Online school sucks.
That’s pretty much the consensus opinion I’ve heard from teachers, kids, parents, and anyone else with an opinion over the past year. Most teachers will also tell you this has been their hardest professional experience, probably including their first year.
As the saying goes, “The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.”.1 The same could be said of school superintendents.
Not too long ago, late in June to be exact, the head of our overly-large school district announced a hybrid back-to-school plan where some students would start the year entirely online, while some would be in physical classrooms two days a week. He wasn’t alone, since several other area districts offered similar ideas for their communities.
During the abrupt switch to online school last spring, everyone learned a great deal. Most of it, however, was not in any formal curriculum.
Here are a few lessons I hope we retain going into the new school year and beyond.
For one thing, I’m pretty sure that most teachers, students, administrators, and parents learned pretty quickly that online schooling is not as easy as it looks. And that people are far more important to the process than is the technology being used.