My First Year Teaching

What we're seeing with "distance learning" is that it works for some students, but others are experiencing a disaster. I think we can say that in general the students struggling with the distance learning as it is presented have some issues with learning-- disabilities. Other students have had issues with being able to focus on the assignments. I know from being a supervisor that there are some people who are unable to focus on their work at home. They were good employees when they were in an office, but the dog, the husband, their children.. all were distractions when they were home. I'm sure the students are experiencing even more distractions. A mom who homeschools wrote a piece in the Atlantic about her view, that we need to design the coursework so that everything is learning. This goes along with the idea that schoolwork should be related to life. Though that idea is rejected by some educators. However, instead of saying this is relevant to you because..., p...

Good morning scholars. Thank you to the students who were able to attend the in-class session. Here is a summary of the lecture: We are currently experiencing an economic downturn. Within our lives we've seen another contraction in 2007-2008, with earlier contractions in 1988 and of course during the period we are currently studying: The Great Depression. Classical economics calls this the contraction side of a Kuznets cycle. However, classical economics says these cycles are caused by variations in the supply TRENDS of labor and other resources; variations in productivity TRENDS relating to efficiency with which those supplies are used; and variations in the average intensity with which resources get used-- in other words variations in rates of unemployment. (Economics, Samuelson, McGraw-Hill, 1967. P. 244) The Samuelson text goes on to say that fiscal policy can provide relief for these conditions. As you progress in your education you'll hear this called Keynesian Econ...

This week we've had several additional inches of snow here on the Front Range. This morning it is snowing after several inches fell overnight. Spring storms are not unusual. I'm certain that much of the moisture we receive annually comes with these spring storms. So outside it is very white, with snow clinging to the trees and covering the cars and rooftops. The yards are buried in snow of course. It creates a silence in the outside world that reflects on the industrial world that we've stopped in hopes of slowing this virus. My students are on break this week. That means that they are not being given new assignments. However I'm not easing up with regard to what I'm asking them to do. Just no new assignments. This morning I looked at their grades. Basically, if a student hasn't been submitting their assignments at least 50 percent of the time they are in danger of failing. Failing, in this case, is a grade of less than 70 percent overall, including the th...

It is early on Easter Sunday. It's a snowy day and the forecast calls for cold temperatures. Yesterday it was in the 70s. Today they will fall to below 20. The Easter weekend has special significance to the Irish. And II think that a president worth his salt would be able to call upon the imagery of this weekend to call make the sacrifice we are enduring this weekend have substance. He or she would make it clear that this isn't an end or a stall, but a new dawn. However this president is unable to call upon sacrifice as he has never made sacrifice He is unable to lead as he never had that quality and is convinced of his omnipotence. And his followers deceive themselves to follow the fix of appointments to the courts amid the loss of their souls. I do like the weather. Once, when I was a child living on Laramie Avenue I came out to join my family going to Mass. It must have been very early as the sidewalk had no footmarks on it, except one: a set of rabbit prints leading s...

It will be weeks before the stimulus checks go out. And, really, they are not meant to keep small businesses going. They are meant to help people pay their rent. As I wrote in a previous post, take a walk through your neighborhood, its shuttered shops and empty sidewalks are a sign of worse to come. Yesterday I learned I'd lost my first student. She was withdrawn from the school. I suppose the parent decided that since they were doing most of the work in educating her there was no reason to pay the school for those services too. Here at Castle Boylan my hair continues to grow. I should be going into the barber for a trim. But under the circumstances that's not happening. I'd love to call some friends to come over for a game night, but-- not going to happen. Restaurants are out. Worship is out. Walking is okay, as long as the group is small. No tennis, no exercise clubs. People are going to places like Walmart simply to walk around the aisles and look at things. Yo...

Yesterday news arrived that Governor Polis has closed the schools for a further period. It seems as though this works and like the social distancing, is going to be painful. My daughter, for example, is facing reduced hours as are others who are close to me. I'm sure that you already know people who are experiencing reduced hours at work. Colorado Governor Jared Polis announcing new Covid-19 efforts. Photo: Official Polis Facebook Page It is probably worth looking back at the Panic of 1893, 1874 and also the Great Depression for some lessons in this. Instead of a run on the banks we are experiencing a run on toilet paper. But otherwise the panic among people about their future is very much in evidence. Economists define an economic depression as unemployment of more than 15 percent. I submit that we are there now, due to layoffs, reduced hours and other effects in the labor market. It isn't over yet and I worry that worse is ahead. Worse, the Federal Reserve is focu...