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1/ So, here's something I'm thinking about. In this terrible, uncertain time with no good answers, attempts at control are on the rise in schools, at every level.
2/ District instructional leaders are being told to leave their zoom rooms open all day and are being spot checked (ignoring the complexity of the systems level work district folks need to do right now to prevent further entrenching of inequity during COVID).
3/ Teachers are being told they must teach remote from their classrooms so they won't be distracted by their own families (!) and admin can make sure they fulfill their contact hours (ignoring the fact that teachers are working insane hours, harder and longer than ever before).
4/ Students are being told they can't be in unsupervised breakout rooms or chats (ignoring the fact that kids talk to other kids unsupervised during in-person schooling all the time--on the playground, on the bus, over lunch, in small groups).
5/ Don't even get me started on zoom-rules around wearing uniforms and other such compliance nonsense. I can not even.
6/ It feels the same, at every level. It feels like disrespect, lack of autonomy, fear, loss of agency. It feels like the opposite of community. Where is the trust? Where are the relationships? How can we possibly get through this hell by controlling each other through webcams?
7/ So I'm thinking about my role in systems. What can I do to recognize those attempts at control-for-the-sake-of-control, and question them? What can we all do? Whether someone is trying to control us, or telling us to control others, how do we push back?
8/ I don't have general answers, except to say that agency, respect, trust, and teamwork are MORE essential than ever right now. Not less. We've never had enough, but we're losing ground in this crisis.
9/ So we gotta speak up and push back on behalf of our colleagues, students, and families. When these edicts come down, e.g., "no breakout rooms," we have to question, hard. Why? How can I teach if kids can't talk? "Writing floats on a sea of talk." (Britton, 1970). So does math.
10/ "But what if the kids are off task when you're not there?" Lemme show you research about seemingly off-topic talk in the math classroom. https://www.scholars.northwestern.edu/en/publications/rethinking-loafers-understanding-the-productive-functions-of-off-
11/ If we're told teachers "must" do things and we don't see a pedagogical reason, or teachers "can't" do things we think are important, we gotta ask why. Sometimes there are good reasons we need to hear! But sometimes, the reason seems to be control. That's not a good reason.
12/ I ache for our profession right now. I wonder who will go into teaching, seeing how teachers are being treated?? I'm angry, all the damn time. There are places where hands are tied and we can't do much. But there are other places where we can.
13/ So if we're being told we can only put out asynchronous videos we record of ourselves doing a chalk and talk, showing steps, we have to stop. We have to ask why. We have to ask what the heck?! We have to argue for what we know about pedagogy, engagement, and relationships.
14/ The constraints are pushing lots of us back in time, pedagogically and professionally. But I also see huge reasons for hope, when I see people taking advantage of this moment to reimagine, to figure out how to make school work for more kids, to disrupt inequity.
15/ So, if you're piping up in these meetings and saying, "Wait a minute...what if we...?" or "Wait, why do we need to do ___? Can't we do ___ instead?" or "I think our kids can! They can handle it, if we teach them how..." well, you give me hope and I am at your side.
16/ That's all I got tonight. We're in the thick of this right now, but I'm thinking about where we'll be and what we'll have on the other side of this nightmare. We have to fight for professional autonomy, equity, and good pedagogy, now and after. That's what's guiding me. /fin
