10-4: How to Reopen the Economy by Exploiting the Coronavirus’s Weak Spot is the headline of a pretty interesting article in The New York Times today.
In it, some professors/researchers propose a strategy for re-opening the economy and schools.
It’s definitely not one I’ve heard before now.
I’m still not sure I fully understand it, but that may be only because it’s still very early in the morning here.
I’m adding it to THE BEST POSTS PREDICTING WHAT SCHOOLS WILL LOOK LIKE IN THE FALL.
Well, you’re not the only one. States/districts adopting this would have to figure out what the difference between the two groups is. Namely, as a teacher, am I providing face-to-face instruction to one group and virtual to another on the same thing? Or would it be more like the Flipped idea, where the virtual provides background that the teacher will go over in more detail when the student is in the classroom?
I work at a K-8, so a concern of mine is the question of will we ever be able to reduce the number of people on campus enough, no matter what we do? How could the school ensure that half of the students means I’ll have half of a class? It could be I’m teaching <5 kids one period and 15 the next period. Then on the flip 20 kids in one class and ~10 in another.
Then there's the issue of buses. Again, half the kids does not necessarily make for half of a busload of kids.
I had to go in today to clean up my room for the summer. The school set out a schedule over the next two weeks to make sure grade levels/departments reported on their scheduled day(s) instead of everyone at once. Two fellow teachers came by to talk and it really made the reality of the situation tougher. Here are people I've conversed with, planned with, taught with, joked with, etc. on a regular basis, 2 months later, and talking them seemed natural. But I stayed 6 feet away and felt strange for doing so. It's against our natural inclinations. And I'm an adult who feels he is taking the necessary precautions on a daily basis. Students will not show the same restraint!
There are way too many variables at this point. However, I am glad that people are starting to consider options. Thankfully, if this had to hit, it hit during the last 1/4 of the year, giving states/districts the summer to figure things out. If this had started in September, things would have been a lot harder to deal with. The time to start figuring things out is now, to allow adequate time to ensure nothing is missed and no permutations crop up that weren't thought about ahead of time.