Thread by @ThePublicSquare

Today we published two stories about the experience of “distance learning.”

One is from Alizé Basulto Ibarra, a senior about to graduate from Coalinga High School. One is from Brian Crosby, a retiring English/journalism teacher at Herbert Hoover High School in Glendale.

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At the start of spring semester, everything was going according to plan for class president Alizé. She’d been accepted to her dream school, UCLA.

But then the pandemic hit, and “school just ended in the middle of the sentence.”

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At first, Alizé “responded like a teenager, treating this as a vacation from schoolwork and an excuse to stay up late.”

As the virus spread, she realized that she needed to keep studying—and so did her four younger siblings, ages 15, 10, 9, and 8.

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Alizé grew up in the court system and dreams of becoming a lawyer and a voice for the unrepresented.

“I’ve been careful to make academic plans a year in advance and follow those plans carefully. School is incredibly important for my life, my future, and my family’s future.”

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Alizé organized a home classroom for herself and her siblings at the kitchen table. Over several weeks, she honed a system for keeping everyone on track as best she could.

After two months of staying home, the schools launched “distance learning.”

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Distance learning brought a fresh batch of frustrations: multiple platforms that are difficult to navigate, restrictions on school-provided devices, even signing into each school website and finding classwork. Alizé knew her counselors and could get help, but ...

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Her 15-year-old sister had to navigate two new systems: distance learning and high school.

“I fear that my siblings will be behind not only on work, but on skills we need. This time may make it hard for kids of our generation to build a strong foundation and thrive.”

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Alizé is now getting ready for a modified graduation.

She hopes that when she starts college at UCLA in fall, it will be “in person, and not at a distance.”

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Veteran teacher Brian Crosby has also been reflecting on graduation.

Brian taught at Herbert Hoover High School for 31 years. When his students left for break in March, he was 55 work days shy of retirement.

He had no idea what was in store for his final 11 weeks of work.

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Transitioning to distance learning over spring break meant no retirement parties or celebrations. “All of it deleted before it could materialize.”

But Brian had no time for self-pity: In one week, he had to re-learn how to teach—now in a virtual setting.

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“Knowing that the very first day of distance learning would feel foreign,” he writes, “I wanted to soothe my students’ nerves with a video of me talking directly to them, reprising a song I sang to them on the very first day of the school year back in August.”

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“My inspiration was Fred Rogers. Instead of rules, we discuss expectations. Instead of penalties, we discuss rewards. Instead of a classroom, we have a neighborhood.

Brian sang “It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” as: “It’s a Beautiful Day in This Classroom Now.”

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The adrenaline of the first few days of remote teaching (and his very successful video performance) wore off quickly.

“Distance learning was exactly like its name: distant.”

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“While most of my English students submitted work and responded to my emails,” Brian continues, “one-third of my journalism staff disappeared. No submissions, no responses, no pulse, as if they were suddenly in a witness protection program.”

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And herein lies one of the most damaging realities of distance learning:

“Struggling students no longer fall through the cracks; they have found an online hiding place, never to resurface.”

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Brian quickly realized that “the main ingredient missing was live performance.

“An electric group learning experience disintegrates into a dim ‘do your own thing’ keyboard task.

“We all end up working alone in the dark.”

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