My First Year Teaching

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...

The challenges of home schooling are apparent to me. I didn't home school my daughter and hope the parents reading this are open to the experience. This could be the way of our school for the next few months as I note that today California and Kansas have canceled the school year. Yesterday was the first try at this method of teaching. What I saw first was parents were either lax (and that's the way I'd approach it) or firm. Maybe we should try a middle path? To the students, the common Google Meeting space has to have social rules for it to work. Because of that, we won't generally use this space for socializing during the school day. If you want to socialize, and I encourage you to socialize, do it in another space. I'm sure you, or a friend, has the technical savvy to create a space for socializing. This will allow the Meetup space to be used by students who have questions. It will also offer parents a way to monitor what you are doing online. It should be a ...