Description
Well it’s been a quiet week here in Lake “Covid-Be-Gone” where the coffee is strong, the parents are good-looking, and all of the children are above average -  wait a minute!  Quiet is NOT the word for it!  If jumping back in the saddle to start school in Fall of 2020 feels more like one of those upside down spinning rides at a sketchy roadside carnival, or maybe “Traction Park,” New Jersey, then you’re not alone. Let’s rock and/or Roll together as we hang on for another exciting academic ride as we spin out this new season!
Lessons Learned
Dennis - Zoom Breakout Room accountability - in a Google Slide show or online Power Point, create and assign a slide for each breakout room.  After placing students in breakout rooms, switch to slide sorter view so you can watch the slides live.  If you see nothing happening on one slide, you can jump in that breakout room and check on those students who might be off task.

Chris - There is no tech failure so large that I cannot teach through it. Zoom connection breaks? WeChat! Team teacher freezes? Jump in! Internet fails? Discuss what you were showing. Model adaptability.

Daniel - The Social Dilemma - the algorithms have been created to keep your attention...to go down the rabbit hole of watching video after video; post after post so that advertisers get their message in front of you.

 
Fun Fact
Will I live long enough to see the last Star Wars Movie?

Star Wars began in 1977 with  its first movie Episode 4, a New Hope.  Final trilogy began in 2015 with “The Force Awakens”.  To put that in perspective, the Wizard of Oz premiered in 1939, 38 years before the first Star Wars Movie.  The Force Awakens premiered in 2015, 38 years after the original Star Wars.  When you consider the number of side stories in production, and shows like the Mandalorian which begins its second season next month, we have been enjoying the Star Wars Universe for over 43 years and it doesn’t look like that will end anytime soon.  Will I live long enough to see the last Star Wars movie from “a long time ago?”  Probably not.

FYI - Star Trek has been going since 1966.  That’s 54 years.
Notes & Links
How has this pandemic made our teachers and our schools better?   What old practices have we been forced to let go of and how will this make us better?

* Tech Training has moved up in priority as it is a required skill. The excuse of “I’m not good at technology” is no longer acceptable.
* Teachers use their time in front of the students more effectively.  Distilling lessons to the most important.
* Standardizing classes in  your LMS.  Students and parents need to spend less mental energy finding what they need to do than actually doing it.
* Standardizing tools - teachers need to agree on a common set of tools, and can’t be lone rangers. (Think back to our “Shadow IT” podcast)
* Standardized Testing vs. Authentic assessment
* If we trust, they may fail, but if we fail to trust, we fail ourselves ... the game is already over. [Going for a chiasmus here but not quite getting it.]