A teacher’s two cents

Friday, March 13, 2020 is a day that I will never forget. It is the day that I was informed that I had to prep my students for six weeks of distance learning that begins on Monday. 48 hours to gather all of the materials that each student will need and learn these brand new, never before used ways to organize, present the lessons and gather completed work. I know it wasn’t perfect, or even ideal, but we did it. I know that as a parent there were times that it was confusing, very frustrating and overwhelming. I want to remind you that we only had 48 hours to prepare and learn.

Now we have had those last 13 weeks of school to learn and practice. These past 6 weeks to participate in various training seminars on how to best utilize the tools of our districts have chosen as distance learning platforms. So that If we needed to teach online again, obstacles can be reduced, so that students can learn. The sooner our district leaders make their decisions, the more time we have as teachers, parents and students to be ready for the school year. Purposeful, planned distance learning for the 2020/2021 school year will not be like the emergency, rushed experience we all had in the spring of 2020.

Jamie Sciarrio

Spokane