Cycle Three: Curriculum and Technology...plus Quarantine Diary

Pippa and Einstein love treats and quarantine

Quarantine Day 8 (or is it 9)? Social distancing. Flatten the curve.  #Coronacation.  All words and phrases which are now part of everyday vernacular.  I’m as isolated as one can be with 5 children, two corgis, one cat, and a husband who is still working and only home on the weekends. I’m intrigued by the notion of quarantine journal as primary source so here goes. First thoughts…I’m very grateful that I was a stay at home for 10 years so I have some experience with all this balancing.  Working from home is hard…professional face on one side of the computer, kids lined up vying for attention on the other side. I’ve been trying to write this post for 10 days and finally have literally locked myself in a room to get it done. 

My teenage children have a seemingly endless stream of “can I go to this place, can XXX come over, I’m just going to run next door to get my Xbox controller, can we get take-out, are we going to the condo for Spring Break” questions or requests. My high school senior is beside herself over IB exams, how to choose a college without admitted student days, and if she will get to walk at graduation. As soon as my boys go outside to play anything, baseball, basketball, soccer, it’s like a homing beacon for the neighborhood kids and I’m left hollering….”6ft guys, 6ft apart.”  My little girls are 11 (her birthday party has been postponed and she’s so sad) and 9 and they are handling things like champions.  They have their online homework, imaginations, and built in playmates.  They could do this for a long time.

We are playing lots of board games and starting a week-long rummy tournament tonight to help pass the time. Our corgis are wearing leis to be festive on their coronacation. There is lots of video gaming, reading, online homework, walks, laughter, cooking, and some worry.  I have two immune compromised kids, so, we try to find the balance between staying positive and continuing to live while also paying appropriate attention to protocols and information.  I’m perhaps too intrigued by the John Hopkins tracker and am trying to not obsess over every cough, throat tickle, and sneeze.  Did I mention most of us have spring allergies too? Where’s the eye rolling emoji when you need one? 

Interesting facts from our house through the first week of quarantine. 27 books read (all by the kids), one basement cleaned, 4 Zoom meetings with teachers (for the kids…I didn’t count my Zoom meetings), more emails in a week than I usually get through in a month it feels like, and 22 pounds of meat used.  For real guys, pray for my dishwasher, it’s not okay.  On a more serious note, I’m very grateful to be home with all my chicks in the nest and to have the means to weather this time with loved ones and the necessary resources.  I’m thinking of so many people and hoping we all come through this time together as minimally scathed as possible.  

Little girls zooming with their 4/5 grade classes

The interesting part of this time is the increased reliance my family is utilizing on technology for learning.  I’ve changed my thoughts on technology as part of the curriculum several times in my week plus of trying to get this post to virtual paper.  Jean Anyon’s points relating to how technology (or lack thereof) can help to reproduce hidden curriculum and societal norms is one that I spent a good deal of time mulling over.  My kids go to an urban district and I’ve seen firsthand some of these inequities in action, especially once kids get to the middle school level and flipped instruction becomes a little bit more common in some of the class environments. 

In less than a week’s time though I’ve seen teachers both at the k-12 and in higher education make a sudden and dramatic shift to online instruction.  I wonder what the long-term results of this educational interlude (for a little more positive name than social distancing) will be?  I admire both Sir Ken Robinson and Salman Khan and think that perhaps we are currently experiencing a bit of the paradigm shift that Sir Robinson calls for in his teaching.  He states, “the current system of education was designed, conceived, and structured for a different age… if you are interested in the model of education, you don’t start with a production factory model, you should go in an exact opposite direction” (Ted talk, Changing Educational Paradigms).  I am somewhat conflicted about technology’s integration into curriculum.  It’s obviously necessary to teach students digital literacy (although the definition of that is always debatable as well) and to help acquaint students with the flexible thinking needed to adapt in the ever-evolving world of technology.  However, what’s the best way to do this? How do we in teacher preparation equip the teachers to use technology effectively?   Completely individualized instruction and online curriculum?  Technology appropriately integrated across all subject areas?  Wide-spread usage of flipped classrooms? 

In my personal experience, I prefer face to face instruction so teaching with technology can be a bit of a struggle.  I like traditional classes even though I’ve had a measure of technology integrated in my learning since high school. As a student, I’m more confident in a classroom environment than just relying on my written words on a computer screen.  I’m currently teaching online courses and my favorite part about the semester is my site visitations where I get to observe my students in action.  My interns report loving the online nature of their classrooms.  My children do great with technology blended into their learning, apps, google classrooms, online research, message boards, etc. I admire the teachers quickly adapting their instruction to online learning and those flipped methods of instruction.  I find it interesting that during this time of schools being closed, the elementary teachers I know are ramping up the online learning much faster and much more comprehensively than my kids’ high school teachers.  I find it interesting that the high schoolers use technology so much more prevalently in their classrooms on a daily basis but are not utilizing it as much now in this gap time.  I wonder if this scenario is making that jump that Anyon explores…how much access do children have at home and how do you leverage it?  Since my boys are spending a majority of their time playing video games right now, I take heart from Malykhina and Gee’s articles showing that research shows that gaming can create vital connections to learning with real life applications. While technology’s role in curriculum raises questions, it’s proving to be of vital importance to this time in history and I trust that both teachers and students will continue to adapt to this new paradigm and grow as learners and thinkers.  

I'm so grateful for online communities now, stay healthy and safe everyone!