While we have focused a great deal on the problems that arose out of emergency remote learning, we still struggle with how we are going to serve our learners needs when “school” returns later in the summer.
There was a lot that didn’t go right. We’ve heard all the complaints from students, from teachers, and from families. I’ve complained a lot about how our triage didn’t exactly best serve kids. There were kids and families who didn’t or couldn’t participate. There was plenty to gripe about.
I recently came across the term bright spot analysis from Chip and Dan Heath’s book Switch. The idea is that when looking at complex problems, we should look at what is working instead of focusing so much energy on what is NOT working.
As I thought about our last 3-4 months of school, I realized that one of our ESL teachers was able to meet with small groups every day in order to support them as they navigated remote learning on their own. It was a definite success story from a time of crisis intervention. Because it worked, we wanted to replicate it, and so we have this summer. The same ESL teacher will be working remotely with students throughout the summer in order to support their learning. It’s been a powerful connection for both students and teacher, so why not continue it.
Sometimes, it definitely helps to focus on what is working. Find those bright spots and replicate them!
Rich