Continuous teaching and learning reached a new status in the pandemic. Teaching and learning now are a constant stream. Synchronous and asynchronous online delivery means that a child may be engaged in school instruction without interruption – 24/7, five days a week, 52 weeks a year. Barring an electrical outage, schooling need not stop. That is, schooling need not stop unless we stop it and we really should stop the constant stream of instruction now and again.
Online delivery platforms allow us to synchronously deliver instruction in real time to students. We can simulate in-person classrooms on screen. We can easily create unit and lesson designs that allow a child at-home to be taught as if she were in the classroom. That means that every day we schedule in-school teaching, all children regardless of location can be engaged in schooling. The same platform allows us to asynchronously prepare instruction for engagement outside regular school hours. A child who is not able to attend during the day can attend to schooling after hours. A child who needs more instruction can receive it without contradicting her usual day time schooling. A child who wants more can receive it. Our growth in delivery systems during the pandemic means we can make schooling constant and continuous across the calendar and clock.
Asynchronous streaming does not require a teacher to teach in real time. Lessons prepared and recorded can be streamed at any time. Teachers can teach on a regular clock and children can learn on a virtual clock. This moves the needle of instructional design miles from where it sat pre-pandemic.
The possibility of an unlimited stream of instruction raises an interesting question. Because we can, should we? Because we can provide a constant stream of instruction for every child, should we expect a child to engage in a constant stream of learning? Because we can operate a school 5, 6, or 7 days each week, should we expect children to attend on that schedule? Because we can mesh synchronous and asynchronous teaching into a constant delivery stream, should we believe that such a constancy is best for children?
Nope, is the right answer.
We need to take a breath. Children need to take a breath. We need to make these breaths planned and purposeful.
A breath is a conscious break from constant engagement in teaching and learning. Why take a breath? These are a few of the cogent reasons.
- The whole child needs time for schooling and time away from schooling. Consider all the interests and needs a growing child displays. Time is the vehicle for these interests and needs to be addressed. If schooling consumes a child’s time, then the whole child cannot grow properly.
- Learning requires time for conscious intellectual digestion and skill exploration. That time is a recess from the constant spigot of instruction and the opportunity for conscious and unconscious thinking about and mulling over what has been learned. Short term memory requires 7-10 repetitions of a fact or a concept before it sticks. Long-term memory requires 17-20 reps. Many of these repetitions do not take place in class time, but in a child’s reflective thinking. Children don’t stop thinking about and trying out the things they learn. They need time away from teaching to learn what they have been taught.
- Learning fatigue is a reality. Being consciously engaged in on-screen learning is hard work. Focusing on a screen or screens for a length of time, although it is not physical movement, is tiring because of its rigidity and lack of movement. Fatigued children do not learn efficiently.
- Attending school is a child’s conscious decision in remote education. And, not attending also is a conscious decision. With a click, a child can turn off the screen and be absent. Work with a child to make time off the right time off.
Stop the teaching and breathe. It is a healthy thing to do.
A breath taking looks like this.
Create a school day without any new instruction. Stop the teaching and catch up. Why is that when a line of cars travels in a caravan, the last car drives at a higher speed than the lead car? Every hesitation in the speed of each car in the caravan is exaggerated for the last car in line. The gaps grow and more speed is required to catch up. Consider a constant stream of instruction as a caravan. We need to stop teaching and attend to the last children in the learning line. Is each of these children confident enough in their learning to continue the journey forward? It takes time to catch up. Catching up is highly individualized and it takes time to measure what each individual requires to get caught up. Catching up requires the right teacher questions to establish how a child will catch up. Catching up takes time to unlearn and learn correctly. Catching up results in a confident and solid learning for all children. Effective teaching works best when all children are ready to learn and why wouldn’t we take a breath to ensure their readiness?
A time of the school day with no new instruction. Take a break every day from the constant streaming. It could be the proverbial one-hour lunch break. Shut off the screens and enjoy a time away for eating. In school, lunch is a finite number of minutes pinched by the time it takes to get to the cafeteria, get a lunch, and get back to class. For elementary children, lunch is a compromise with noontime recess. These pinches are not at play for at-home children, so eliminate them also for in-school children. Lunch and free time! What an idea.
It could be a real recess for standing up, walking away, and moving. Tell at-home children to go outdoors and take a safe walk. Take in-school children for a walk around the school campus or several laps of the school hallways. Get the blood stirring. This is not a PE class, but relaxing recreation, a social walk, a time away.
Stop the teaching – for a moment. Breathe. Allow the whole child to breathe. Assure that all children are caught up and ready for their next learning. Now, everyone, breathe deeply. And, again.