What am I missing about the difficulty of distance learning?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why can't they just have the teachers in the classrooms with a camera live streaming the classes? It would just be like a regular class except students would be at home.
The kids could then cycle through each of their 8 periods each day.

How would a family with 4 kids under 10yrs old and 2 working parents achieve this? Enlighten me

[Anonymous]

Hey guys remember that pandemic that was totally easy and no one had to make any sacrifices and it was over before you knew it? Me either because it doesn't exist. I cannot understand why people think that everything should carry on as normal and their children or their families won't have any hardship from this. Pandemics are awful for everyone! You're supposed to hate it and so are your kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why can't they just have the teachers in the classrooms with a camera live streaming the classes? It would just be like a regular class except students would be at home.
The kids could then cycle through each of their 8 periods each day.

How would a family with 4 kids under 10yrs old and 2 working parents achieve this? Enlighten me

How are you going to handle your 4 kids under 10 yrs old only going to school 2 days a week and being phased in over multiple weeks?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I work for at a public university and we explored the idea of placing cameras in classrooms to implement a live hybrid model. The cost was $250K+ to outfit classrooms with cameras, AV equipment and quality microphones, plus labor costs. It would cost MCPS at least $1M. No way the county can cover the cost.

$1 million dollars? Easy peasy. Fire librarians, bus drivers, cafeteria workers and specials teachers that are not working. Boom. There is at least a $1MM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work for at a public university and we explored the idea of placing cameras in classrooms to implement a live hybrid model. The cost was $250K+ to outfit classrooms with cameras, AV equipment and quality microphones, plus labor costs. It would cost MCPS at least $1M. No way the county can cover the cost.

$1 million dollars? Easy peasy. Fire librarians, bus drivers, cafeteria workers and specials teachers that are not working. Boom. There is at least a $1MM.

Not in public school it isn’t!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hey guys remember that pandemic that was totally easy and no one had to make any sacrifices and it was over before you knew it? Me either because it doesn't exist. I cannot understand why people think that everything should carry on as normal and their children or their families won't have any hardship from this. Pandemics are awful for everyone! You're supposed to hate it and so are your kids.

"Everything should be normal with no hardships!" is something nobody is saying.

"Sorry, kid, it's a pandemic, don't expect to get an education in the next year or two" is something some people are apparently quite comfortable saying, but I'm not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why can't they just have the teachers in the classrooms with a camera live streaming the classes? It would just be like a regular class except students would be at home.
The kids could then cycle through each of their 8 periods each day.

How would a family with 4 kids under 10yrs old and 2 working parents achieve this? Enlighten me

How are you going to handle your 4 kids under 10 yrs old only going to school 2 days a week and being phased in over multiple weeks?

Both are good questions. MCPS has not proposed anything that will work for a family like this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why can't they just have the teachers in the classrooms with a camera live streaming the classes? It would just be like a regular class except students would be at home.
The kids could then cycle through each of their 8 periods each day.

How would a family with 4 kids under 10yrs old and 2 working parents achieve this? Enlighten me

How are you going to handle your 4 kids under 10 yrs old only going to school 2 days a week and being phased in over multiple weeks?

If you really believe they are going to phase in, you’re gullible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP DL can work ok for HS and middle school, but it doesn't work for ES at all. The younger the kid, the more quickly they tune out, need redirection and engagement, socialization and physical help. What you are describing sounds ok for 16 year olds - and even then it will still not work well.

I can tell you are a parent of young kids. How do you propose to teach AP Physics via DL? Or any serious science class with a lot of lab time? Same for lots of other HS classes. The world does not revolve around your 5yo; all kids need in-person classes if possible.

Seriously, these SAHMs and helicopter Moms are giddy that they can have their kids home 24/7 controlling every aspect of their lives. They have no idea nor do they care about upper school learning and how this will affect HS learners. Little Jimmy is thriving in his 2nd grade Zooms!

I think the younger kids are the ones not doing well with zoom. High school kids -- what's the issue exactly?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP DL can work ok for HS and middle school, but it doesn't work for ES at all. The younger the kid, the more quickly they tune out, need redirection and engagement, socialization and physical help. What you are describing sounds ok for 16 year olds - and even then it will still not work well.

I can tell you are a parent of young kids. How do you propose to teach AP Physics via DL? Or any serious science class with a lot of lab time? Same for lots of other HS classes. The world does not revolve around your 5yo; all kids need in-person classes if possible.

Seriously, these SAHMs and helicopter Moms are giddy that they can have their kids home 24/7 controlling every aspect of their lives. They have no idea nor do they care about upper school learning and how this will affect HS learners. Little Jimmy is thriving in his 2nd grade Zooms!

I think the younger kids are the ones not doing well with zoom. High school kids -- what's the issue exactly?

I often think that people have entirely forgotten what they were like when they were in high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why can't they just have the teachers in the classrooms with a camera live streaming the classes? It would just be like a regular class except students would be at home.
The kids could then cycle through each of their 8 periods each day.

How would a family with 4 kids under 10yrs old and 2 working parents achieve this? Enlighten me

Well, the PP was mentioning cycling through 8 periods, so she's obviously not referring to kids under 10.

Don't your kids watch TV? DCPS had some classes on WTTG early on in the shut down. (For those of you who don't know, WTTG is a local station that used to produce local TV shows. It's sort of in between two broadcast channels now.) Why don't they broadcast lessons on TV and let kids watch them that way, then do the assignments and/or ask questions online? I know some schools have TV studios (which I think is sick....)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hey guys remember that pandemic that was totally easy and no one had to make any sacrifices and it was over before you knew it? Me either because it doesn't exist. I cannot understand why people think that everything should carry on as normal and their children or their families won't have any hardship from this. Pandemics are awful for everyone! You're supposed to hate it and so are your kids.

"Everything should be normal with no hardships!" is something nobody is saying.

"Sorry, kid, it's a pandemic, don't expect to get an education in the next year or two" is something some people are apparently quite comfortable saying, but I'm not.

No one is saying that, obviously. We're trying to figure out how to make it work. If you're so dead set against DL then withdraw your kids and do some homeschooling or beg for a scholarship to a private school. Just stop haranguing the rest of us already.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

You can say that again.

To anyone else reading this who is actually sane and rational -- kids love being online together. DL needs to be fun for them -- just like classroom learning has to be fun. Some teachers suck at it, some make it fun and have the ability to keep kids engaged. IMO, kids need time to bond online. Most classes seemed to start right off with instruction. I think kids should have the chance to chat, make farting noises, tell jokes, whatever, for five or ten minutes, and also have breaks in the zoom instruction where they can chat with each other. There is no reason they can't enjoy and look forward to going online with their classmates and teacher all day.

NP - your experience just isn't the norm, PP. I have one kid, a rising 4th grader, who can handle being online for hours, but she hates it. She doesn't like the way that group interactions are stifled because Zoom only lets you hear one person at a time, she hates the inability to read nonverbal communications and body language (she didn't use those words, but translated, that's what frustrating), the interactions feel stilted and all the kids get bored easily. My other kid, a rising 1st grader, just doesn't have the focus to stare at a screen for hours. It was a struggle to get him to focus for 45 mins.

And while we're assuming our personal anecdotes are the same as data, conversations with other parents have shown me that my experience is much more common than yours. So, *shrug*

Well, my extended friend group, now spread over multiple states and in multiple school districts, has, with very few exceptions, had their children do very well with DL. Is it as good as in-person? Of course not. If we weren't in a pandemic, we wouldn't be doing DL, but we are.

So I guess your "experience" that you fail when trying to extrapolate outside your sphere is, in fact, not more common or more relevant. Just more meaningless anecdota. *shrug*

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hey guys remember that pandemic that was totally easy and no one had to make any sacrifices and it was over before you knew it? Me either because it doesn't exist. I cannot understand why people think that everything should carry on as normal and their children or their families won't have any hardship from this. Pandemics are awful for everyone! You're supposed to hate it and so are your kids.

"Everything should be normal with no hardships!" is something nobody is saying.

"Sorry, kid, it's a pandemic, don't expect to get an education in the next year or two" is something some people are apparently quite comfortable saying, but I'm not.

Good news! Nobody is saying "don't expect to get an education." You will still get one, little Johnny. Just, since we're in a pandemic, it will not be in a pile of bricks crammed in with way too many other people, putting everyone at risk. Your parents (well, your Mom) will probably bitch, but you will still get that education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hey guys remember that pandemic that was totally easy and no one had to make any sacrifices and it was over before you knew it? Me either because it doesn't exist. I cannot understand why people think that everything should carry on as normal and their children or their families won't have any hardship from this. Pandemics are awful for everyone! You're supposed to hate it and so are your kids.

"Everything should be normal with no hardships!" is something nobody is saying.

"Sorry, kid, it's a pandemic, don't expect to get an education in the next year or two" is something some people are apparently quite comfortable saying, but I'm not.

No one is saying that, obviously. We're trying to figure out how to make it work. If you're so dead set against DL then withdraw your kids and do some homeschooling or beg for a scholarship to a private school. Just stop haranguing the rest of us already.

We (US society) already have this attitude towards childcare - you're on your own! figure it out! - and it's disastrous. Now we're apparently expanding it to the education of our children. What makes you think the results will be any less disastrous?