#sol20 School Days, Dear Ol' PreCovid Days

I've been reading the guidelines for returning to school in the fall and like most others, find the concepts of "catching up on lost learning," and "learning while social distancing" daunting, at best.  Yet, I know that virtual school via "homeschooling" is challenging, at best ,and not a viable option for many families.

I'm pondering tiny classes meeting outdoors under tents, shade trees, and in areas formerly referred to as neighborhood playgrounds or baseball fields? I'm wondering how schools might look without buses or lunchrooms or shared materials or small group instruction!  I'm worried about how we can meet the needs of students who need intensive individual learning plans. 

It's a big task to rethink schools beyond our "quick fix" of distance learning; I am confident that there are options because schools are certainly not static forums for learning. Our PreCovid 21st Century schools were drastically different from the learning environments of our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents. 

So this reminder of the "good ol' days Pre Covid" is a "shout out" to all the teachers, students, parents, caregivers and administrators who did their best their best this year and who are going to spend their "summers" trying to come up with plans to meet curriculum mandates and to provide inclusive, differentiated instruction for the diverse learners

School days, School days,

Dear ol' Common Core days,

Objectives, assessments,

accountability, rule.

Curriculum driven, and test-score focused, too.

Kids brushed their hair and put on shoes,

Backpacks, water bottles, 

and snack sacks went, too.

We shared whiteboards and I pads and 

books each day.

We stressed over scores, grades and 

end of the year evals,

When we were carefree PreCovid.