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Sunday, April 19, 2020

Animal Crossing pixel art & math

Alright, it's official... I've jumped onto the Animal Crossing bandwagon & I love it! I just started playing a couple of nights ago and after having seen numerous posts on social media about all the customizations in the game, the thing that I was most excited to do upon setting up my avatar that first day was to draw my own t-shirt design.

It didn't take long, while we were drawing out my first design on that coordinate grid, for my fiancé (also a teacher) and I to start commenting on how fun it would be to have our students create some pixel art that we could dress our avatars in.

And so, I dug around my Google Drive, pulled up the pixel art template that Eric Curts shared out several years, and converted it into an "Animal Crossing Pixel Art" activity for our students. This week's assignment-- create some new t-shirt art for Ms. Haughs's avatar, practice a bit with fractions & area, and submit for the chance to be featured art on Ms. Haughs's Animal Crossing island!

BONUS-- once my students turn in their spreadsheet art/math, they'll receive the link to an online Animal Crossing Pattern Tool where they can turn their final art into a QR code that will allow me to simply scan and upload their design into my account.
https://acpatterns.com/editor

Want to do something similar with your students? The spreadsheet template is below. 
Simply "File --> Make a Copy" and edit/customize/share away!


Saturday, April 11, 2020

Sifting through the noise re: "distance teaching & learning"

As my county gets ready to embark on our fifth week of shelter-in-place, our fourth week of school at home, and our first "official" week of "distance learning & teaching" (even though some of us have been engaging with our students for four weeks already...) I notice a lot of advice, complaints, commiserating and reprimanding happening all over social media, from both teachers and parents alike. People have a lot of opinions about the role of education at this time.

Most recently I ran across a lengthy, emotional post on Twitter by a well-followed individual who shared her dismay at the lesson plans that her elementary-aged son's teacher was sending home, noting that teachers should not be sending worksheets home because her family was just to busy to teach and work from home, and, in her opinion, her son learned reading and sciences and math at home just fine on his own or from his parents... so she also let her son's teacher know that he would not be participating in school for the rest of the year.

I have also been inundated with tweets by educators about what students need at this time. Our students need routine first, our students need to connect with their teachers first, our students need to focus on family time first, our students need... and the list goes on. Messages about what we should be doing, about what we shouldn't be doing, and about how we should be doing it.

What I struggle with is not that anyone is wrong, per se. It's the one-size-fits-all messaging. A lot of these opinions about what students need right now are just that-- subjective opinions. What would be wonderful to see is what each of us learning when we asked students what they need. Or asked their families what they need.

These are, as they say, unprecedented times. We cannot presume to know what "all students" need right now, but what I can say is that, just like in our classrooms, all students likely need something different.

In addition to scheduling live face time with our students via video in the last several weeks, our teachers have also scheduled live face time & phone call opportunities for parents and caregivers. We ask them how it's going at home, what they need, what learning looks like for them right now, and what questions they have for us. Each time we meet with parents the consensus about learning at home is that there is no consensus and we're all overwhelmed.  Every household is different. Every family has different needs and wants.

Some opt out of work because they do, indeed, just need some family time right now. Others relish the suggested lesson plans and assignments coming home because they want some type of daily structure for their kids. Others are health care workers, gone all day, with no time for school work. Some have children who are already reading 2 & 3 grade levels behind and are panicked about school being out the rest of the year. Others work several jobs, don't have access to technology at home, are raising several kids under the age of 10 and spend most of their day trying to figure out how to get to school to pick up free lunches and to borrow a Chromebook.

As for our students... some are indeed missing their teachers. Some are missing friends even more. Some are enjoying the novelty of having their parents home all day. Some are missing having school as a safe place to go every day. Some students are doing just fine self-directing their learning at home because it's what they love to do. Others push back every time someone at home asks them to sit down and do a math lesson. No situation is exactly the same.

So what do our students need during sheltering-in-place and "distance learning"? Unfortunately, I don't think there's one simple answer. I think we continue to check in with families and do what we can to support each of their unique needs. I think we check our expectations of students at this time because this isn't normal for anyone. I think we try to rethink what our roles are as educators, and what learning looks like. I think we just continue to do our best, and I think we continue to figure it all out as we go.