The working title for my upcoming presentation is "The future ain't what it used to be." This is a shameless rip-off of a famous Yogi Berra quote but it seems appropriate.
I assume I will need to provide many in attendance some basic information about the fabled Yankee catcher and his "Yogisms." I have often had to supply the references to my jokes, from old Steve Martin routines to Three Stooges bits. My standard remark to students when we were studying Shakespeare was that they needed to know the famous lines and characters so they could get the jokes shared by people who DO know the lines and characters.
But let's get back to planning that presentation.
High school teachers are not so different from their students in one key way: they all dislike sudden or unplanned changes. In fact, ANY change is a little threatening. Routines may be a bit boring but they are also a foundation to return to no matter what is going on around us.
What could be worse that not having any idea about what school might look like next week, or tomorrow? We all count on the great majority of those in our classes to be in attendance, for instance, but how do we cope with extraordinary numbers of students needing make up work? And missing teachers requires ill-prepared substitutes... and everyone knows that even the finest subs can't replicate the experience of the teacher/adviser.
My advice to subs over the years, for media classes, came down to naming the editor(s) and suggesting that the editors can be counted on to organize the day's activities. That is great advice until the editors are stuck at home for a week with the virus. Then Plan B must go into effect... almost always some sort of video. We may have some great videos on hand but let's face it: watching videos in a classroom is a poor replacement for each student watching at home in comfort. At least we know everyone was at least in the room while the video played, I suppose.
One of the "futures" that many media advisers have in mind involves some sort of deadline calendar and steady work flow. Teachers love being able to post "to do" lists and planning charts. Right now these are changing daily and that leaves teachers and students uneasy. Our top students really do appreciate their academic planners.
So where are we to find comfort and routine? THAT question is what I need to think about prior to Saturday.
One idea I am kicking around is encouraging the advisers I will meet with to consider narrowing the coverage focus for their students to the campus or school community. My theory is that as professional news coverage and politics and pop culture have become more and more national in scope, we all find ourselves fixated on events and personalities that have little to do with us.
It's sort of like how many readers/viewers note that the TV news or the front page of the local paper does not resemble their own neighborhoods or streets or schools. There is a clear disconnect between what makes the news and what goes on around us.
Most of our neighbors' political views or TV viewing habits or personal challenges are not obvious. Most of us wave at our neighbors automatically and most days there will be no fire in the immediate vicinity. Of course, when there is a fire, we will certainly pay attention. That's the nature of news.
A second general idea is that there will be a future, that the pandemic will become endemic, and that science and government and business will combine to return society to a safer, less-tormented state. Young people are naturally idealistic and often charmingly naïve. Many students are quite excited about the future, about college, about new freedoms and new adventures. They are incredibly resilient.
Teachers need to embrace some of that idealism and optimism while finding ways to channel youthful energy into productive activities.
For media advisers, this means rededicating themselves and their students to covering their own campuses in more depth and with more sensitivity.
I will continue this thread tomorrow, including some examples
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