Items

• 
  2020-03-25

  Teaching in the "New Normal"

  My friend John is a high school math and physics teacher on Staten Island. On March 25, 2020 he sent me photo of his laptop screen. Schools had been closed for about ten days and he, like many other teachers across the state, had to improvise how to continue educating in this radically new reality. He wrote, “Proud of myself today. I figured out how to record myself and my notes.” I compared it to the setup of Governor Cuomo’s daily press conferences which were a unifying and relied-upon source of information in those early days of the pandemic. When I asked him to reflect on that lesson he said: “That early in the pandemic I was lucky I was good with tech so I immediately started recording lessons for students to watch asynchronously. In my mind it was the best way to keep continuity. (I would bet at that time I thought we would be back in school before the end of the year). That lesson in particular is very visual (the right hand rule) so I wanted to figure out how to have notes on the screen and myself to be able to show how to use the right hand rule. I tried to do as closely, as I could, what I would have done in class. I tried to have the students continue hearing from me. The videos were posted so students could learn asynchronously. I did host some live sessions where they could ask questions on anything they learned. We could not mandate synchronous learning because families could have multiple students sharing a computer or even parents who now needed to work remotely, etc. That policy changed in Sept. 2020 when we gave out laptops so we could say you have your own meet at your normal class time.”
• 2020-12-25

  Christmas day in 2020

  My Christmas was very different this year because of this pandemic. Usually my family will do many other things on Christmas day like going to Chicago, ice skating, and also seeing some other family that weren't able to make it this year. Instead we had to change it up this year to make everything safe for our family. We mostly stayed inside of the house but when we did leave we went to the beach and went to go see cool Christmas lights. When we were in the house we were cooking, watching movies, and jumping on the trampoline. This year was pretty different for my family but we found different ways to have fun even if we weren't going any where.
• 
  04/12/2020

  Coping Through Creativity, Part 2: A Colorful Take on Crisis

  During the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s been hard to find our footing. With widespread cancellations and closures, social distancing has become the new normal. Easter traditions restored a much-needed sense of familiarity amid the anxiety and upheaval. Annual egg decorating offered the chance to dip into creativity and focus on fun. But even these colorful creations provided a clearer picture of how we’re processing these changes. While the eggs are still dyed, they take on a different message this year and reflect the uncertain time we find ourselves in. #DePaulHST391