Adaptation to COVID world

Some of these asshole are barging into online AA meetings and talking about how good alcohol tastes and makes them feel. There's a special place in hell.

 

I doubt it. It was a touring Broadway show.
The coolest thing to come out of this is Jimmy Buffett is having a virtual tour where they replay shows from years past. They even have t-shirts. Mine is on order.

 

Zoom keeps putting out releases insisting they are fixing their security issues, but the app is way too easy to hack and school districts around here are dumping it for other options.

 

Does your school use Google apps? Many of the schools around here use them, including Google Classroom. If so, Google Hangouts can function very much the same way Zoom does, but without the same level of security risk. If your students are already on Google, it can actually be a little easier.

I get what you are saying. The problem is the situation keeps changing and school districts are having a hard time adapting. Then you have mandates coming from the state, such as New York forcing all public schools to continue online instruction during spring break. That leaves the districts to sort it out, which means taking that break away from students who are already stressed and upset and creating contact issues with the teachers and administration.

 

Yeah, we have the whole Google package, including Google Meets, which is an enhanced version of Hangouts.
To me, the one thing that Zoom has going for it over the others is you can record the session and post it. That way, if someone couldn't attend, they could go back and watch.

 

Division my student is in said you should not be spending more than 8-10 hours per week total trying to do the work given you online.

Too many families have three kids and two parents trying to work off of one computer. The district is also sending home a paper packet for those without internet, but pretty much no idea how to collect them.

New stuff is being introduced but not a ton. Schools cannot stop teaching and working, because If they stop someone is going to say that we don’t have to pay them. And teachers make up a massive amount of local budgets.

 

That's pretty much the same boat we are in. I feel certain when it's said and done, whatever their grade was when we left will be it. We've been told we can't penalize students if they don't turn anything in.
I'm posting stuff every day and documenting the heck out of it. I'm covering my butt to keep getting paid. If people don't do the assignments, you can't hold that against the teachers.
In fact, my assignment yesterday was to read the Ant and the Grasshopper and give a short answer as to why I wanted them to read it. It's not really what I teach, but from some of the answers I got, the point was taken.

 

All of our work training is done via Hangouts. And it's always recorded so people can go back and watch.

 

I'll check it out.

 

As BTE mentioned, you should be able to record the sessions on Hangouts. I assume you can on Meets as well.

I don't want to get too far into the exact experience, but I have seen just how bad the security issues can be with Zoom.

The other thing I keep hearing about regardless of platform is students taking the recordings and dubbing in inappropriate content. I know teachers who only show things on their desktops, but not themselves, to avoid this.

 

Agreed. I know the president of one of the local teacher's unions and when we spoke on the phone, he talked a lot about making sure he and the other union members stay relevant.

 

What you do is so important. Maybe you're getting some blowback from some of your students, I don't know. What I do know is how important it is for them to have adults in their lives. You don't know when being there is taking up the slack for a parent who is exhausted and scared and can't find the right words. You don't know when a student has been put in a position of caretaking they're not ready for. You're there.

I hate that people are taking advantage of this. Special place in hell and all that. Please hang in there and know you're a positive counterpoint to what they see elsewhere.

Quick anecdote. At one of the residential places I worked at before post-9/11 defunding, we had the boys nobody else would take. Think of it as The Island of Misfit Toys in rehab form. I forgot to bring in my work for the evening and one of the kids asked to walk with me to my car so I could get my laptop. He noticed my nephew's stuffed animals and a couple of Muppet and Fraggle books in the back seat.

Was it okay to take them in and read them? He was sixteen and on point academically. So, um, okay?

We got back to the cabin and three other residents were up. This big kid who had spent time living in a car in East Tennessee asked me and my shift partner to read my nephew's books to them. They got their roommates up and (shift partner) and I read the damned Muppets and Fraggles. You get it wasn't about the Muppets and Fraggles. I hope you also get you're offering something very similar to your students.

It's aggravating, and you're tired and it looks like the goalposts are moving. Keep going.