Not too long after publishing the first post on this Substack, I received word that the school building would be closed and once again we would be engaging in “asynchronous remote learning.”
Bleccch. The jargon.
One of my main paradoxes is that while I am fond of big, multisyllabic words - I often joke that my theology classes double as SAT prep - I absolutely loathe the jargon that is part of our existence within the educational world.
Asynchronous Remote Learning is one of those terms.
It is simply this: I post the assignment, students complete the assignment on their time by a certain deadline. Since exams are coming up in just over a week, we are wrapping up the second quarter and as such the assignments are geared toward that end.
The hardcore traditionalists complain that the kids should just be able to enjoy the snow days and not worry about having to complete any assignments. I believe there is a little bit of room to do some work without necessarily depriving the students of the treat of snow days. We are now on Day 4 and I am not entirely sure whether we will be back tomorrow - the issue today is the gale-force winds drifting the snow back onto the roads with the inevitable refreeze tonight.
The real battle when it comes to days like this is not whether we should do remote or virtual learning, but how much? I have long empathized with my colleagues who teach math and foreign languages because those subjects require repetition and practice to move to the next level; not being in the classroom invariably sets back the majority of the students.
My goal, then, is to give just enough to keep the wheels turning in the heads of my students so what we have learned can stay somewhere close enough for recall once we are together. Others have been known to go overboard and some do absolutely nothing. As with many things in life, there needs to be some sort of balance.
Even in, ahem, asynchronous remote learning.