Initial Observations

 The employers in the next few years will see a new body of applicants for jobs; these applicants, I am now convinced, will be radically different from the previous pool.  The standard has now been raised as on-line learning catapults us into the future. 

These applicants will be different for the better.  

They will be more mature. My eyebrows raised on many occasions during my one-on-one meetings last week with your children. Let me share with you some quotes because I know that some teenagers don't share many things with their parents. 

"I'm home working, and I get to see my parents at work because they have to work from home, too. I had no idea they worked so hard!  I need to share in more chores to help them out." 

"I'm having to spend more time with my brother. I realize that I enjoy spending time with him." 

"I decided last summer that my choices were to either complain and feel really mad about what was happening or I could make the best of it.  I'm making the best of it." 

"I really like school." 

"Thank you for doing this; I really appreciate what people are doing for me. I know it's hard for everyone." 

They will be more tech-savvy and simply able to learn new technologies more swiftly. They will not be intimidated when they see complicated code or involved instructions.  I have three examples of this.  

The first was when your children saw my "home page" where I had the material completely loaded up for the entire trimester. Each day had lots of material -- about 3 regular school days' worth -- and the entirety was detailed, but organized.  Not one student batted an eye.  As I went through the organization so they would not be intimidated, they all gave me the clear indication that, "We got this," and that I was over-protective.  They were not intimidated by the complexity of my site.  Previous years' students were intimidated by far less on my intro page!  (I encourage you parents to look at the canvas home page and see what you think -- let yourself be impressed by your children!)

The second was when I asked them to set up a blog.  I verbally gave them the name of the kind of blog engine that they could use.  I was ready and willing to walk them through the process, but the next thing I knew was that they were submitting their assignments with perfectly structured blogs and entries. They had navigated a set of many keystrokes simply using what they know about how tech works.  To compare, in past years I've had to spend two full class periods walking students through setting up a blog. Then for each additional blog entry, I'd go through the process again for at least 60% of the students who had forgotten.  This year?  5-10 minutes with no meaningful instruction from me and 100% of the blogs were completed and submitted via URL entry into canvas.  

The third was when I asked them to register for our class through EdPuzzle using our passcode.  I simply posted the link, and these kids were off and running watching videos and entering material with no questions, no issues. 

They will be more aware of how to communicate well through technology.  Students are replying quickly to emails and anything posted on line.  They reply with full sentences, good punctuation, and use of words like, "please" and "thank you."  They are kind with the printed word -- an especially important skill that shows awareness that sometimes emails can be misunderstood.  Students are appropriate in Zoom.  They don't speak out of turn. They are patient with tech fails and simply try again.  They enter quietly, show themselves on the screen with awareness of how they look and how people see them. It seems clear now that many meetings, interviews, and jobs will require these skills; your sons and daughters are becoming acutely skilled and comfortable with technology.  It's tough to measure this; it's not something that appears on an ACT or SAT or test.  But these skills will help them get and keep jobs. 

They will have problem-solving skills that others before them have not.  "I don't have a compass; what do I use instead?" or "My internet is glitchy; no one is around to help me...what do I do to make it work?" or "I better be sure I have a writing implement handy; I can't get one from a classmate," or "How can I make a pdf of my written homework?"  They are developing independence.  They are developing resilience. They are developing creativity. These also are skills that are not easily measured on tests but will make a monumental difference in their lives. 

Some of you will want to know what specific math material we have been covering.  So far, I've been evaluating skills lost and gained both in algebra and in geometry.  We've reviewed properties of special quadrilaterals; we've covered factoring quadratics, the quadratic formula, simplifying radicals, solving simultaneous equations by elimination and by substitution. Friday we will start similarity.  I'll write to you about that next week. 

Here we are in day three in the classroom after one-on-one meetings and 6 hours together and I'm impressed with what I see.  Please praise your sons and daughters.  Let them know how impressive they are to this teacher!

Feel free to comment on this post or send me an email.  If there's specific information you'd like to read about in a Monday Letter, then let me know. 

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