It is far too early to determine if virtual school is working; or perhaps even more importantly, to understand the ramifications of our actions. Every day, I watch a 5 and 7 year old learn through a screen in ways that I did not do until I was earning my Master’s degree. Though we have had our struggles with exploring the internet without permission and simply walking away from “class”; the kids have done fairly well. Of course, it is still only the second week of school.
We have worked hard to schedule recess pods with select kids so that they have some social interaction in the day (and we get a much need “kid-sitter” break), but this has also required conversations about the people they don’t see.
I have always believed that the most valuable lessons we can learn are from those who are different than ourselves. While we have connected our homes, we have also isolated them from the institutions that call us out of our familiarity, to beliefs, traditions and experiences that keep us humble.
The most valuable lessons we can learn are from those who are different than ourselves.
This is the perspective many people have been writing about; along with the fear that we are losing entire populations of children because privilege is not evenly distributed.
What is missing from our conversations is an understanding that children not only learn differently, they need to know the dominant learning style if they are to successfully navigate their education with more independence than they have ever had before. As an educator for over 20 years, I have often been shocked when I introduce personality profiles and learning styles to high school and university students, and they tell me this is the first time they have learned this.
Where one who is clearly an auditory learner thrives in an online learning environment, another struggles because they are a visual learner who is only seeing 9 faces on a screen at a time.
If we expect our children to succeed in this brave new world of online and facilitated learning, my hope is that we have broader conversations about how people learn differently.