the depths of a pandemic, right?  Climate change, fracking, renewable energy sources, health care and a host of other issues have permeated the presidential campaign. 

Watch the TV coverage. Read about the candidates and issues - local, state and national. Elections make a difference. They make the future.

No one knows what to expect on Tuesday or the following days and weeks. It might be chaotic. It might be scary. It’s worth your time to pay attention to what’s happening. 

The future is more yours than mine, you might want to start thinking about what kind of America you want to live in.

You can’t vote yet, but you can pay attention.

You Will Get Knocked Down

You will get knocked down. You will run into adversity. You will make mistakes. You will have setbacks. Things will happen to you that are and are not your fault.

Life is hard. Everyone experiences disappointments, setbacks, problems and failures. 

Everyone takes a hit - sometimes a lot of hits - a bad test grade, problems at home, health issues, money problems, relationship issues, the list is endless. No one has an easy life - everyone has problems. Everyone is dealing with something and you might not even know it to look at them.There’s no getting around it. but, you can deal with it.

When you get knocked down, you don’t have to stay down. You can get up again. You can try again. You can succeed even if you’ve failed before. You need to keep working. You need to keep moving forward.

The people who succeed, who reach their goals, don’t give up. They keep working toward what they want. They may change their strategy or tactics, but they keep working. 

Perseverance. Tenacity. Grit. Determination. Endurance.

These are the words that describe someone who succeeds, someone who doesn’t quit. 

They don’t say things like “I’m just bad at (fill in the blank)” and stop trying. They keep working toward that good grade, toward understanding something new, toward that difficult skill, toward that high school they want to attend, toward all the other things they want out of life. 

You will get smacked around by life, but you have to keep going. 

And here’s some insight from someone who knows…you will become a better person for having dealt with adversity. You will become stronger and more resourceful. You will know what it feels like to struggle and you will also know that there is an end to the struggle, that you can succeed if you just keep working.

Remote Learning: Why I Despise it so Much

 A guest post by Patrick 

The Screen

One reason why I don’t like remote learning is because we are on a screen for a total of 7 hours, and not to mention the uncanny brightness! First it's too bright, then it's too dark! At least if we are on our phones or playing video games it's actually FUN.

ZOOM

Another reason why I don't like remote learning is because of Zoom. Zoom is cool and all but it’s WAY laggier and always freezes unless you have the top notch internet. Once, I was locked out of my Zoom classes for a whole week and a half!

Big, Black, Boxes

My third reason why I don’t like remote learning is because NOBODY turns their camera on! All I see is the teacher’s face, and then some big boxes with names in them! (Of course, I don’t either, but only because I got a haircut and nobody else does!)

The Expectations

My fourth reason I don’t like remote learning is because they expect us not to type to our friends in the chat when we have NO OTHER WAY to communicate with them! I can't get their phone numbers, or their discord! And I cant use this laptop after school because its “FOR SCHOOL PURPOSES ONLY.”

Timing

My fifth and last reason why I don't like remote learning is because we start school at 7:20 AM! Why so early!? Why not 8:30-2:30? We don't get ANY sleep because we're used to our summer schedule, (stay up till 12 am, sleep till 2 pm.) and we get up at sunrise? What is this a prison!?

Thank you so much for reading this, I appreciate it and please, consider some changes.

I'm Just a Guy, in a Room, Talking about Science

You should see this remote teaching thing from my perspective. You would not believe it.

I’ve continually got twenty-four tabs open, spread across two browsers. My computer notification chimes about every 17 seconds. There are notifications of work ready for review/grading, private comments on google classroom, emails from the administration and my 7/8 grade team, notices from tech support, parents texting me on Remind, and people trying to sell me stuff that is “ideal for remote learning.”  When I have the volume up on my computer, I can hear that chime all over the house. I can hear it during class, when I’m having dinner, playing with the dog, brushing my teeth, it’s nearly all the time…chime, chime, chime, chime, chime, chime, chime, chime.

This whole way of doing school is very difficult to cope with - and I am sure it is equally difficult to cope with on your side as well. 

For me, the hardest part are the virtual zoom classes. Almost no one turns their cameras on, so I’m faced with a screen full of black boxes with names. When I ask a class of 27 students to put their thoughts, ideas and opinions in the chat, the same 5 to 7 people respond and that’s about it. 

“What are the rest of you doing?” I often wonder, picturing you napping, playing video games or using your phones.

I feel like I’m talking to myself a lot of the time. Intellectually, I know people are there, but there is so little human contact, that it feels like I am very alone. Maybe you feel the same way too.

A typical class goes something like this:

Me: “ Okay, so that’s the end of the lecture part of the class. As a reminder, I have posted a recorded version of this lecture on google classroom along with your work. Please go to google classroom, review the video and complete the handout I posted. Does anyone have questions or comments? Just put them in the chat.”

Chat: <silence>

Me: “Okay, please stay on the call while you do your work. I am here if you have any questions. I’ll be doing my attendance while you work.”

Me: (quietly muttering to myself): “Okay, Tony’s here, Billy, Amy, no James today, …”

Chat: “What are we doing?”

Me: “Please go to google classroom and watch the video version of the lecture, then do the handout posted with it. Is everybody clear about what you should be working on? If you have questions, please put them in the chat.”

Chat: <silence>

Me: (again, quietly muttering to myself): “James is here, I see Lori, Alex is here, Steve, Jenny, Aggie, no Pearl…”

Chat: “What are we supposed to be doing?”

Me: “Again, please go to google classroom and watch the video version of the lesson, then do the handout posted with it.”

Me: (still, quietly muttering to myself): “Okay, where was I? Oh yes, no Pearl, Shelly is here, Ruth is here…”

Chat: “Is there any work for today?”

Me: “For the third time, please go to google classroom. Watch the video version of the lesson, then do the handout posted with it. Everybody all set?  Any questions about what is expected of you, right now? If so, please ask your questions in the chat.”

Chat: <silence>

Attendance is now done. I can respond to a couple of emails and reply to a parent on Remind.

Chat: “What are we doing?”

Me: “For the fourth time,” holding up four fingers in front of my camera, “please go to google classroom and watch the video version of the lesson I just taught, then do the handout posted along with it. Does anyone have any questions about what I am expecting of you? Please put your questions in the chat.”

Chat: <silence>

Chat: <silence>

Chat: <silence>

Chat: <silence>

Chat: <silence>

Chat: <silence>

Me: “Just to be sure…are we all on the same page? Everyone know what you’re supposed to be working on? It’s posted to google classroom, as it is every day. When you’re done, you may do late work, work for another class, or read a book. Please reach out if you are having any trouble at all.”

Chat: <silence>

Chat: <silence>

Chat: <silence>

Chat: <silence>

Chat: <silence>

Chat: <silence>

Chat: “I can’t find the work.”

Me: “Ugh.”

So, there you have it. 

I'm just a guy, in a room, talking about science. <sigh>

If you’d like to write a companion post about what virtual learning is like from your side of things, let me know. I have allowed students to guest post on my blog in the past and would enjoy doing so again.

Yes, There is a Sword Hanging in my Office

We all do it…we look for clues about the people we know. On zoom call’s we look at the background of the room people are zooming from. Last Spring, during a 7th and 8th grade team meeting, one of your teachers asked “Is that a sword, hanging on the wall behind you?” 

And, yes, there is a real sword hanging in my home office. 

My home office is where I’m working right now. The 8th grade is very familiar with my home office, but things have changed since the spring, so I figured I’d do an updated tour of my new “classroom.”

To my right, is a glass display case. I display two things; models that I have built and "obsolete objects."

I enjoy building scale models. I have a few in my classroom at the Bartlett. In my glass case, I have a series of US battleships that shows the development of these immense ships over time. I have an aircraft carrier and a few planes I have recently built.

The "obsolete objects" are a collection of things that were once every day items in my life that society no longer uses. I have a record album, 8-track and cassette tapes, my video iPod (5th generation from 2005 (and yes, it still works)), my iPod shuffle and about 50 other items, many of which, you would be hard pressed to identify. Remember, I'm old so I've seen a lot of changes in my life.

Next, I have my father's medals and his sword. My dad served in the Marines and fought in the Korean War. Unfortunately, my dad passed away about 2 years ago. He gave these treasures to me before he passed. I miss him all the time.  I would love to bring the sword into school. It has beautiful engravings on the blade. Unfortunately, bringing weapons into school is frowned upon.

I also have some models that are kind of failed attempts. 

In the back left corner, is where I build and paint scale models. I’m currently working on a model of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

By the way, the picture of the ship over my modeling area is the wreck of the SS America. I have this thing for ships - I love big, steel ships.

Next to this picture is a Nerf Bow ’n Arrow. Yes, it works. It was a gift from my youngest child. When he was born, I worked for a toy company that made Nerf products, board games like Monopoly, and other toys. 

My desk area is where I spend 90% of my time when I'm in here. I have photographs that are important to me on the walls, knickknacks, my computer and other assorted desk-like items. I have a plant that is usually on the windowsill of my classroom. This plant was given to me by a student about 5 years ago. At that time, it was smaller than my thumb. 

This is where I’m spending my time right now. 

This is where I’m zooming from with you. I know I have a virtual background right now, but just because I have a very bright window right behind me when I zoom.