From a 2016 eduhonesty.com post about unions:

“I’d like to note one positive aspect of teaching, as it was traditionally practiced: The union contract took into account how much education a teacher had finished and how many years he or she had worked. That determined teacher pay. Women with 2 years experience and 50 credits beyond a bachelor’s degree received exactly the same pay as men with the same credentials. You might make extra money by coaching or sponsoring a club, especially at the high school level, but overall men and women could expect to receive the same compensation. If a woman needed maternity leave, she was not crippling her career by taking two months off, either.” (From a previous post.)

I don’t think I ever hammered this point home and I should have done so. We regularly hear stories on the news about gaps in pay and benefits between men and women. The gender gap is an established fact of life in the corporate world. When I worked in the corporate world, I encountered that gap regularly — insurance adjusters and then bond analysts of the other gender made more money. I can remember the one exception who was hired with me to analyze bonds. Perhaps because we came from the same school with the same credentials at the same time, we received identical pay. But at other times, my life experience was discovering someone with less experience and education made more money because “he could project authority.” I’m sure that translated to “he was not a small woman.”

Here’s a weird, sideways fact, readers, that merits at least brief consideration, from The American Psychological Association (https://www.apa.org/monitor/julaug04/standing):

“When it comes to height, every inch counts–in fact, in the workplace, each inch above average may be worth $789 more per year, according to a study in the Journal of Applied Psychology (Vol. 89, No. 3).

The findings suggest that someone who is 6 feet tall earns, on average, nearly $166,000 more during a 30-year career than someone who is 5 feet 5 inches–even when controlling for gender, age and weight.”

The gender implications are obvious.

As I write this, I am thinking about Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The following is from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ruth-Bader-Ginsburg:

“Hired by the Rutgers School of Law as an assistant professor in 1963, she was asked by the dean of the school to accept a low salary because of her husband’s well-paying job. After she became pregnant with the couple’s second child—a son, James, born in 1965—Ginsburg wore oversized clothes for fear that her contract would not be renewed. She earned tenure at Rutgers in 1969.”

I find it interesting that in 1970 Ginsburg became professionally involved in the issue of gender equality as it related to “women’s liberation,” a catch phrase often linked to bra burning back then by forces trying to block any movement toward equality. She rapidly published two law review articles on the subject and began teaching a seminar on gender discrimination. I don’t find it a great surprise that she became a leading figure in gender-discrimination litigation during the seventies — and as I read between the lines of her biographies, I understand how this passion arose.*

RBG knew all about gender discrimination. I believe she also understood the power of tenure. Once tenured, she ripped into the gender discrimination. Ruth Bader Ginsburg being the woman she was, I am sure she’d have gone to fight for gender equity regardless, job security or not. But job security provides a platform of safety that makes honesty easier.

I started this post with paychecks because equal pay for equal work tends to resonate with people. And women who are older or retired, as I am, often connect strongly on this topic. We have our stories — the boss who explained that Maury was getting more money than me because he was going to have to support a family –– although he was just out of school and wasn’t even engaged to his girlfriend at the time. And then there was the boss who let me know that my young, male counterpart in a small software company had gotten a bigger raise than I had because he had enthusiasm and he was there later than I was and I honestly don’t know what else — except I was just sunk, because I had to pick my girl up from preschool so I could not stay late. The part that blew me away: My sales were higher than his, a documented fact attributed to my probably working a more prosperous region — except he had California and the West Coast and we were selling software in the early nineties. Give me a break! I thought. Except no one gave me a break, and when my second child was born, I just quit and I was glad to go. That boss called months later to tell me how much he had appreciated my good work. Was he surprised I had walked away? Maybe he needed me to explain the idea of a “no-win scenario” to him — the scenario where you compete with a bunch of single young men while taking care of your new baby and preschooler, too.

As I say, women my age and older tend to have our stories. I don’t want that last one to seem like a sad story, either. I absolutely loved being a stay-at-home mom for over a decade, even if finances were sometimes a bit tricky. Drinking coffee with friends in parks while children played, watching Power Rangers and Captain Planet, huddling under blankets during soccer games, eating ice cream, stopping for cheese fries while juggling different softball practices, and playing Logical Journey of the Zoombinis. What’s not to love?

And then I made another career change. I went back to school when my youngest turned 13 to earn my teaching certification. Two years later, I entered teaching.

Suddenly I became part of a union. I wasn’t subject to gut-wrenching, whimsical salary scales. I was older then, too, and grateful I didn’t have to worry about the fact that I was receiving more money than younger people with less education, enthusiastic job hunters who could definitely work more cheaply than me. I knew if I did my job, my position would not vanish because some MBA had determined the district could save X dollars per year by hiring a new graduate with fewer college credits in my place. I have known too many people in their fifties who suddenly were written out of their corporate lives, shocked to discover that their thirty-plus years of service somehow didn’t count when the wrong people added the numbers up.

Fair wages, job security and excellent benefits: that was my experience of the union.

Fair wages and job security.

Fair wages and job security.

Fair wages and job security.

I can’t say it enough.

And in 2020 — a whole new issue that unions have been attacking with varying degrees of success:

JOB SAFETY!

I should observe that I also receive a pension. I have excellent health care, even now that I am retired, at reasonable cost. A large enough group of people can negotiate top-quality insurance and other benefits. My union keeps sending me mailers about deals on cars, appliances, dental insurance, etc.

That hit job that was done on unions in the not-too-distant past? It was a hit job. The truth is that inept and lazy teachers are extremely rare. The requirements of the position are too demanding, many of them unseen and not understood by people not working in schools. More importantly, kids without enough to do can be guaranteed to make a teacher miserable. Kids know if a teacher is blowing them off — and they make anyone who isn’t working completely miserable.

I should also note that tenure isn’t lifetime job security, a fiction that deserves to be explicitly addressed. Tenure just means you can’t be fired capriciously. You must be fired for cause — and there are rules and oversight in the procedure. That’s what everyone ought to have, and it’s what many people don’t have nowadays.

Eduhonesty: Support your union. Support the idea of unions, wherever you are. Fair wages and job security for hard-working employees should be regarded as a right, not a piece of luck. Union contracts protect workers. Height, weight, color, sexual orientation and other nonwork-related characteristics shouldn’t have a damn thing to do with salary. (O.K., I grant NFL linemen are their own category…) And being part of a large, powerful organization able to demand safe working conditions can be helpful or even crucial — especially now.

In COVID-19 times, unions have negotiated and are negotiating for safe working conditions for teachers. Who else will go out of their way to protect teachers? School boards? Not all of those boards. State governments? In one word: Florida. Although I could come up with a few other choice words, both states and expletives.

The ACTFL SmartBrief asks: “Can relaxing webcam requirements help students learn?” An associate professor of educational psychology observes that students viewing themselves and their classmates may become self-conscious and thus less able to focus. The brief speculates that maybe turning off the camera will help students concentrate.

I know what I would have done if that camera was off. I would have played endless games on my phone. I play too many now. So do a signficant percentage of U.S. students. I would have wandered off to get snacks while finding my headphones. If no one can see me, why not? I would say to myself, “I can do (insert-class-here) while listening to my music.” I would have done other assignments for other classes. Depending on the nature of the homework, I might even plan to do my homework during Ms. Jones class, knowing it had been due last night, but convinced Ms. Smith would be happy enough if I got finished by noon.

Some operational approaches to online learning make me want to tear my hair out.

Think like a kid.

Eduhonesty: The camera should be on.

The problem with writing about “that flu” is that it’s so long ago – nearly forty years now. I was 26 years old and a student in Bellingham, Washington. I lived alone in a pleasant apartment down a long hill from campus, white walls covered in black and white pictures from favorite Sherlock Holmes and other 50s and 60s films. I had two great cats, a large, orange tabby named George and the smaller, black, long-haired Minerva. The cats were always trying to attack the slightly scraggly hanging plants and their dangling, cream-colored macrame twine. I mostly sat in a favorite brown rocking chair, watching my small TV or listening to an old stereo while doing math homework. I remember that apartment vividly – probably because it was the site of the flu.

I sometimes think I must misremember that flu. I mean, people simply do not run a fever of 104 degrees off and on — mostly on — for ten whole days. Except I remember that number because when I checked the dates, I was so stunned. Another memory: I went to the student health center where the doctor stood plastered against the corner of the room, as far away from me as he could manage to stand. I could tell how badly he wanted out of that room. I’d never seen a doctor behave that way. I don’t remember what he did for me. Maybe he gave me antibiotics. Back then, if you got sick, everybody gave you antibiotics. I guarantee they did not work. I walked back down the hill and went to bed. And stayed in bed. Friends dropped off food.  I think one or two of them even came in briefly. We were not nearly as smart about infectious disease back then, not healthy people in their twenties anyway. Nobody else got sick, not because of me, at least as far as I knew. Then I was “well.”

Except when I walked up the hill to campus, now I had to stop and rest. I had a favorite gray, stone planter I would use to rest on, near a corner curb. I can’t recall if the homeowner ever asked why I was always sitting on their planter in the morning. I would sit and study the greenery, the houses in the distance, campus buildings above me, and wait for my strength and wind to return. Then I’d tackle the hill again. Those rests went on for months. I mean, I can still remember the view I spent so much time resting on that planter.

But I was young and I had begun that year in great physical shape. I had a healthy lifestyle that involved frequent long walks. I lived in a town that encouraged hikes in the woods, kayaking and relaxing by the water. I came back from that flu. I’ll never know if I came back all the way, but by the following fall I was hiking in the woods. I recall making my favorite Scottish walking partner take an occasional short break. I also recall the paramedics when I swooned at some dance that summer. I blamed the heat then, but I was the only one at the dance who found herself looking up into the eyes of handsome, concerned paramedics.

This seems like a sideways post in a blog dedicated to education – except it’s not. Too many government leaders and school administrators continue to push to open schools for on-person learning in viral hotspots. Yes, we can’t close all the schools because of COVID-19, which will be with us for awhile. In some areas, we probably do have to roll the dice because we have no good options. Online learning is less effective for the vast majority of our kids — although, a tiny group seems to honestly be doing better online – and online learning favors certain groups more than others – a fact likely to widen the achievement gap.  So schools must open where feasible.

But this, “oh, well, a few kids and teachers will get sick, but it will probably be O.K.” attitude shows a lack of understanding of what we are up against. Forty years ago, I was a version of a long hauler. I never went to a hospital. I just read, drank liquids, and slept with cats beside me, waiting for my fever to break. But it means something that I remember that year so vividly. My whole view of illness changed with that flu. I remember saying to friends, “That was one of those flus that kills babies and old people,” a truth I felt in my bones. I wouldn’t have been drinking endless tea with my cats if I had been 70 years old.

And I suggest readers look at this article.https://www.huffpost.com/entry/kids-long-haul-covid-parents_l_5f5b81cec5b6b48507ff886d  and read about Amber. The story begins:

“In mid-March, Amy Thompson’s daughter, Amber, called her from a shift at Starbucks and told her mom she felt a tickle in her throat she couldn’t get rid of. Within hours, the college freshman had a fever and a nonstop cough. After some struggle to find a site that would take her, Amber tested positive for COVID-19.”

Our children can all be Amber, the once-Starbucks-barista and former college student. I hope Amber makes it back to school soon. I hope her next seizure is her last seizure forever and I hope that wheelchair is just a memory soon. I can’t imagine how scary it is to be Amber… except, I can just vaguely remember that year when I collapsed at the dance. For that brief period, on the floor with all those faces above me, I was so scared.

Eduhonesty: People get viruses. Our leaders must understand, though, that viruses don’t just go away, not always. I am getting my second shingles shot on Thursday because chicken pox never goes away – it just waits to become some peoples attack of shingles, and then some peoples permanent post-herpetic neuralgia – otherwise known as nerve pain forever. A previous post talked more about viral infections of the past. The current thinking supports the idea that most people will clear COVID-19 from their bodies. But nobody yet understands what is happening with the long haulers. (See https://www.eduhonesty.com/better-to-be-too-scared-of-those-classrooms-than-not-scared-enough/ )

For more information an article on long haulers: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/07/brain-fog-heart-damage-covid-19-s-lingering-problems-alarm-scientists

P.S. I have no data for this, just a sense I should put it out for consideration. A neighbor down the block has his son, daughter-in-law and grandchild with him now because his unemployed son’s lease was expiring. I know others with children who recently came home. Some have been in their childhood bedrooms since spring.

What do you do if you lose your job when a virus attacks the economy? When you can no longer pay for a Chicago apartment? At least some young adults are creating multi-generational homes, and launching their job search from familiar kitchen tables and childhood basements.

Multigenerational homes are becoming more common I believe, making the much higher rate of COVID mortality for older adults one more reason to be extremely careful about opening schools.

Here’s the complicated thing: COVID-19 smacks some people up the side of the head like a baseball hat, but others seem to spend weeks with low fevers, aches, and other odd symptoms while remaining able to go to work. Do they go to work? What if they can’t pay the mortgage if they don’t go to work? Low-fever Larry can definitely spread the disease and he may never take that COVID-19 test. He’s not that sick — and he definitely does not want to know. And kids catch this disease, even if their survival odds are excellent. Some are asymptomatic, but the evidence shows asymptomatic little ones may nonetheless be carriers. Some kids know they feel sick, I’m sure — but they are not telling dad or mom because they don’t want to get stuck at home in bed.

How many teachers have been laid low by the disease of the month that swept through this year or last year’s classroom? Awhile back, I wrote a post that included the sick kids in winter coats. The room is 75 degrees and Xavier is huddled in his thick, puffy blue coat. We know what to expect when we touch his forehead, even before we send him to the nurse.

Sick kids come to school. Sometimes parents know they are sick, but other times that fact gets lost in the bustle of everyone getting ready to go to work or school. Where is Marisol’s art project? What happened to Daniel’s gym uniform? Are we out of baggies? What can I put the carrots in? You were supposed to put the dog out!

As I write this, I remember a bank vice president. She was determinedly upwardly mobile and her daughter was in my daughter’s preschool. I got pink eye twice that year. Once might have been an accident, but the second time — that woman knew she had a meeting, and told us she had to run for that reason. She dropped her girl off so fast no one had time to register the color of her daughter’s one eye, soon to be two eyes. A few other parents and I looked at the girl. We asked the teachers to please keep little “Lauren” away from our own kids and the teachers glumly agreed. No one wanted Lauren that day, but Lauren was on the premises, her mom was unreachable, and the rest of us had to get to work. The first pink-eye epidemic might have been a mystery. The second one wasn’t.

Here’s a sad truth captured in that comment above: Some people know the right thing to do and they choose not to do it. I think certain sick kids don’t even realize they are sick, especially those with bad allergies. Others know they do not feel well, tell mom or dad they do not feel well, and get put on the bus anyway. Those parents putting their child on the bus don’t want others to fall ill — although I honestly think a number don’t give a damn — but they care about themselves first. Lauren’s mom was a pleasant, fundamentally likable woman who decided to throw everyone else under the bus for her own career advancement.

I can be sympathetic to some parents who put their feverish kid on the school bus after they decide “he’s not that sick.” No insurance, no sick leave and a job where you can easily be replaced? Parents living near the edge often go to work sick — and also work when their child is sick. Al fin y al cabo, at the end of the day, the rent must be paid. Rent and car payments may trump bed rest and liquids.

Not long back, many of us were sitting at home, wondering if we had enough food and toilet paper. Our dogs were loving all the walks. We were enjoying catching up on TV and the books by the bed. But for teachers, a lost feeling followed, a yearning to get back to that group of kids we are supposed to prepare for the next big step in their learning lives.

Eduhonesty: We have to let that yearning go for now in some areas, as best we can. Maybe your school has resumed live instruction this year. Maybe it hasn’t. Maybe online learning will work for you; I fervently hope so. But we can’t go back to business as usual.

In hotspots, schools must be closed. In impending hotspots, the schools must be closed. For many parts of the Midwest, that closure would be overkill, but the map looks ominous in other areas. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html This bug appears to be exceptionally easy to catch and while it’s not the Spanish Influenza of 1918, only the very elderly remember anything like what we are seeing today, those men and women who watched polio shut their towns when they were young.

This post is for the teachers, parents and others who are wondering if we have to take such extreme measures. Please keep those sick children in mind. Sick kids often don’t tell parents how they feel; they want to see their friends. I’ve had many students come to school feverish and even aching, because boyfriend, girlfriend, or bestie was there. Parents don’t always know. Kids don’t always tell. Two-hundred thousand dead and still counting.

Learning is a lifelong process. Fractions and metaphors can wait awhile. In the meantime, we have to help protect our grandmas, grandpas, family members, first responders, health care workers and community. We have to protect ourselves.

For those at a loss for what to do, I suggest preparing to join the fight for universal heath care and sick leave. It’s time to start gathering stories and sharing them. When the crisis abates, those stories need to flood cyberspace as we try to fix a healthcare system that’s been running on fumes for the poor, for those moms and dads who eventually piled into the pickup to go to the ER because they couldn’t afford to stay home with Xavier until Xavier was so sick that they truly had no choice.

Updated for today’s virtual learning: I just made a discovery. My glasses make me throw back my neck as I work. They are progressive bifocals and the portion of the lenses I use for the computer is low enough so that I lift my head when looking at the screen. Right now, that hurts my neck, thanks to a klutzy recent head bump.

I tried a pair of nonprescription +1.50 reading glasses and that solved the problem. I don’t lift my head with single vision lenses. I also increased the size of print on the screen slightly.

So here is a new tip for your home office: Check your glasses and see if you are moving your head into an awkward position. It doesn’t help that some administrations are effectively plunking teachers and students down for up to seven hours straight with minimal breaks, but watching how we use our body while remembering to stand up and move regularly can protect mental and physical health.

Teachers, I recommend https://www.eduhonesty.com/tip-1-sleep/ to start.

Then I recommend oodles of physical breaks and working on ergonomics.

Teachers ask, “Why am I so tired?” I am certain part of that tiredness results from sitting. I always loved the physical freedom of classroom teaching. I could sit, but mostly I stood or walked. I usually stood to review material or explain new concepts. If I was tired, maybe I sat on my tall stool. Then I walked around the room checking to make sure my students were on task and understood the day’s old and new ideas.

At this moment, I am sitting in a tall, blue office chair that was honestly built for Papa Bear. Baby Bear and I were never meant to occupy this chair. If I were going to be doing online learning indefinitely, the first thing I would do is replace this chair. Ergonomics is easy to ignore in a crisis — but this is exactly the wrong time to put up with uncomfortable furniture or office lay-outs. Even with a pillow behind me, this chair may be hard on my back if I sit here for hours straight.

My chair is rescued by my footrest.

The clunky piece of gray plastic above is maybe ten years old and was made by Rubbermaid. You can raise and lower the platform to three different settings, and the platform tilts forward and backward, letting me shift my feet up and down while working. I completely love this thing and I strongly recommend it to anyone who sits for much of the day. Try a search under Rubbermaid footrest. The price may seem a bit high, but I have had a steady decade of use from my footrest, under teaching desks and now under my home desk.

If a person were skilled at woodworking, I think it might be fun to try to make a footrest like this. It’s a platform that can be pushed forward and back, sitting on top of a sturdy base. If craft projects de-stress you, you might research designs or just study pics of the product above and make a trip to Lowes or Home Depot. The key will be getting the height right, unless you want to try to put in the three settings for height — which seems too far above my Home Depot skill set, but might not be outside yours, reader.

I also recommend lumbar pillows behind the back and, depending on your chair and sitting position, a possible neck pillow. These pillows can be expensive, but I would put the pillows in the category of necessary things — and you should be able to make them at home. Teachers have always been masters of the crafty repurposing of objects. You can make what you need with pillow cases, string, or ribbon, winter clothing, old sleeping bags, and other items that may be waiting inside your charitable donation bags.

Eduhonesty: Virtual teaching? Get up. Get up. Get or make one of those little devices that lift your computer so you can stand up and work. Strolling between desks is energizing. Sitting in front of a screen is the exact opposite. While it’s impossible to tease out all the sources of stress that may be contributing to teacher fatigue right now, I am certain long spells in chairs form a big part of our problem.

Teachers and other home workers, when you have a few minutes today, take a break to look at the ergonomics of your workspace. How is your regular sitting position as you work? How can you discourage slouching or excessive leaning? Where is your head? Where is your neck? Are you bending your neck forward or backward to look at a screen? The fix for unnatural neck positions is usually as simple as lowering or raising a laptop or monitor. Sometimes you might lower a chair or add a cushion.

I suggest you watch your usual wrist and hand positions too. Your keyboard’s location should not encourage you to bend or drop your wrist. Carpal tunnel is a real thing that teachers mostly avoid by doing so many different activities during the day, but keyboard minutes are soaring during virtual teaching. If your wrists hurt, consider splints. Splints come in left- and right-handed versions, so be careful not to buy two left-handed splints by mistake :-). You can also make splints in a pinch.

You don’t want a back, neck, or wrist ache right now. Going to the doctor in COVID times? Doctor visits are only slightly more fun than running away from giant, nuclear-enhanced reptiles that breathe fire. Since we don’t know how long these times will last, preventing injuries from sitting and repetitive motion will be key.

Hugs to the many teachers who have become home-office workers.

Inspiration for this posted on April 6, 2020 in biographyjar.com. Author Jocelyn the Plaid

Please forward to those teachers and friends creating their home offices.

P.S. Teachers, I hope students are joining your virtual classroom. Admins and teachers, the plans where students leave their cameras off? Umm… I can see possible good reasons, but I still vote no. How do you even know whose body is behind that black screen? Or that black and white picture of Godzilla? My feed defaults to Godzilla if I choose not to be seen. But if you are looking at Godzilla, I might be out making tea. And I chose to be in the Godzilla Zoom. If I were nine, I might choose not to be in any virtual classroom. Our kids can get all sorts of fun freebies at the app store. No camera? No camera = phone game for too many, I’m sure. With luck, a few of our kids are quietly reading while they ignore their laptop.

Incidentally, if I were not retired I would be flashing Godzilla into the classroom every so often. Perhaps you want your own spirit animal to wake up the crowd? Or a cheery Pooh Bear? Surprises will help you hold your audience.

I predict what I now see as an inevitable widening in the achievement gap. But this post is meant for the here and now. Many teachers are asking for help because they are exhausted.

Every year, I am supposed to complete a set of modules to requalify to be a substitute teacher. Yes, I am a licensed, retired teacher, but that doesn’t matter. The modules vary but this year I find twelve: Active Shooter, ADHD, AED, Anaphylaxis and Anaphylactic Shock, Asthma, Bloodborne Pathogens, Concussions in Schools: Prevention – Control – Treatment, DCFS – Mandated Reporter – Illinois, Diabetes Awareness, Domestic and Sexual Violence, Sexual Harassment and Suicide Prevention. For the record, I support these trainings. Teachers should know how to manage concussions, asthma and anaphylaxis. Education classes don’t always cover critical health and home life scenarios.

I will be listening attentively to a couple of these sessions. Active shooter has been changing over the years and is getting better. We used to be told to hide in a dark corner, crouch down out of sight, and wait silently with the windows covered and doors locked. We practiced this too — enough so that I am sure any young shooter who returned to his school knew exactly where everyone was located and what those locked doors meant. The new ALICE drills are much more sensible — if you can get out, GET OUT. Use your brains and don’t crouch like a bunch of waiting ducks in an amusement park arcade.

But, I confess, “Bloodborne Pathogens” bores me. I had this one down a decade ago. In fact, I suspect I could have passed the test when I was twelve, if I had been twelve in 2020. But I don’t mind bloodborne pathogens. It’s easy. I put it on. I turn the sound down. I turn the TV up. I let the slides unfurl. The words are spoken and written. I quickly scan the written. If something unexpected turns up, I’ll stop to pay attention. But for years, I’ve just been waiting until “Next Slide” highlights itself. I click on Next Slide. The detectives pile into their cars and drive down to the wharf.

I paused on a few slides this year just to review. But I also made my husband a cup of green tea, wrote this blog post and watched while Chicago P.D. took outrageous liberties with police procedure. Somewhat distracted, I accidentally clicked out once, but the module took me right back to my place. The PPE section seemed creepily prescient in COVID-19 times.

When taking the test at the end, I knew there was a vaccine for Hepatitis B but not one for Hepatitis C. If I had not known, though, I am sure I could have asked Siri for the answer to that question. Our kids are home with their phones. It’s easy to keep those phones off the screen and out of sight. (I checked. Siri gave me the answer.)

Next I started AED (Automatic External Defibrillators) and stopped. Too much useful, unfamiliar information to watch television. I’ll save that one. I am sure kids do their own version of that prioritization, deciding when it’s worth paying attention and when not.

I switched to Mandated Reporter — a very familiar course. Like bloodborne pathogens, I’ve done this PD over and over again. I took a picture of the DCFS hotline phone numbers. For fun, I did this at an angle from below my screen. I could easily snap shots of my screen without my teacher knowing with almost no practice. I could also just use the PrintScreen key or another utility, but maybe this new phone skill will be useful. I’m just playing. I will bet lots of kids are just playing — which may prove useful as they discover new skills. In the background, NOVA talks about cats. I learn DCFS in Illinois accepts about 70,000 abuse or neglect reports a year, impacting about 100,000 children. Those numbers are rather staggering. I also learn domestic cats arose about 10,000 years ago in the Middle East. I am half-learning bubbles of disconnected subject matter, as I am sure many students in remote-learning situations are doing.

Eduhonesty: I am an adult, flipping between tabs on this computer and channels on the television, while exercising my legs and feet on my sturdy Rubbermaid footrest. I rock the gray platform forward and backward. I sip my ginger iced tea. And I finish one more module.

This post helps capture why many teachers hate online learning. Do I have Ella’s attention? How am I to know? I am conspicuously short of clues. All I can see is Ella’s face and maybe a few details in the room behind her. I can’t necessarily see her hands. I don’t know where her phone is. If I were Ella, I might build a stand and move the phone around my Chromebook, maybe even use clips to attach the phone on top of my laptop. That way, I would always be looking toward the screen.

Remote learning is fraught with pitfalls. But I don’t believe the in-person alternative is a good move in any viral hotspots. This blog has been emphasizing the fact that we do not know the long-term effects of getting sick with this virus — and viruses can have effects that last forever. But Plan B where we put the kids online requires a great deal of care. Especially our kids with ADHD may suddenly be hit with scenarios where no one is available to easily say, “put the keys away, Josue, it’s time for science now.”

Teachers who are just getting started — you must work in checks throughout the lesson. Kids have to know they will be expected to give you feedback at the start, middle and end of the lesson. Don’t wait to call with concerns.

Parents — if possible, you can’t leave those kids on their own. Even the kids who have never been any trouble. I’ve told the story before of my youngest, who quit doing her homework one semester. I was student teaching and nonstop busy. Her dad was managing the household, and had been asking her if she had done her homework — but he didn’t check. The school ought to have been raising more flags, but that’s another issue. She took three grades down to D before she got caught. This kid had been an “A” student previously.

I understand some of us are just stuck. Rent and mortgages must be paid. What outside childcare, where? But if nothing else, I’d be texting to encourage my child to do the day’s work. Yes, I recognize the phone irony here, but I guarantee those phones are not mostly locked away for the day. Schools have trouble keeping phones out of classrooms. How are they going to keep them out of bedrooms?

This time calls for cheerleading, cheerleading and more cheerleading. “What did you do today? Show me! Oh, what a great job.” (If it’s not a great job, a “What a fine start. I bet you could find more detail on the platypus at Google” is perfectly OK, too.) “What about your other subjects?” I’d suggest even setting aside a regular time to have the kid(s) show you their day’s work.

Our kids are kids. They need us to lead them through the traps inherent in online learning. The days can be so crazy right now. Our kids need us to be the calm in the storm of 2020.

Here are a few ideas: Schedule a time during the day to go over the day’s lessons. If possible, bring in a cup of milk or cocoa (I was never exactly nutrition mom.) and a treat every so often throughout the day to keep spirits up. Print daily work to put on the refrigerator. Tell them you are proud of them when they work hard. Help them when they get stuck by explaining concepts they don’t understand. Model the math if you are able. If you don’t remember trigonometry, find a friend who does — or hire a tutor. Help kids to learn to pace themselves and sometimes get out ahead by starting upcoming work early.

We can do this. But we can’t trust the kids to do it independently. Heck, we can’t trust retired adult teachers to do their modules without sneaking in a little Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D on the side. But I will be ready to manage bloodborne pathogens. And our students will be able to learn the order of operations for mathematics, plant parts and functions, or whatever their days’ lessons hold — as long as we keep redirecting them and ourselves toward the larger goal of knowledge.

To each and every one of us fighting to make remote learning work:

P.S. Some districts are having students turn off the camera and do their class via chat rooms. Ummm… no. Simply no. From my September 10th post:

Admins, the plans where you don’t make students turn on their cameras? That plan’s not working if my social media feeds can be trusted. How do you even know whose body is behind that black screen? Or that Godzilla screen? My feed defaults to Godzilla if I choose not to be seen. But if you are looking at Godzilla, I might be out making tea. And I chose to be in the Godzilla Zoom. If I were nine, I might choose not to be in any virtual classroom. How many of our kids have Fortnite on their phones? Even those who don’t can get all sorts of fun freebies at the app store. No camera? No camera = phone game for many, I’m sure. With luck, a few of our kids are quietly reading while they ignore their laptop.

If we want this to work even reasonably well — I am sure of one thing: you must keep the kids in view.

I talked with a former student a few days ago, covering life, health, politics and other random topics. Worth noting: She and her boyfriend are healthy young adults who caught COVID in March. They are still getting their wind back, still shorter of breath than before. But the snippet of conversation that caught my attention related to voting. She told me that she had discovered you did not have to vote for a democrat or republican. She revealed this information as if it had proved a true stunner.

I’d like to observe that this 25-year-old woman graduated high school with a 4.0 GPA. What happens when schools cut minutes from science, history and civics to add extra minutes to math and English, all to get kids ready for their annual state achievement test? Well, one thing that happens is that 25-year-olds who are at the top of their high school class “discover” 3rd parties.

I was so glad to be on the phone at that moment. “Carmen” needed me to connect dots for her — the dots that may have contributed to Donald Trump’s election last time. The Libertarian and Green parties siphoned off about 4.35 percent of the vote. Add in the other 3rd parties, the total edges toward 6%. Hilary Clinton won the popular vote (a thing that really confuses many recent graduates) while losing the election. What if she had gotten that 1.07% from the Green Party? Or a majority of the libertarian vote?

Clinton 48.18% (Democrat)

Trump 46.09% (Republican)

Johnson 3.28% (Libertarian)

Stein 1.07% (Green)

Others 1.38% (Wikipedia)

I view the libertarians as an unquantifiable force. I am sure many Libertarians favored Trump over Clinton, and the Libertarian vote might or might not have hurt Clinton. We can’t know. But I am damn sure that the Green Party took almost all of its votes away from Clinton. Any socialists also took votes from Clinton.

The politics of 3rd party votes is complicated. Here’s the thing our young people must understand: A vote for the Green Party is a vote for Trump. A vote for the Socialist Workers Party is a vote for Trump. A vote for Kanye West is probably a vote for Trump.

If this finish is tight — 49% to 51% — for example, those Green and Socialist votes can be expected to skew results away from the Democrats. I understand the function of a 3rd party vote as a protest vote and an expression of values. I’ve voted for 3rd party candidates. But in a close race, third-party votes can operate to swing an election.

Unfortunately, schools desperate to raise their annual test scores have been stealing time and learning opportunities away from social studies. We have an absurd number of high school graduates who don’t understand the Electoral College. These recent graduates might decide to write in Bernie Sanders because they love Bernie without understanding the implications.

I don’t want to tell anyone how to vote. I would rather tell them to explore the issues. Read about the candidates. Check out the many news sources available — British and other foreign sources help provide bits of objectivity in a charged and polarized time. Research is key here.

I do want to implore older readers to talk to young voters. Make sure younger voters understand how voting works — know how the electoral college functions and know that almost all of a 2% Green Party vote will be 2% taken from the democrats — which may matter in states with close votes. The Paris Accords pretty much assured that Green voters would NOT be Trump voters.

This year, more than any year in my retired teacher memory, we can’t afford to “waste” votes. I don’t believe we can trust the polls. I’m not sure if anyone knows what is going on — I am absolutely sure that Russia and probably China have their hands deep in the cookie jar at the moment — and I want to rescue new voters from casting votes they may later deeply regret.

The below link is stuffed with excellent information for teachers who want to stand up as a group against unsafe and objectionable working conditions.

“Ten actions you can take to help prevent an unsafe return to school in September” is only part of this MORE-UFT info packet.

Here’s a link to share: http://tinyurl.com/StopUnsafeReopening

Eduhonesty: I keep putting up the gray and green map that shows how powerless teachers have become. We have to take back our power. My social media feeds are filled with teachers who are quitting or thinking about quitting if they can figure out the insurance and finances. We ought never have reached this state of despair.

https://dc.medill.northwestern.edu/blog/2018/03/08/67017/#sthash.VS6OyZ4L.Skez6APe.dpbs The article’s title: Teacher strikes are illegal in West Virginia…so how did they strike?

Let’s #RebuildOurUnions and #ReclaimOurVoices — for the sake of our kids.

Retiring was the smartest move I’d made in a very long while — but in some alternative universes, I imagine there’s an alternative high school or bilingual middle school version of me who is still working. That woman is a dedicated, loving teacher who knows her content and her students. I miss that woman sometimes, because I know I retired early to avoid spending more time in a slow-motion train wreck that never needed to happen.

Again: http://tinyurl.com/StopUnsafeReopening

Black Panther remains one of my favorite Marvel superhero movies. Despite a few logical plot holes and a few CGI scenes that might have benefited from editing, I remember sitting in the darkened theater being quietly blown away. They had made a movie for little girls. Not a movie where she won the prince. Not even a movie where she realized she did not need the prince. But a movie more like Matilda — except this movie was not white. I adore Matilda, but Lavender notwithstanding, Matilda’s an extremely white movie. This was a movie for little African-American girls.

The absences we do not know are there… The blank spots that we do not see… The empty spaces that don’t get filled because somehow people don’t seem to recognize those spaces are out there.

But underneath the various subplots, I saw something I had been desperate to see. I saw young women regularly saving the men in the film, women standing up for their vision of a better world. Nakia begins the film fighting to rescue enslaved women in Nigeria. Okoye serves as head of Wakanda’s all-female special forces, and acts as bodyguard for the king. And Shuri — the beloved little sister who designed never-before-seen technology and healthcare — simply slayed me. She turned Vibranium into indestructible cars — cars that could be remotely controlled from HER lab. Shuri made the Black Panther’s suit, endowing it with kinetic absorption that could turn attacks back on the attacker. She built sonic cannons and underground railways based on magnetic levitation.

Most importantly, Shuri was pretty AND she was fun. In Scooby terms, she was a fine mix of Velma and Daphne. You didn’t have to take off her glasses to know she was beautiful. No one had to TELL you she was brilliant — that brilliance dripped from almost every one of her scenes.

I’ve retired now, but if I hadn’t, I’d be trying to work this film into my year’s curriculum. Because that big hole that Black Panther filled? That hole’s been there for far too long. That hole’s the reason why I recommend the book, Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez.

Where are the girls in our transformative films and books? Where are the African-American girls? Yes, I know we are getting better about finding book choices that don’t revolve around boys and men. The Hunger Games and Bridge to Terabithia come to mind quickly, and I can find many others. But let’s not console ourselves because somehow we finally worked girls into the curriculum — almost all of the time white girls.

Here’s a sobering quote from Invisible Women: “Although a 2015 Pew Research Center report found that equal numbers of American men and women play video games, only 3.3% of the games spotlighted at press conferences during 2016’s E# (the world’s largest annual gaming expo) starred female protagonists.” Do the girls and young women playing games notice? Why would we think they would NOT notice?

Readers, as you watch television and pick up books and games in the next few months, please look for the girls. Look for the women who are not props, but fully-fleshed out characters. A favorite quote by Maya Angelou: “I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life’s a bitch. You’ve got to go out and kick ass.” As you read and watch media, do you find those girls who are kicking ass? Are those girls in your school’s curriculum?

The absences we do not know are there… The blank spots that we do not see… The empty spaces that don’t get filled because somehow people don’t seem to recognize those spaces are out there…

Until we sit in the dark and start to hurt, because we know that so many little girls deserve a chance to see themselves as heroes. As I sat in Black Panther, I did tear up. Because I wanted my girls, all my girls from all those classrooms through the years, to have the chance to see this movie — this rare, so rare, movie that got it right.

Eduhonesty: Now I’d like to see more of those movies — and not all of them in the Marvel universe. Real women can be real heroes. Real women are real heroes, across the world, every day. They deserve to see themselves. Black Panther blasted into the box office, and the world will miss Chadwick Boseman terribly. I’d like the world to also miss the silent voices of the women and girls who ought to be dominating more screens and building more levitating trains.