Many thoughts ran through my mind when we found out this summer that our kids would be starting school virtually. How would we break the news to our super-social kindergartener who was looking forward to her very first year of "real" school? How would we keep our extra-wiggly second-grader focused with in-home distractions all around? What did we need to make, do, or purchase to ensure their virtual school experience was successful? While it didn't feel like we had control over much of the situation, we had control over one thing in particular - the space in which they would learn.
We decided to turn our family room into a makeshift classroom. We moved a lot of things out and a lot of things in. We quickly set about finding tiny work desks, bookshelves, storage drawers, and even wall decor to make it feel like the "real deal."
I took to Facebook and saw many other families doing exactly what we were doing. Local community groups started threads of photos and comments of people sharing how they were making space for virtual learning wherever their kids were going to engage in school this year. Some had whole rooms to work with, some had small corners of a larger office, some had a section of a table, some were collaborating with daycare providers and grandparents to figure it all out.
Making space. It's something that each and every one of us who has any role or part in education has had to do in the midst of the pandemic. Making space, both physically and mentally, is exactly what school leaders have been doing these past several months. We saw school and district staff make space in their summer schedules to take on the planning of a whole new school system. We've seen teachers making space in their own homes to teach when classrooms aren't an option. We see leaders making space in their minds to learn the ins and outs of parent apps, Google Classroom, and document sharing programs in spite of everything else that must be on their minds right now. And most importantly, we see you making space for hope that this will all work out and that things will get easier for everyone soon.
From the perspective of a mom (and two kids) on a virtual learning path this fall, we see you showing up each day and hitting it out of the park. And trust me, it makes all the difference to a couple of kiddos who haven't been sure what to expect or what to do each day for the past six months.
Thank you for making time, making plans, making changes, and making space. You're rockin' it!