Sparked and Idea for Teaching and Learning in a Pandemic

 I saw the image below in my news feed this morning and it made me pause.  This is truly what life for many of us looks like right now.  It is definitely they way my teaching and learning experience is going. I work at my computer, participate in virtual meetings, collaborate one-to-one with teachers virtually to do some troubleshooting or planning or lesson creating, visit with my extended family virtually, and check in with my friends that way as well. 

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Ever the ELA teacher, I immediately thought about how it would make a great writing prompt for my students! I could ask them to identify which person represented them most, or of who does one of the images remind you most, or give three people a name and describe what they do each day, or describe the facial expression/features that you envision on one of these people, or so many other out-of-the-box ideas for students to pause, think, imagine, and write.  

Since I have made it a goal to create most of my own graphics for projects I create this year, I also took a moment to think about how I would create something similar and the time it might take to create such a large, in-depth graphic.

I also sent a challenge to one of my grands who is learning remote this week due to quarantining and being in contact with a fellow student who tested COVID positive.  I would love to have seen her face when I challenged her!  Unlike the folks pictured, I'm sure her eyes would be LARGE!  

Sometimes it is off-the-wall sorts of things that make the best lessons. I think this is one of those things that could make a good lesson.  I also think we have lots of people who are scrambling to come up with good virtual lessons using off-the-wall ideas like this that are tied to their own curriculum.  I wonder what other folks have paused in their scroll to think about ways to use something they see in a lesson?

First Official Week Wrap-Up

Well, we have officially spent a week supporting teachers from a distance and using online resources.  Here is a little of what I learned this week (listed in no particular order):

• Virtual meetings are exhausting.
• Virtual learning is so very different from face-to-face learning and people don't realize that, yet.
• I really like creating visuals more than I do most anything else that relates to my job.
• There's a lot more to a How-To video than meets the eye.
• Teachers really love their students.
• Students like regular school more than they realized they did.
• Students really ought to be journaling about their experiences right now.
• It is hard for me to stop working.
• I get a LOT of email in my personal account and don't have the energy to read it when I've worked from home all day.
• There are so many online opportunities to learn that it is mind-boggling.
• My idea of professionalism is not the same as lots of other people's ideas.
• Learning and education is really evolving during this time.
• My long-time vision of the power of online learning is coming to fruition.
• The instructional technology department in my district consists of a lot of rock stars!

I have read so many powerful things written by educators, journalists, and students this week.  The written word is alive and well in 2020!  

P.S. I have to give a huge shout out to Pearson for sharing his journal with me this week.  I feel blessed and enriched by reading his writing. He truly has a gift and I am inspired to become a better writer.