Before you proceed: I am posting my opinion about addressing Covid-19 in the classroom (eClassrooms), and if you don’t agree, I gladly welcome a professional dialogue. We are all coping in different ways and in no means will pass judgement on ways you plan to address your students in your corner of the world. We all know our individual students best. Humanimprint@hotmail.com

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Every now and then, the same conversation pops up in class about the “end of the world.” After all, in the social studies classroom, discussing hypothetical situations and solutions is common. Usually, kids throw out your standard, “ATOMIC BOMB!”, “CHEMICAL WARFARE,” or “GLOBAL WARMING.” And then they ask me how they think it will end, and I tell them frankly, “Disease.” And they accept this one as a possibility, but it’s not their immediate “favorite.” They wonder why I think this one, and I remind them that we live 20 minutes from one of the world’s largest airports. It takes one plane.

I’m getting goosebumps and put my head in my hands thinking about this conversation just 3 months ago in my 3rd period classroom.

I’m a bit regretful in the sense that I feel I’ve given them a doomsday scenario and they’ve gone home thinking this could be the big one. Part of this is rational, part of this is not. I know I can’t control what will happen, all that I can do is control how I react to a given situation (good words from my principal before we left our institute Monday, March 16th, 2020).

And what is it about disaster porn?

There is something that draws us to this one.  If you’ve hopped on Hulu or Netflix recently you will see the disaster movies on the “trending” section. There is something about pondering a global disaster and imagining uncertainty that makes us pause for a moment, go, “Oh, that would SUCK,” but then sigh and realize that we don’t have anything to worry about because it’s just a movie. I find students eager to learn about WWI, WWII, and Vietnam because they are favorites to learn about. Is it the blood? Guns? Atomic bombs? Scant bodies of the Holocaust? As I get older, and probably because I am now a parent, I grow increasingly sensitive to this. I’m not sure if I should. Certainly, I found these interesting as a kid. And Schindler’s List is hands down one of the best movies I’ve ever seen – but once again…why? The infinite sadness it made me feel? I don’t want to bring that to my students, but is it my responsibility? I don’t think there is an easy answer.

And have you ever had the student that says things like…”I kind of want to see what it would be like to experience…”? And I stop them right there. It’s not their fault. We are curious creatures, and we do our best to make sense of it all for growing minds.  I remind them that while Netflix and Hulu feed our curiosities, we NEVER want to experience the reality. Disaster is a constant reality for many around the world, but we are so far removed to understand the weight of it.

The last few days have been crazy.

I was quickly put on a small task-force to assemble an e-Learning crash-course plan for our school of 2,500. Many of us utilize Schoology and are comfortable with Google tools on our iPads, but we certainly did not have a protocol in place. Sprint stepped up and rushed out hotspots for every free and reduced kid that didn’t have access. It’s temporarily given me renewed hope in big business. Our kids were rushed out of school on Friday, March 13th, with instructions to take everything home and to make sure they knew their logins before they left. They had 3-4 announcements throughout the day to remind them how to log their eLearning attendance and to make sure they had an iPad charger. Kids walked out of school with boxes of unfinished art projects, a 50 lb. book bag, and sporting equipment. There was an uneasy, exciting, anxious, and nervous energy in the air as they emptied the halls-it was surreal. Because I was pulled for meetings the whole day, I feel sad that I didn’t get to say goodbye to my students in person.

I know many of us are not in a situation to leverage 1:1 classrooms or able to assure connectivity with every student. If you are in a no-tech situation or are preparing paper packets for students, I will be the first to assure you, being 1:1 is a blessing and a curse. And while all of my colleagues are scrambling to throw together lessons to prevent idle hands over the next few weeks, in the end, it may not even be scored because these days might not be considered “instructional days.” It might come down to teaching in the summer, even though I’ve already gone through the eLearning motions during this crisis. But I still want to do my part. We don’t know what to expect. I don’t grow food, I don’t insert IVs, and I’m certainly not in politics. But the world is quickly reminding itself how important educators and their support staff are. I feel a responsibility to hold some consistency for my students. If capable, I promote it. Teaching is what we are trained to do.

Many things will change after this. We will find many holes within our system…our world system. Politics, health, education, social securities, corporate responsibilities, preparedness for crisis. Things will change.

Regardless if you are in the “Chicken Little” camp or “this is just another flu” camp, people are going to get sick, and people will die.

There are tangible repercussions for this one, and in a short amount of time. It is scary.

I teach a class that can tie every topic in my course description to this outbreak, Human Geography. By nature, my first instinct was to make a Covid-19 lesson plan. And I will be the first to admit, that I eagerly used the John’s Hopkin’s Covid Map since mid January. Every day the kids walked in seeing the projected map. I even pinned it to the top of my LMS. We were watching the spatial distribution of phenomenon play out on maps and contemplating ways to solve the crisis. Was this wrong? Will these teachable moments haunt me later? I hope not. I don’t think so. Ugh, I hope not.

I want desperately to talk to my students about the Epidemiologic Transition, breaks in supply chains, the failures of just-in-time delivery, global health and sanitation, access to medications, dependency ratios, the Demographic Transition Model, impacts to population pyramids, why the damn Hopkin’s map isn’t a choropleth, population densities, self-sufficiency with food, restricted migration, border policies……my head is exploding. But It’s not just me. I’ve stumbled into other teacher groups that are brainstorming all of the ways they can seize this teachable moment; everything from AP Statistics to Health and Foods. It’s what we do, teachers are creative and we are always looking for ways to make our content relevant.

I think it is all appropriate, but maybe not right now. I’m not sure if it is my place. I think I might revisit Covid-19 when it’s ended, after the scars heal. I always resented those Hollywood 9/11 movies put out after the disaster, and no personal contact of mine was even impacted.

In the wake of a rapid school closing, teens tasked with caring for siblings and sick family members, — having students research, read, contemplate, and apply human geography to Covid-19 might not be my best play, at this moment.

I have one unit left in our school year, and it is about urbanization. I plan to eTeach and model what I’ve heard many say before; “stick to the curriculum.”

I read a good article this morning about talking to kids about Covid from the Child Mind Institute.  In it, they promote discussing the topic with kids to alleviate their uncertainties. Though I think the article is directed more-so towards parents, one quote that stuck out is: “When you’re feeling most anxious or panicked, that isn’t the time to talk to your kids about what’s happening with the coronavirus.” I can certainly tell you that right now, my anxiety is higher than normal and I need to conscientiously pause and self-evaluate whether posting the newest data, death rates, or Covid-19 map is my best move.

The article encouraged developmentally appropriate conversations. And I know that since high school students are my audience, their tolerance for Covid-19 information is more mature than a middle-schooler, but I can’t be certain. The article reminded us to be reassuring, to remind kids that we can proactively do things to stay safe, stick to a routine, and ask if they are doing OK. And you know what? I can do that!

So…my plan is this:

• I decided that Friday was the last day that I would post about Covid-19. My students read the exponential growth article posted by the Washington Post, and I will move forward knowing that I will “miss” a teachable moment. The reality is, many of our kids are going to be living it, and yes, they are already thinking about Human Geography connections without me. I planted the seed, now let it grow.
• Students are open to bringing up the topic on my LMS discussion board, sending me or the group information, or ask questions in an email, in hopes that I can professionally help flatten their anxiety curve. 🙂
• I hope to keep professional dialogue about Covid-19 open with my PLT and PLC because teachers are part of my daily support system and we bounce ideas. I can’t do this without my fellow educators. I still want to debate the validity of sources with you and understand why the rates of change are different between countries.
• For any “friends” on Facebook, you might see my Chicken Little come out but don’t hesitate to give me that Batman slapping Robin meme every now and then. My mind wanders too far into the future sometimes.

Finally, I respect anyone’s decision to conduct their classrooms as they know best. We are professionals and we are all trying to make sense of this one step at a time. There is no right answer. Creating this post was my way of helping me process.

Thank you.

Humanimprint@hotmail.com