If you’re like me, it’s becoming clear that we’re not ready for a “new normal.” Working online, schooling online, visiting with friends and family online, shopping online, consuming content online and spending 12+ hours looking at a screen every day. For some of us, this is not so overwhelming because it’s been a way of life for several years. But for most of us, and especially teachers working in traditional schools, this is new–and it’s not normal. Schooling students as we are right now, in the middle of a crisis, is a temporary hardship. But the outcome has great promise of providing a much better future for students and teachers.
I’m an educator with more progressive views on teaching and learning, and I am both excited and hopeful for the inevitable changes in the organization of our school system. We now have to consider the environment as a key influence in education. Teachers will need training to provide high quality, relevant instruction for children and adolescents who will now be active participants in how they learn. Good teachers will become better and teachers who cannot adapt will find another career.
Even for good teachers the road to “new normal” will be a struggle. Several studies show that only seven percent of any message is conveyed through words, 38% of communication is conveyed through voice, and 58% of communication is expressed through nonverbal action such as facial cues, posture and gestures. Teaching online presents a massive challenge for how to provide quality education for all students going forward. Public education as we once knew it is now forever changed.