The Coronavirus Chronicles -Three Strikes You're Out

[pdedse]

So no schools opening in Oregon this year, pdedse?

I don't know about K-12 schools. I teach at a community college--first 2 years of university / and terminal tech programs in case anyone's unfamiliar with U.S. system.

I think they haven't decided yet for K-12. Some universities are planning on re-opening in September, but our college made the decision already not to. I thought it was pre-mature, but on the positive side, at least we know.

I teach Spanish, and we run classes as "normal" as we can, using zoom; all traditional paper activities are accessed electronically. Grammar explanations via pre-recorded videos. I can put students into small groups, "visit" individual groups as I do in normal class rooms, and they can send chat messages with comments / questions at any time if they don't want to interrupt what's currently going on.

It's working so far, but I wonder if students will grow tired of zoom. We all miss the immediacy of the face-to-face interactions, but zoom allows us to continue. There are some positives--they can be outside in their back yard on a nice day, some students show off their musical talents and play an instrument during breaks and we all kind of relax about the traditional grading techniques.

I'm very gratefull that we're able to continue. The feeling I get from most students is that they are pleasantly surprised that we've been able to make it work...not without bumps in the road, but they've been quite patient with the process.