Reflection

Living History Project: Student Excerpts Week 1

/ Catherine Cabiness-Atkinson, Ed.D. / Leave a comment

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
From a student journal…

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.

Something to Consider

/ Catherine Cabiness-Atkinson, Ed.D. / Leave a comment

A friend of mine sent the following gif to describe her current situation…and I think most of us have felt like that dog at some point within the past couple of weeks.

As my district enters the second week of remote or distance learning, I feel compelled to share something that I recently mentioned to several colleagues. In my discussions about how to help transition fully face-to-face or blended courses to completely online, teachers, students, and parents have shared their frustrations, fears, and concerns.

To begin, teachers who were not ready to use technology (as in they had not jumped onto that wagon) were suddenly thrust into a situation in which they had to not only quickly set up an online platform (Google Classroom being the easiest), but they also had to figure out how to upload assignments that students could conceivably complete at home. Teachers who used technology here and there had a bit of an easier transition since they had some working knowledge of what technology tools would best support the learning objectives. Then there are the teachers who use technology on a regular basis with their students, BUT they always had the opportunity to provide and receive real-time, face-to-face assistance when technology issues reared its ugly head.

Make no mistake, students use technology. They have their phones and gaming systems. They know how to use those. But those tools are typically for entertainment. Not school work. While some students used technology in their classes, as previously stated, they also had the real-time, in-person support of their teachers.

And then there’s parents. Most parents use some type of technology every day. It could be their phones to check email or social media, a computer to do their work, and even online gaming systems to entertain themselves.

So…teachers, students, and parents have some type of working knowledge of technology and how they use it in their daily lives.

But when the schools closed, suddenly all learning was transitioned online to be done at home without training and in-person support. Teachers, students, and parents were forced to figure things out basically on their own. And it hasn’t been an easy process. And that’s without taking into consideration the stress of this pandemic, running out of food and water, being forced into isolation, not knowing what the future holds…etc. [see gif at the top].

And I wanted to just say…no one* signed up for online learning.

  • My students didn’t sign up to take fully online courses
  • My colleagues didn’t sign up to design and teach fully online courses
  • The parents of my students didn’t sign up to homeschool their child for fully online courses

So, everyone just needs to take a GIGANTIC breath or two or three. I believe that everyone–teachers, students, and parents–is doing the very best they can considering everything else that is going on.

To my colleagues…I want to say, you’re doing a great job. I see you working overtime to figure out how to provide some type of continuity for your students. I see you trying to figure out how to create assignments that students can do with minimal direct instruction. I see you trying to balance work, family, five different Zoom session for your own kids, and your sanity. I see you.

To my students…you are doing an amazing job. I see you working late into the night trying to complete assignments or tasks. I see you trying to maintain your composure when you see that the food supplies are low at your house. I see you stepping up to help your little brothers and sisters with their suddenly online courses while trying to maintain the workload you have for your own classes. I see you trying to be brave for your parents who are worried that they may lose their jobs. I see you.

To the parents of my students…you are doing an outstanding job. I see you reaching out to teachers asking questions about technology. I see you patiently sitting down with your child trying to help them understand algebra while also running a Zoom meeting for your elementary aged child. I see your concern about your job and whether you’ll have enough money for food and utilities. I see you balancing more than you ever thought you could. I see you.

We may not have signed up for the fully online learning situation…but we can certainly get through this if we put compassion and empathy first. And that my friends begins by first showing compassion and empathy to ourselves…so that we can then BE that to others.

air hugs
Because…#socialdistancing

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*I have taught fully online courses…that is totally in my wheelhouse. But that didn’t make it any less stressful when I had one day to transition my entire course to be fully online.

Who’s Out There?

/ Catherine Cabiness-Atkinson, Ed.D. / Leave a comment

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.

Bitmoji Image

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