Outdoor lessons

Wow. We have teaching virtually since October 16, 2020. Latvia, therefore, has the longest time teaching virtually of any country in the European Union. Six months, and we are still virtual.

Well, we are mostly virtual. Beginning this week, students are allowed to return to campus for a 2 hour block once a week for outdoor lessons. In groups with a maximum of 10. So I won’t be teaching math. My smallest class is 16. Instead, we will have students grouped by advisory sections, and they will be able to interact with one another. We are going to focus on doing some fun activities and letting students get reacquainted with coming on campus.

There are a number of restrictions that students and teachers will have to adhere to:

• Students will be totally outdoors.
• They will remain with their group.
• All students and teachers will wear masks.
• There will be distancing of 2m between students and teachers.
• Groups can only interact with another group if they are in the same class section.
• No transportation provided by the school
• No food/drinks provided. Students need to bring their own.

Since Grade 8 is split among the different times available, my advisory will not be able to interact with other students. Just me and my 8 students (if they all show up). I am going to encourage my students to bring a book, to share experiences during the last 6 months, maybe write a journal of the times in lockdown. Once we see numbers, we can then determine more specific plans.

This is going to be strange….

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