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Ok friends (I miss my students and this is how I would address them so please bear with me) let’s talk about Minister @AdrianaLaGrange’s comprehensive school re-entry plan. A thread. #ableg #abed
I would agree that the plan is comprehensive in that it covers, I believe, pretty much everything schools will have to consider in the fall. It is not, however, specific.
Specifics will come when school boards release their plans. When I read the govt plan I see a long list of very difficult decisions that school boards and principals will have to make, and very complex routines that will have to be put into place by school staff.
Many of these decisions have a number of answers that lie on a continuum from “change nothing” all the way to “change everything” with a few mid-way options. Let’s take for example, Phys Ed.
Change nothing option: we continue to go to the gym, play all games and sports and use equipment. *high risk, good education, scary* Change everything option: we no longer teach Phys Ed. *no risk, no physical education, terrible*
Mid-way options:
1. We go to the gym, spread out and move on the spot. I’m thinking put on music and dance. *low risk, kids can move, but how many times can we do this before the children despise it, also I can’t teach & assess the curriculum*
1. We go to the gym, spread out and move on the spot. I’m thinking put on music and dance. *low risk, kids can move, but how many times can we do this before the children despise it, also I can’t teach & assess the curriculum*
2. We go to the gym, spread out and do activities with some equipment on the spot. I’m thinking skipping or dribbling a basketball. *low risk, still pretty boring, still can’t really teach & assess curriculum, equipment must be cleaned before it can be used again*
2. Cont. Teachers most likely won’t be able to clean equipment until the end of the day so this will limit how many teachers/classes could use equipment in a day.
This is just one example. As school boards, principals and teachers grapple with these decisions we will be forced to choose between terrible education choices, mediocre education choices and risky choices.
How do we even begin? If we choose the higher risk options and a child gets sick, how will we cope with that? If we go with the low risk options and no one gets sick, will parents feel we were over cautious and made school an unpleasant place? I just don’t know.
And if the gov’t wants us to follow all of their many guidelines doesn’t that tell us that they feel the risk is quite high? And why won’t they take one more step and add mandatory masks? Is it because that would be a decision and they’re done making decisions?
The government made one decision: scenario 1. Then they made a long list of decisions that they downloaded to school boards, schools & parents. We will do our very best. But friends, as I said at the beginning, please bear with us. It’s going to be a challenging time.
