Here I sit wondering what's going on in my classroom. Thankfully, today at least, I know the teacher that is covering my class. At least for today I know the room won't be destroyed. I am home for the week since I tested positive Sunday night and had symptoms. Spend the previous week and weekend intending to be in class. The new reality of science teaching with COVID is that you always need to be flexible and have two sets of plans in mind: remote and in person.
The planning is made more complicated with the implementation of new standards. By now most science teachers in the US are at least familiar with the idea of 3D lessons based on NGSS. Storylines are an increasingly popular topic of conference sessions and workshops. As storyline is essentially a unit plan based on a phenomena or series of related phenomena. Personally, I use the 5E instructional model often meshed with ADI (Argument Driven Inquiry) to plan out my units. Done properly this requires specific timing of lessons, student engagement, and scaffolded learning. With COVID interrupting schooling I sometimes feel like throwing the whole mess out the window.
With either myself or students absent for key aspects of the Storyline that scaffolding just does not happen. Often the phenomena are "You had to be there!" moments in my classroom. A video or picture is good but just does not have the same pop. Fighting the good fight in science education is challenging in good times and beyond frustrating now. I keep telling myself (or lying to myself) that I am doing it right and my best efforts will have to do.
What's beyond frustrating is that as a science educator I know that doing science in person, with scientific equipment, with your peers, is the best way to learn science. Science requires discussion of ideas and proposing ideas and explanations in a dynamic way. Students need engagement with the material in a deep, meaningful way which is almost impossible remotely.
Onward I trudge, through the muck of COVID education.
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