I'm not a control freak, but I do like to have a rough idea of how to manage a given situation. This morning, as I log on to Google Classroom, Outlook Mail, Gmail, and Zoom, I smile--because as a teacher, I have mastered multi-tasking. I have already, in fact, poured coffee, fed the cat, opened up the windows to air out the house, finished the dishes, and uploaded all of my photos from my wildflower hike the other day.
I saw this handsome guy nestled between desert pincushion and a creosote bush.
What I can't control, however, is the number of students who are working on the ELA assignments I've assigned. The question I've seen the most is:
Is this graded?
The question I haven't seen once is:
Did I answer this correctly? Have I learned what I needed to learn?
What this tells me is that our education system is very much missing the point. We have a system that has focused in on the "Grade Earned: and getting students to the next "Grade Level". We have not created a system that focuses on what students are learning and taking away from their time at school.
That said, this major disruption in our education system could be the very thing that we all need: a chance of resetting the purpose for school: learning something new!
So, when you are logging in to Google Classroom today and you see an assignment, don't ask yourself, When will this be graded? How will this affect my overall GPA? Instead, ask yourself, What don't I know about argumentative and persuasive writing yet? What more could I learn? What the heck is an imperative mood? How can I find out more about it?
This is a time to be able to rewire our brains and reset our focus. Let's take advantage of it!
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