A couple of hours ago, I received an email from my district which relayed the message that we would not be resuming in-person instruction for the rest of the 2019-2020 school year. As other educators who received similar news have shared on Twitter, I am heart-broken. While I knew that the school closures might last longer than the May 8 deadline, I was hoping that I would at least be able to see my students for a few days before school let out for summer.

But that’s not going to happen.

And my heart is heavy.

I created a short video message for my kids that I just posted for them to view. I wanted to give them a human face to the message because they received this message from an email. Email is great. It’s succinct. But emotions don’t come through via email. And I wanted to give them a face to the message.

I had a hard time keeping my composure while recording. But I think it’s important that they know just how bummed I am. I’ve been reading in their Living History Project journals just how much they miss school, their teachers, and their friends. Some even admitted that they couldn’t believe that they missed the routine of being in school…but they did.

Many of students are currently struggling with remote learning. In their journals they shared their confusion about what to do…how to do it…and when to do it. They are struggling. And as I wrote in a previous blog post…they didn’t sign up for online learning.

So I’m sure many of them are bummed, too.

Yes, I know the reasons for keeping the schools closed. I understand the whole “flattening the curve” thing. I get it. My husband is an engineer. He’s been sharing plenty of statistics about this whole fiasco.

But none of that matters at this moment. Because at this moment, all I can think about is that I won’t be seeing my kiddoes in person for a long time.

This week, one of Daily Menu tasks for the Living History Project included creating a six-word memoir about their daily life and recording it in Flipgrid. I was watching a few of them earlier today. But I can’t watch any of them right now as I’m pretty sure I’m going to burst into tears. You see, when these kids recorded their six-word memoir, there was still the hope that they would be able to come back to school and things would be “normal” again.

But now we know.

And I can’t bear to see their faces and hear their voices right now.

My heart is heavy.

After two weeks of basically running around like a chicken with its head cut off, I can finally breathe because the weekend is here. I now have time to indulge myself by reading a good book and relaxing on the couch.

But first, I wanted to share an update on the Living History Project.

This week, I have been busy reading and commenting on the Living History Journal entries from my students. While I don’t have 100% participation, I am pleased with the number of students who have been able to adjust to this new style of learning from home. Hey, I’ll take my victories as I can get them.

My goal with this project, besides capturing the thoughts and feelings of my students, was also to find a way to help my students develop self-management and self-awareness skills (see CASEL). While developing historical empathy has been a focus of mine for years, I’ve decided to make a concerted effort to foster the development of social and emotional learning skills in the various tasks and activities I create for my students. Hence the Living History Project.

I wanted to share a few excerpts from the Living History Journals. Some of the posts were humorous, others displayed a sense of fear or worry…and then there were quite few that evoked frustration.

Excerpts on the lighter side…

• Today, I woke up and realized there was PE homework. Like are you kidding me?
• My second thought was that I was correct yesterday, we’re all going to die
• One thing is that people are buying toilet paper, why do you need to buy toilet paper? It’s not going to save you from the COVID-19

Excerpts that show my kids are dealing with real-life (adult?) issues…

• What would happen if my mom wasn’t able to work anymore? How would we make money to support the family? What would happen if everyone wasn’t allowed work…?
• My mom showed me a paper of where in case the police ever stops her from going anywhere she just shows them that paper. That scared me even more my mom works in a medical needs place so she isnt gonna stop working.
• Yet, on the other point of view, people who have the coronavirus are still seriously on the edge of life or dead. I’m worried for my friends. I don’t keep contact of all of them, but are they sick? Are some of them being contaminated right now away from everybody? The thought of it scares me, even makes my heart thump faster…
• The fact that my brother and I only have a limited amount of food and water  is scary to me, because if we run out we can possibly die.

Excerpts that reveal remote or distance learning is not their cup of tea…

• I am super stressed with all of the homework my teachers are sending in. I hope it will get easier but only time can tell. At this point I wish I was in school.
• I woke up and i head a bunch of messages on cell phone i was starting to hate the online homework because the teachers are spamming messages over and over.

Excerpts of how my kiddoes are trying to cope with the situation and find the brighter side of things…

• As my anxious self continues to wander around I decided to ignore my anxiety as I baked goods for my family
• This has changed my daily routine because now I do not go to school, can not hang out with my friends, and online schooling is difficult for me, because it is new to me. My parents are helping me navigate through my classes and i am doing my best

I was apprehensive, at first, about assigning the Living History Project. Part of me was thinking that we should just continue with what we were learning in class (for continuity)…but then I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to capture real-time experiences and reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic. Their journal entries make me laugh, cringe, and sometimes tear up. Their honesty is part of their DNA. Middle schoolers don’t typically use a filter so I’m able to capture their raw emotions, thoughts, and feelings. They may not understanding at the moment why I’m asking them to put their hearts down on paper (or in this case a Google Doc)…but as a historian…I know that future generations will appreciate having a primary source from children who lived during this trying time.

I am so proud of my middle schoolers.

The sudden closure of our school meant that I spent the better part of last weekend scrambling for how I could continue to provide engaging and meaningful learning activities for my students. I believe I have a good start with the Living History Project. But the problem is how to tell my students about it…

So I posted announcements in our LMS and pushed them out via ParentSquare (messaging system). According to our dashboard, all parents are connected to and set up to receive notifications/message except for one. While I find that hard to believe…I’m going to go with the known data that 99% of parents/students are receiving my messages.

So how does that explain that I haven’t heard from or seen any online activity from 25% of my students? Three parents reached out privately in response to my ParentSquare message about picking up a hard copy of the assignments, so I’m not counting those parents/students among the 25%.

So I decided to take one of the assignments I posted–a Google Form soliciting which type of Living History Project they were going to do…paper versus digital–and I made that a five point summative assessment grade in Aeries. Students who did not complete the Google Form received a zero. Those who did earned five points.

And then I waited…

Before long, I had students emailing me and completing the Google Form. In fact, this was my favorite email:

The student didn’t write anything in the email. They just sent me a screenshot of their grade in Aeries…to which I replied:

“I am so glad you checked in with me! I have been posting announcements in PowerSchool and ParentSquare/StudentSquare about assignments that you need to be working on. We are taking a break from the unit test and digital notebook and you are working on the Living History Project instead. The missing assignment is the Google Form that you need to fill out. Go to PowerSchool > Living History Project.”

And then 30 minutes later, the same student sent me a screenshot of the completed GoogleForm.

Mind you, I am not counting the GoogleForm as a summative assessment. But I needed to figure out a way to reach those students who have been silent since last Friday. I know many of them check their grades…so that was my way to get their attention.

I suspect that over the next day or two more students will come out of the woodwork as they and their parents adjust to a new normal. I know they need to catch their breath. I know that they have other priorities to worry about…but my goal was to see who has online access…who was out there with me. We were not given the opportunity to gather this information before school was closed which would have been more helpful than the data from ParentSquare that listed only one household as having not contact information.

If anyone has other creative ways to get students to respond…my ears are open. In this day and age, we need to band together to share best practices and innovative ways to stay in touch with our students.

#BetterTogether