Reimagining Remote Learning

Logan Square Neighborhood Association Statement

August 14, 2020

As Logan Square Neighborhood Association youth leaders and parent organizers, we would like to share our expertise in both classroom and community. We have spent years--some of us 20+ years--in schools and classrooms through the Parent Mentor Program and community schools. We collectively talk to hundreds of parents, students, teachers on a regular basis. We are living in COVID-19 hotspot communities. And we are parents and students wrestling with all of this, too. 

We stand for full and equitable school funding, nothing less. If we value young people, we need to organize for progressive revenue (Fair Tax, TIF surplus for schools, and much more) and we need to defund the police.

Here is how we are reimagining remote learning:

Wellness First 

  • Recognize that every student has been affected by trauma in some kind of way.

  • We need teachers to act as a union of 20,000+ social workers right now. Give teachers intensive social work professional development.

  • Focus the first weeks of school solely on relationship-building, well-being checks, and giving students a chance to share and reflect. (Bonus: These relationship-building weeks will give us time to make sure EVERYONE has high speed internet and computers before launching into virtual academics.)

  • Be intentional about setting up 1-1s with students. Students feel isolated during the pandemic and they state that it would have helped if they were reached out to via email/call/video call for a check in.

  • Give the youth space for fun. They state that one of the things they will miss are the places where they could talk to one another without teachers present. Breakout groups, or providing them with an open virtual space they can share with just each other would help them maintain social connections.

  • Recognize some youth do not have a safe physical space to learn and need a space to go to.

  • Teacher wellness is important, too - they need spaces to process. There have not been real conversations about race, police brutality and Black Lives Matter. Teachers need to talk to each other. 


Be Radically Relational - Make Connections In Real Life - Get Beyond the Screen

  • Encourage teachers to meet families in real life, as long as it is safe -- (1) outdoors, (2) with masks, (3) with 6+ feet distance. This could be in a front yard, a park, or on school grounds. We don’t want to meet our teachers only through a screen.

  • Set up small tents or outdoor classrooms to make space for one-on-one family sessions.

  • Teachers need to get beyond the screen to get to know what’s happening in the community where they are teaching. Things are not the same as they were in March.

Quality, NOT Quantity for Live Instruction

  • Parents and high school students are working and/or busy taking care of several kids. We aren’t available to support our children for “several hours of live instruction each and every day.” No more than 1 or 1.5 hours of live instruction total per day for elementary.

  • We want small groups so we can participate actively. Whole-class live instruction is hard to make meaningful.

  • Aim for 30 minute live sessions -- do you know how much parents are struggling to keep our kids focused?

  • Take one day off per week from live virtual instruction so teachers have time for outdoor home visits, one-on-one check in’s, and other “radically relational” and wellness work.

  • Make sure Google Classroom can do breakout groups.

Rally Around Our Most Vulnerable Students

  • We need an all-out reading campaign. Once you can read well, you can do so much more exciting independent learning. We are worried about pre-readers getting stuck as pre-readers for too long. 

  • One-on-one support for students with IEPs.

  • Follow special education law and bilingual education law.

  • Make sure therapists of all types have what they need to get started right away.

Creative and Culturally-Responsive Curriculum

  • Discuss COVID-19, white supremacy, the uprisings, and how we can take care of each other.

  • Student-centered, project based, and cross curricular curriculum.

  • Get student input in curriculum. 

  • No standardized tests.

  • Give teachers time to get creative and learn from each other. We cannot just transfer what happened in the school to what happens on remote learning.

  • Quality versus quantity of work. For example, a class could focus on 1-2 projects or novels per semester and go really deep. 

  • Integrate LOTS of physical movement into live sessions.

  • Go analog - not everything on the screen, please.

  • Have a scheduled time for high schools and elementary schools. High school youth are helping their younger siblings. Have the high school youth log on in the afternoon while younger grades are in the morning would help in making sure they have that flexibility.

  • Have physical activities that they can do at home. It helps physically learning about something. Providing them with tools, tactile/physical kits will assist to keep them engaged in learning without having to be in these long sessions (1hour virtual and then they have a learning kit to complete). 

 
 

Parents and Older Siblings are Everything Right Now

  • Universal basic income!

  • Recognize that many students are working, helping their siblings, or have technology barriers, and they should not be penalized for absences. Be flexible with attendance and coursework that can be done without being live. 

  • Every classroom deserves a Parent Mentor. Parent Mentors are able to help other parents at home. Every school can have a Parent Mentor team so a family can seek help, like an educational doula. 

  • Check in calls with parents at least twice a month, in their language.

  • We want tech training and tech support.

  • Paths for parents to become paraprofessionals and teachers.

Technology

  • High speed reliable internet for all.

  • One computer per student.