Back to School During Covid With Tracy and Joie

Hi Grandma, parents and teachers out there.

I'm still modeling before it's back to school whatever that means. I want to have a real "Senior Year" with all the perks and plans for the future. I miss my friends, the plans we make, sign language class, dance class, and more. With 5,000 students, class schedules were supposed to have been posted today but have been delayed until next week.

xoxox
Joie
Rockin Ripped Jeans




School is happening but how

Monday July 27, 2020

Schools across the country - and around the world - are experimenting with the safest way to teach their students based on the number of coronavirus cases. Some teachers have quit unable to deal with fear of covid while others cautiously return to work setting the stage for other school districts.

Over in Arizona classes began today. My daughter Tracy, Joie's Mom, who teaches gifted children, sent this email ...

My student teacher and I will be in my classroom while the 24 students (16 boys and 8 girls) will be online for one hour a day in small groups - and a 45-min whole group session for math and reading using Google Meet. Then the kids will go to either art, music, PE, library, or technology and work independently online for the rest of the day.

That's how we enter the 2020-2021 school year - far from ideal but in hopes that one day everyone will return to school as we know the value of a good education and proper socialization. It's lack of communication and emotional rage that set the stage for the world our children grow up in today. They are paying the price for the poor choices adults made and continue to make.

It wasn't so long ago students and teachers were afraid of violence in the classroom. Let's hope we never see a resurgence of that as we very slowly and diligently return to school. Emotionally the kids and I all miss each other. It's really quite sad but we adapt. Sometimes I feel as much an emotional support teacher as one dealing with academics. The hope is we will all find a way around this and finally through it.




Covid-19 and Education


Update Thursday August 6:

Over in AZ where I recently posted the opening of the elementary school where my daughter Tracy teaches - well I'm back to report things didn't work out - too chaotic for all. It's back to online teaching. Tracy wrote: No one knows when we're going back to the classroom but not any time soon. My son Vanni was supposed to return to college for his senior year but in-school classes were canceled. Vanni has a best friend whose dad died of Covid last week while his mom is in a coma. The mom was a perfectly healthy, 56 years old. The virus is still spreading really fast and people need to follow the rules if we are ever to get through this.




Back in School


September 10, 2020

New York City Mayor de Blasio has delayed in-person public school openings for most students as schools across the country try to balance reopening procedures and coronavirus safety. Over in AZ my daughter Tracy's school has reopened. She posted this pic with the caption:

"So nice being back in the classroom with my gifted mathematicians. I could watch them work all day. This little boy asked me what 50 to the fifth power would equal, so I set it up, sat back, and observed his problem-solving strategies. My students and I plan to enjoy every minute together that presents."




Updates November 2020


November 2020

As Covid increases across the globe - hitting hard in the US - who better than to discuss what should teachers and administrators should do than with my daughter Tracy a teacher of gifted elementary age students in Arizona. Like thousands of other teachers, students, and parents most believe education should return primarily to remote learning which has come a long way over the past seven months. The fears and pressures for all are creating stress and anxiety across the panorama of our educational systems. Remote education is decreasing anxiety, increasing wellbeing for some students

For now Tracy's students have returned to the classroom with a field trip planned at a local archaeological site but that can be safely accomplished with the help of parents even if education is remote. What are her students looking for? They're gifted students hoping to find signs of ancient life - not necessarily aliens but you never know.

Students want to learn more about Earth Sciences featuring plate tectonics, earthquakes, and the effects of climate change.

Emotional problems manifest from puberty on highlighting around age 19. Today students with emotional problems engage in conversations about suicide - having little hope for the future as life in general becomes hardened by circumstance and social media. Everywhere they look they see chaos which may have been true for generations before them but these episodic events are not localized rather on a grand scale having the ability to take out the planet.




Covid and Education Blogs 2020-2021

>Covid and the 2021-22 School Year
2020 Returning To School
Teaching During the Coronavirus





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