I rarely respond to requests from student journalists. See, the thing is, Journalism is hard in the best and most supportive of times. Journalism is frightening to engage in a state-controlled environment. (What is school journalism but journalism a state-controlled environment? Disagree? The Supreme Court says you are wrong.) And when the student is trying to write about a complicated and politically charged topic-- well, calling the situation frightening is probably not strong enough. It's dangerous.
In this case, I decided it was better to participate because I don't know. I guess I like to live dangerously.
That being said, here's my canary in the coalmine. These are the responses I sent to the student journalist verbatim. I thought you all would enjoy reading them. Of course, if you come back later and these words have been replaced with reference to a dead canary, you can decide for yourself what's happened... I won't be able to tell you about it.
How do you feel about virtual learning?'
I love all learning. Virtual learning is still learning. Virtual learning is, in many ways, a better environment for learning for some people than in-class learning. So let's get that out of the way right out. Virtual learning is not a lesser or worse educational model; it's just different. Whether or not it's suitable for specific individuals is a different conversation, but on the whole, virtual learning is just another way of learning.
The virtual learning environment is very similar to the creative professional environment I lived in before becoming a teacher. Co-operating with reluctant colleagues online was a huge part of my day-to-day work, and while that lifestyle isn't for everyone, it's very "real world."
Dirty, Dirty, Canary.
The fact that the entire world was able to spin up a flavor of virtual learning in the face of a pandemic is a testament to its power. Even 15 years ago, such a thing would not have been possible. Let's revel in the success of our virtual experiment, if only for the fact that it happened at all.
Do you think that students have been using the resources provided to reach their greatest potential?
That's a question for the students. I mean, if you're rolling out of bed and smashing the zoom button on your phone while you sleep, you're not doing virtual school. As an at-home worker for a big part of my career, the mindset of "working" from home was something I had to cultivate. You can't just treat every day like a weekend when you work from home-- get up, take a shower, put on some clothes, have breakfast, and then sign in a few minutes before your shift starts to make sure you're ready to go when the meeting begins. That's a skill you can learn during virtual attendance, and I promise you, the mindset will change your game.
I think, however, that this question hints at a larger conversation that would be more fruitful for the students: are you ok? Like, seriously. Are you ok? Because it's ok if you're not. Many of us aren't.
See, the thing is, the whole thing was pretty traumatizing. For many of us, there was a genuine sense that the world was ending. In one way or another, many of us believed that this was the beginning of the end. Many of us thought that maybe, from now on, life was going to be little more than being trapped in my house (with my family!) and forever staring into my laptop screen, wishing for human contact. People lost loved ones, planned activities, rights of passage, freedom, and comfort. The pandemic came and took away celebrations and events, like senior sports seasons, the prom, and graduation. Or worse, it made celebrating those things feel "wrong' or "dirty." Those things were hard-fought and well earned, and they just went away. Every one of those losses is legitimate and real and creates a sense of vulnerability, whether you acknowledge it or not. See, the problem is, feelings are real-- even when they're based on falsehoods.
I feel like the best way to move past those feelings is to acknowledge and name them and then move forward. If we pretend that this wasn't weird, scary, sad, upsetting, challenging, and bizarre, we're acting, not living authentically.
What are your biggest challenges with doing everything over Zoom?
Technically, I’m a finch.
Zoom has its advantages over other virtual education systems. But any system is only as good as the effort teachers and students are willing to make at using it. I try to be conscious of the quality of my audio and video, I try to make sure I'm talking to the virtual students and the students in the room, but I understand that it's not an area of expertise everybody has.
Virtual education isn't about "doing everything over Zoom," and I regret that you feel that way. Virtual education uses Zoom as a centralized way of teacher-to-student contact. Still, education, as I'm sure has been your experience outside of the virtual setting, is about more than just teacher-to-student contact. Zoom isn't an optimum platform for virtual education, but neither is any other single-source solution. Virtual education takes a virtual village.
See also my previous comments about celebrating that such an endeavor was possible at all, let alone thriving.
Have you at any point thought, "If this is the future of learning and we won't go back to normal, will I continue to teach?" Why or why not?
Just a canary. Just hanging out . No big deal.
I would be remiss as a former journalist and news editor if I didn't chastise you a bit about the leading nature of this question. If you are asking the question: Do you think blended learning environments are the way of the future?" I would say yes. I think blended learning environments are the way of the future. And why not? Staying connected to a classroom learning community through illness, relocation, and time away from school is advantageous to all students. Why would we stop making those services available to those who identify them as a way they prefer to learn?