Home Ec – Pandemic Style

 A year ago, I sent my students off for spring break. I assured them (and myself) that we’d be back in the classroom in two weeks, but tidied up the room a bit better than usual, Just in Case. And after spring break we moved to online learning.

Home Ec. Online. Let’s not forget about Music/Drama. Online. Or Tech Ed. Online. Even Digital Literacy wasn’t meant to be taught online. We collaborated on an extensive list of Passion Projects that our students could choose from for the online term. We scheduled weekly online meetings with the students on our current class lists. And Explorations continued, in the real world for the students, in the digital domain for their teachers.

Been trying to bend spoons since I was a kid...

One thing I liked about online learning was that it gave me a new and improved way to interact and get to know my students. Students who would have been quiet and self-contained during class became the superstars of our online sessions. I had a strong turnout – about 80 percent of my class list signed on for projects and checked in online. The numbers dwindled over time, but a regular, reliable group showed up for weekly meetings and the reports of projects were incredibly interesting!

Stop motion animation. A volcano made out of cake. Lots of baking. Lots of cooking. Some entrepreneurs. A budding computer programmer. Without having to manage student behaviours in the classroom, I really got to know my students in a different way. Their efforts were amazing!

On the down side, though, I found myself, more and more, talking to a screen of avatars or initials, not student faces. As the term wore on, I had no idea if I was just talking to myself or not. Some days, I was! It was exhausting in ways I could never have imagined.

Thought so...

One year later

As we head into another spring break, Explorations has gone through a second transformation. We pack up our courses and travel around the school. To five classrooms a day, conveniently located upstairs, then downstairs, then upstairs, then downstairs, and upstairs again. Somehow the stairs grow in height each block so that by the end of the day, they must be at least four flights.

We pack materials and supplies with us. I start the term carrying only my computer that needs to be persuaded to connect properly to five different projectors without needing to be restarted every block. Then I transport sewing supplies for primary project (felt, patterns, buttons, lots of needles and lots of thread. It shouldn’t be as heavy as it is). As students complete the first project, I add materials for their personal choice projects, yarn, hooks, needles, looms… you name it, I’ve probably packed it. By the last week of term I have three massive bags with me, and I’m usually complaining that my alpaca has not arrived yet.

Yes, it's a Llama, not an Alpaca. I know.

My classroom nagging is now mostly reminders to social distance. “You can’t hit/kick him/braid his hair because we are Social Distancing” “Why are you eating? It’s not snack time and you need to have a mask on” “Three people watching videos on a phone is NOT Social Distancing!” 

I am white noise in the background. They do not hear my words. They might not even hear my voice. They are numb to the social distancing. They are teenagers and it goes against their very nature.

There are positives. I get to see an entire class in their home classroom, and often get to see how their teacher sets up the classroom culture and what classroom management techniques they use. I get to see their classrooms and if I’m lucky, chat with the teacher for a few minutes on the way in or out. I can see what they are working on in different subjects and I am privy to the last minutes of class discussions. 

Yes, even the French ones.

Once spring break is over, I’ll be back to packing my bags and running up and down stairs again. I'm not even willing to guess what September will bring.

Sure. Why not?