When we learnt about remote learning in NYC Public schools, I wondered how this was going to unfold. Shifting pedagogical platforms is a significant amount of work for any educator and involves a learning curve for many to understand the tensions of synchronous and asynchronous teaching. It is a different world. For the children it is a unique opportunity to learn to be tech savvy and outsmart their parents but on the other hand they are craving for social interaction, cooped up in NYC apartments and all bets are off with screen time limits. For parents, this is a whole other complexity as now the kitchen is never closed, there is no escape to work and you are also in the same homeschooling rut for hours and hours and hours until you get to your adult happy hour on Zoom. Is this really going to be our new normal? Is this pandemic presenting an opportunity to be more efficient or the social distancing practices will really remove us from society and we are moving in a virtual reality show? What then will happen to the real purpose of education?
A home with no kids under 18 simply means I don’t have to homeschool my children during this time. Instead, I can help my colleagues to help kids create art while learning from home.
Before kids left the school, we were able to create small kits containing a cardboard looms and a small bag packed with fabric and yarn scraps. I assured my colleague that we can create some nature inspired weaving during distance learning. I too grabbed a random bag and today I was “homeschooling” —weaving with textile scraps, bush and tree branches, grasses, birch bark bits.
Jolanda Dranchak
Amita Rodman
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