#school closure

After a week of distance teaching, and guiding my own children through their assignments I just have to say this is a shit show. I was prepared before my own children had to navigate individual Google classrooms to turn in work. My administrator said, "Less is more," and "Try for one grade a week," and "Set boundaries for yourself." My students have just that...one assignment. I've even extended the due date to Sunday evening because I was unsure of workloads being assigned by other teachers.

So why in the ever-loving hell is my kindergarten student being assigned 3 different assignments a day, on top of specials like PE and Music, along with 1 hour of math and reading on the iReady platform. He has, by far, more work than my older children.

I am so mentally exhausted from keeping my kindergartner--who is already emotional--on task because my daughters have free time when they finish work, that I am too overwhelmed to complete my own educational course work.

As an educator, it is important to worry about the mental health of our students as well. What about the kids with no parental support or guidance? The ones trying to educate themselves in a place where they may not feel safe? The ones with little to eat?

Now, I am used to wrangling students who are not engaged; and I know the tricks and ideas to encourage participation, but what about the parents who don't? The ones coming off of a long days work, and have to help frustrated kiddos? They are already exhausted and may not have the patience to help students used to having support throughout assignments.

There is a lot this year that is already being forgiven (Move on When Reading in AZ and standardized testing) so why are we making life difficult. I understand the need for education, believe me, but can we guarantee our kids are even in the right head space for learning content objectives?