麻豆原创

鈥淭he coronavirus hasn鈥檛 surfaced new challenges in education,鈥� says . 鈥淚t鈥檚 only clarified ones we already had.鈥�

Consider 鈥渂lended teaching,鈥� conducted with some students sitting in an actual classroom and others tuning in online.

鈥淵ou don鈥檛 just turn on the camera,鈥� says Lenger Kang, Director of 麻豆原创鈥檚  (CPET). 鈥淵ou have to consider both groups 鈥� what interactions are being missed by those at home, how to give personal attention. It鈥檚 like working two jobs.鈥�

But while blended teaching is an artifact of the pandemic, Lenger Kang believes it distills the challenge of teaching itself: keeping 鈥渁 mindset of agility so you can make the best choices about how to accomplish your goals in any learning modality and help everyone learn.鈥�

Thus 鈥渁gility鈥� is the byword in an eight-week course that Lenger Kang created when the pandemic hit and has been taken by hundreds of teachers. CPET itself partners with diverse schools that range from affluent to Title 1 鈥� including Rikers Academy, a school for incarcerated youth at New York City鈥檚 Rikers Island prison. Since last March, the Center has provided online coaching, professional development and even classroom calls in real time.

鈥淲orking remotely, we can be in Brooklyn at 9 a.m., the Bronx at 10, Queens at 11 and New Jersey at 12, and we can help modify teaching and assignment strategies for students in high- and low-tech environments, from computers to a parent鈥檚 phone,鈥� Lenger Kang says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 chaotic, but it lets us meet the needs of teachers, including many we haven鈥檛 reached in the past.鈥�

In Lenger Kang鈥檚 view, the biggest problem all teachers are grappling with, whether online, remotely or both, is the difficulty in engaging students鈥� interest, curiosity and enthusiasm.

Roberta Lenger Kang

鈥淲e鈥檙e seeing a real drop off in student engagement,鈥� she says. 鈥淲hen you take away the four walls of a classroom, it becomes a lot harder to look a student in the eye and say, 'Hey, show up and be engaged the whole time.'鈥�

To address that disconnect, the eight modules in Lenger Keng鈥檚 course cover topics such as 鈥済ood hooks,鈥� 鈥渟trategies for opening,鈥� how to keep students talking to one another, differentiating instruction for different learners, formative assessments (evaluations that genuinely show what students do and do not understand, enabling teachers to adjust their teaching as needed), and capstone projects that enable students to demonstrate and use all that they鈥檝e learned.

But teachers also need to be mindful that 鈥渇or kids, school is 90 percent about being with their friends, which is essential for identity-building and social and emotional maturing,鈥� Lenger Kang says. 鈥淲hether it鈥檚 creating game nights or having movie contests, schools need to be very strategic about building social spaces online 鈥� especially now, with cohorts of students who have never met one another in person.鈥�

More broadly, CPET has increasingly worked with schools to focus on 鈥渢he whole child.鈥� Here, too, Lenger Kang says, the challenge is not new.

鈥淲e know from past crises 鈥� natural disasters, Ebola, the school shootings at Parkland and Newtown 鈥� that students dealing with trauma and loss need huge support. And that applies to teachers, as well. Some of the best teachers I know feel like throwing in the towel not just because they鈥檙e stressed and overburdened, but because they can鈥檛 connect with kids or get feedback. We begin every interaction with, 鈥楬ow are you feeling?鈥� because that鈥檚 where people are.鈥�