What's Your Biggest Challenge? Any Solutions?

We are off and running, planning for the COVID 2019 instructional world. Our district plan is to allow students to choose back to school, in-person for two days a week, or a virtual option, where teachers stream the class and students attend the Google Meet for those two days. If that is not clear, it looks like this:

A Day option: attend school Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday-Friday is out of school instruction.

B Day option: attend school Thursday and Friday, Monday-Wednesday is out of school instruction

C Day option: virtually attend classes on Monday and Tuesday

D Day option: virtually attend classes on Thursday and Friday

This plan has its positives and negatives as the state and the district worked hard to find workable solutions to providing education while a global pandemic threatens our atmosphere. The policymakers were faced with difficult decisions with no obvious and clear solutions. I believe that administrators have done their best to provide for the families of our district while keeping an eye on the future.

For example, I was impressed by several district-wide efforts to test the bandwidth prior to our launch on Monday, when every teacher and student in our district will be testing its limits. I was pleased to see forethought given to classroom transitions and restroom breaks, as well as limiting sizes of classes and cafeteria access. While none of the solutions are perfect, there is evidence that everyone is trying.

What I find particularly challenging in this moment is planning for several things in my own classroom. Here are a few of those challenges.

1. First and most importantly is making my materials digital and accessible for all, becoming a totally paperless classroom. This is a long process of making PDFs into images, then putting into Google Slides, and then putting text boxes in. I like this work, but it is time-consuming!

2. Attendance. I am expected to take attendance for both online learners and in-person learners within the first 15 minutes of the class period. Every day. Every class period.

3. I am expected to turn on the Google Meet for online learners. Every day. Every class period. AND - I have to use my computer for the webcam and keep it off of the students that are not in class.

4. I will be observed by an administrator at random times throughout the semester to be evaluated according to state standards.

5. I must enforce social distancing in a space that is limited and is housing the extra desks that are not being used because there is nowhere to store them.

This is not to mention the concern and welfare of my students' mental health and well-being as well as my own. I worry about the things I have not thought about yet - those things that come up when you least expect it.

I did not start this post to air my grievances, rather, I would like to focus on solutions.

Attendance - I am planning to use a Google Sheet to post on Google Classroom and share with students. Since I do not know all of the students yet, I will have them sign their own names to start. This will be easy to edit as students come and go.

Remembering the Google Meet - I don't know yet. I may need to put this in my calendar to remind me. 

Observation - well, let the chips fall where they may

Social distancing - "we are all in this together" I will mark the floor, just like the stores.

We are going to come out of this stronger, better educators, and in turn, our students will benefit. If we can make it in 2020, we can make it any year! 

What are your biggest challenges? What are your solutions?