Socially Distanced Education is Not a Return to Normal
I am troubled by a false dichotomy I see in the discourse around schools reopening.
I keep seeing the discussion weigh the merits and flaws of remote education against face-to-face instruction.
Obviously, face-to-face instruction is advantageous in almost every way, except for the obvious health concerns (which I weigh very heavily, but you may not).
However, face-to-face instruction is NOT what is on the table for next year. What is currently being evaluated and planned for is more accurately described as socially distanced education.
Socially distanced education loses many of the advantages of face-to-face instruction. I'll give 2 examples. You should be able to extrapolate many more.
Two ways that socially distanced education loses
1. Proximity is my greatest classroom management tool. My second is my facial expression and clear tone of voice. Both will be affected by my 3-6 feet of social distancing and my mask. It'll also be challenging to lean over a child's desk to help with work from 3 feet away.
2. Small group instruction is impossible in a socially distanced classroom. Now, if you haven't been in a classroom in over ten years or so, you might not realize what a big deal that is.
Education has changed. We don't really do the whole "sage on a stage" lecture and have the kids absorb and regurgitate anymore. We know more about how learning works now.
School is now a place where we attempt to facilitate questioning, discovery, critical thinking, collaboration, and innovation. And we do this using project-based learning, conferencing, and other strategies that utilize small subgroups within the class to complete the tasks that best meet their specific educational needs and interests.
Basically, without small group instruction, all current best practices in education are significantly hindered.
Interestingly, in my thought process on addressing these obstacles in my classroom, I keep finding myself returning to the exact tools that make remote learning possible. If I record myself giving the lesson, my speech will be clear. If I have them working on their assignment on the computer, I can give them one-on-one feedback using a tech tool from 6 feet away. I can utilize the features on the Google Education Suite to create various groupings and allow kids to collaborate with each other from a safe distance.
I have not yet solved the classroom management issue.
As I think about it, my socially distanced classroom looks more like my remotely educated classroom than my face-to-face classroom. It's not fair to frame the discourse around face-to-face vs remote without any consideration for the necessary changes to face-to-face instruction.
While we're being clear about terminology, let's discuss remote education and last spring. Last spring was not remote education. Last spring was more accurately described as crisis schooling.* We put it together in a weekend with little to no resources, no idea of how long it would last, and major equity issues.
These are the things professional educators need to focus on addressing this summer, so that when the inevitable shutdown that no one denies is coming arrives, we're prepared to offer genuine and effective remote education.
Instead, we're trying to find money for PPE and doubling our bussing schedules while inventing hybrid schedules to allow social distancing in buildings already stuffed past capacity.
So, as we're weighing our options, let’s remember what those options actually are.
My name is Casandra Fox, and I’ve taught in the classroom for 16 years.
*the term crisis schooling was coined by Sarah Mulhern Gross
This piece was originally published on my Facebook page on July 9th.
