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DL 255

Welcome To The Bubble

Published: July 18, 2020 • 📧 Newsletter

Welcome to Digitally Literate, issue 255. Your go-to source for insightful content on education, technology, and the digital landscape.

🔖 Key Takeaways

Hi all, welcome to issue 255 of Digitally Literate. Each week in this newsletter, I synthesize the news of the week in education, technology, and literacy.

I had several friends reach out behind the scenes this week with the same question. "There is so much information and anxiety about opening classrooms in a month. Could you cut through the mess and identify wicked problems that we should address?"

Dear colleagues—this issue is for you.

📺 Watch

One of my recent interests focused on "The Bubble." For those of you that may not know, the NBA is creating a social bubble at the Walt Disney World Resort to finish up the 2019-2020 season.

It's interesting to see the steps being taken to protect lives, but also the social media content coming out from all. One of my favorites is the VLOG from Sixers rookie Matisse Thybulle.

I'm wondering what our institutions will learn from this experiment, and what can we use to protect lives in our classrooms.

📚 Read

There is nothing Americans can do to save public education right now. We had a window about three months ago. We saw this coming. Teachers all saw this coming. There was no federal help, no national leadership.

We got to visit bars and amusement parks this summer, though. So there's that.

This COVID-19 Event Risk Assessment Planning Tool provides interactive context to assess the risk that one or more individuals infected with COVID-19 are present in an event of various sizes.

We are being presented with the false choice between our own safety and quality education. We are being made to feel crazy for being scared to do our jobs, when in reality, it is logical to be scared.

You have the power to shut it down.

Student conduct codes and pledges promise good COVID-19 habits.

Whether we call this a "community compact," "social contract" or "behavioral compact," it's time for educators to start thinking about the words you'll use to address this with your students. Educators are the prime (most important) connection with our students. Your life (and the lives of others) may depend on it.

What will you say?

This 62-page report from the Harvard School of Public Health's "Healthy Buildings" Program outlines recommendations for five aspects of in-person schooling:

As we think about opening up the new academic year, we should be focusing on the students that need to attend F2F, as opposed to blanket policies. To that end, this piece on CERPs (COVID-19 exposure risk profiles) is a mandatory read.

CERPs hinge on preexisting forms of social differentiation such as socioeconomic status, as individuals with more economic resources at their disposal can better insulate themselves from exposure risk.

  1. Always, always speak respectfully
  2. Go private
  3. Test the waters first
  4. Agree (find common ground)
  5. Try the "truth sandwich"
  6. Use Socratic method
  7. Be very careful with loved ones
  8. Realize some people won't change
  9. If it gets bad, stop
  10. Every little bit helps

🔨 Do

Learned two great things from Richard Byrne about Canva. I use Canva 2 to 3 times per day, so this rocks.

Canva started rolling out real-time collaboration options similar to what you might experience with Google Docs or Drawings. Canva has an education version that is completely free for teachers and students. Head to Canva for Education to sign up.

🤔 Consider

Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime.

John Lewis

Lewis's words arrive as teachers face impossible choices and schools prepare for unprecedented challenges. The struggle for safe, equitable education didn't start this summer and won't end when vaccines arrive. Staying hopeful means staying in the fight.

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