Wow, we are all under so much stress right now. Are you feeling it? Why then are districts putting even more stress on our parents, students, teachers, and other district personnel? Here are some ideas of what I think could happen to help reduce our parent's and student's anxiety over learning at home.
What Districts ExpectOur districts are handing out Chromebooks to any student who does not have access to a computer at home. Well that is all fine and dandy if you have internet access or electricity for that fact. Our districts are requiring teachers to hand out 3 weeks worth of worksheet packets. Great for busy work. This is all review work and will not be graded. No better way to kill a students enthusiasm for school. | Alternative IdeasHow about this? In your "all call" to parents, tell them to use the pencils, crayons, and notebooks given them to document history. Parents, instead of trying to figure out how to operate a computer, tell stories. Tell your little ones about the "good ol' days." Tell them about when your people came to America. Stories you remember from your ancestors: parents, grandparents, and great grandparents. How did your family come to live in America? Who are your people? Where did you come from? What do you remember about where you came from or where your ancestors came from? How did you or your forefathers live? Were they rich with love? Where they rich with money? Did they come from a city, country, mountain region? I remember sitting around my grammie's table with my folks and hearing stories of times past. These are precious memories of family history that will remain with me forever. Instead of packets of worksheets and random writing assignments, why don't we ask students to write down what they remember about their family stories? Their stories are important, authentic history to their family. And, boom, writing and history are taken care of! Save $15 on my courses using the code Winter45. |