12 thoughts on “C-19 Chat Post – September 22 2020”
I apologize that this is long. My FB friends have seen it on my wall, but I think it is a very important reminder. My younger daughter shared it from Scary Mama. Her boys both have IEPs and both are doing better than they have ever done using remote. I credit this in large part of course to the Sutton School System. And I credit it in equal part to the positive approach the boys parents took from the start. And this is not to say there are not still meltdowns – parent and child, but then those exist no matter the setting. I’ll post below.
Take a child.
Now remove them from their school campus,
hardworking and compassionate teachers,
and joy-inducing friends.
Now have them stay home and socially distanced from most others for six months.
Have them do 2.5 months of spontaneous online instruction via platforms they’ve never used.
Throw in approximately three months of a pandemic plagued summer.
Have them return to learning, either
masked and in-person
or unmasked and home,
and tell them this is unfortunately their “new normal.”
Now give them a test.
Give them a plethora of educational assessments while their heads are still spinning from the fact that their lives have been turned upside down.
For those e-learning from home, have them test
over zoom,
at their makeshift work area in their house,
while sitting in their bedroom or at their dining room table,
while having internet connectivity issues,
while their younger sibling tries to distract them,
while their older sibling sits near them also testing,
as the dog barks,
the doorbell rings,
and they attempt to “keep it together.”
Now take that score and remember that truly, it means nothing.
Something, I guess,
but in the scheme of things,
nothing.
It’s not the be-all-end-all.
It’s one piece of the puzzle.
It’s just a tool.
Your child is not a test score.
Your child is surely not their test score DURING A PANDEMIC.
With school starting for so very many across the country, and beginning of the year assessments being taken, graded, and those grades being sent home over the next few weeks, this is just a little reminder to parents that what forever matters more than any test score your child receives — now or in the future — is your human(s) feeling
loved,
safe,
provided for,
and backed.
The learning will follow, but the love should lead.
Your child’s test score is NO indication of how much you love them, how hard they are working, or how hard you have been working alongside and with them.
But that end-of-the-day smile on your kid’s face,
the one that they can still muster up amidst a topsy-turvy world,
that IS a very good indication that your kiddo and you are doing just fine.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson addresses the nation this evening. Apparently, he has a special message for a U.S. citizen named Joshua Cohen who is attempting to enter the U.K. to visit his daughter. Downing Street has revealed that the message contains a warning: “You are known to Home Office authorities and border control at Heathrow. Immigration agents have photographs of you. You will be turned back upon landing, before you can spread the plague in Great Britain.”
;(
Thanks for your posts on education, Vicki.
U.S. intensity of epidemic is diminishing a bit, that is, test positivity is decreasing, but also hospitalizations and deaths. Good signs, especially now that we’re into the first part of autumn.
In Europe, it’s a different story. Many nations there who had control over the virus lost it, and some are in deep trouble. Spain’s new case and death rates now exceed the U.S. and the gap is widening. So much so that the case fatality rate in Spain is at 50% of what it was in March and April. That’s really concerning. In the U.S. the case fatality rate has dropped considerably, and continued to decrease during the sunbelt wave when it was around 20% of what it was in March and Aprii.
Could we be headed in the very same direction though once we get to late fall/winter, Joshua? Could lockdowns return?
Empty shelves are back in our grocery stores. Good luck finding any kind of cleaning products especially. No “Swiffer” items for example. No paper towels, scouring powder, etc.
Plenty of toilet paper though…for now.
Inflation on groceries is also way up. I have a spreadsheet with prices of a lot of the items I typically purchase. They’re up 6.5% since March!
I noticed that also.
Philip, I think the U.S. is learning from the sunbelt wave. I believe that many are taking precautions. Mask-wearing is up. Awareness has improved. This doesn’t mean the U.S. won’t have a second wave. But, I remain cautiously optimistic given the latest data. I’m not saying the virus is under control. It is not. But, we’re managing it better.
Now, if Trump could only keep his mouth shut and not come out with irresponsible statements like “Covid-19 affects virtually nobody. It’s an amazing thing.” we’d be even better off. Throughout the pandemic Trump’s messaging has been horrific. From “it’ll magically disappear,” to “reopen by Easter, pack the pews in churches,” to “LIBERATE MICHIGAN,” to “it’ll be behind us by Memorial Day,” to “virus is weakening,” to sunbelt wave is “embers,” to “we’ll have a vaccine for everybody by October,” … It’s criminally negligent material. Yet, Trump is the Teflon President. Imagine if Reagan had said “AIDS affects virtually nobody,” early in the epidemic. That statement would have been more `true’ than Trump’s, as it took many years for the nation to reach 200,000 cumulative deaths. And yet Reagan would have been vilified, and rightly so. It would have caused a national upheaval. Well, because we’ve normalized Trump’s bad behavior, we accept the nonsense and sometimes truly vile stuff that comes out of his mouth. As I’ve said before, Trump’s imprint on American politics, polity, and our society as a whole, is what I fear most. Normalizing corruption, indecency, bombast, and incompetence is what’s done in banana republics, not a proud republic like the U.S.
C-19 for 9-23 ready.
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Your no-hype southeastern New England weather blog!
I apologize that this is long. My FB friends have seen it on my wall, but I think it is a very important reminder. My younger daughter shared it from Scary Mama. Her boys both have IEPs and both are doing better than they have ever done using remote. I credit this in large part of course to the Sutton School System. And I credit it in equal part to the positive approach the boys parents took from the start. And this is not to say there are not still meltdowns – parent and child, but then those exist no matter the setting. I’ll post below.
Take a child.
Now remove them from their school campus,
hardworking and compassionate teachers,
and joy-inducing friends.
Now have them stay home and socially distanced from most others for six months.
Have them do 2.5 months of spontaneous online instruction via platforms they’ve never used.
Throw in approximately three months of a pandemic plagued summer.
Have them return to learning, either
masked and in-person
or unmasked and home,
and tell them this is unfortunately their “new normal.”
Now give them a test.
Give them a plethora of educational assessments while their heads are still spinning from the fact that their lives have been turned upside down.
For those e-learning from home, have them test
over zoom,
at their makeshift work area in their house,
while sitting in their bedroom or at their dining room table,
while having internet connectivity issues,
while their younger sibling tries to distract them,
while their older sibling sits near them also testing,
as the dog barks,
the doorbell rings,
and they attempt to “keep it together.”
Now take that score and remember that truly, it means nothing.
Something, I guess,
but in the scheme of things,
nothing.
It’s not the be-all-end-all.
It’s one piece of the puzzle.
It’s just a tool.
Your child is not a test score.
Your child is surely not their test score DURING A PANDEMIC.
With school starting for so very many across the country, and beginning of the year assessments being taken, graded, and those grades being sent home over the next few weeks, this is just a little reminder to parents that what forever matters more than any test score your child receives — now or in the future — is your human(s) feeling
loved,
safe,
provided for,
and backed.
The learning will follow, but the love should lead.
Your child’s test score is NO indication of how much you love them, how hard they are working, or how hard you have been working alongside and with them.
But that end-of-the-day smile on your kid’s face,
the one that they can still muster up amidst a topsy-turvy world,
that IS a very good indication that your kiddo and you are doing just fine.
The UK is adding back many restrictions:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-54250696
Prime Minister Boris Johnson addresses the nation this evening. Apparently, he has a special message for a U.S. citizen named Joshua Cohen who is attempting to enter the U.K. to visit his daughter. Downing Street has revealed that the message contains a warning: “You are known to Home Office authorities and border control at Heathrow. Immigration agents have photographs of you. You will be turned back upon landing, before you can spread the plague in Great Britain.”
;(
Thanks for your posts on education, Vicki.
U.S. intensity of epidemic is diminishing a bit, that is, test positivity is decreasing, but also hospitalizations and deaths. Good signs, especially now that we’re into the first part of autumn.
In Europe, it’s a different story. Many nations there who had control over the virus lost it, and some are in deep trouble. Spain’s new case and death rates now exceed the U.S. and the gap is widening. So much so that the case fatality rate in Spain is at 50% of what it was in March and April. That’s really concerning. In the U.S. the case fatality rate has dropped considerably, and continued to decrease during the sunbelt wave when it was around 20% of what it was in March and Aprii.
Could we be headed in the very same direction though once we get to late fall/winter, Joshua? Could lockdowns return?
Empty shelves are back in our grocery stores. Good luck finding any kind of cleaning products especially. No “Swiffer” items for example. No paper towels, scouring powder, etc.
Plenty of toilet paper though…for now.
Inflation on groceries is also way up. I have a spreadsheet with prices of a lot of the items I typically purchase. They’re up 6.5% since March!
I noticed that also.
Philip, I think the U.S. is learning from the sunbelt wave. I believe that many are taking precautions. Mask-wearing is up. Awareness has improved. This doesn’t mean the U.S. won’t have a second wave. But, I remain cautiously optimistic given the latest data. I’m not saying the virus is under control. It is not. But, we’re managing it better.
Now, if Trump could only keep his mouth shut and not come out with irresponsible statements like “Covid-19 affects virtually nobody. It’s an amazing thing.” we’d be even better off. Throughout the pandemic Trump’s messaging has been horrific. From “it’ll magically disappear,” to “reopen by Easter, pack the pews in churches,” to “LIBERATE MICHIGAN,” to “it’ll be behind us by Memorial Day,” to “virus is weakening,” to sunbelt wave is “embers,” to “we’ll have a vaccine for everybody by October,” … It’s criminally negligent material. Yet, Trump is the Teflon President. Imagine if Reagan had said “AIDS affects virtually nobody,” early in the epidemic. That statement would have been more `true’ than Trump’s, as it took many years for the nation to reach 200,000 cumulative deaths. And yet Reagan would have been vilified, and rightly so. It would have caused a national upheaval. Well, because we’ve normalized Trump’s bad behavior, we accept the nonsense and sometimes truly vile stuff that comes out of his mouth. As I’ve said before, Trump’s imprint on American politics, polity, and our society as a whole, is what I fear most. Normalizing corruption, indecency, bombast, and incompetence is what’s done in banana republics, not a proud republic like the U.S.
C-19 for 9-23 ready.