ELSEWHERE CLASSROOM

   Kids have taken to digital learning
 as easily as fish to water. 

How long has it been since the corona virus brought humankind to its knees, making our lockdown state seem eternal?

Not much of an agony for retired folks; we're used to just staying put. But younger generations? Pity them!

This shuttering has dashed marketplace people's dreams of flying high. Many are unemployed. Families are struggling, money-wise. Economies are in tatters. Seems like a bad dream.

Online learning has become the forced normal for virtually all students. Such a shame that for kids among the poor, the prospect of schooling has altogether stopped, making the yawning gap between rich and poor even wider.

What unusual times! We can only believe that soon, God—by His amazing grace—will wiggle us out of this pandemic's deadly tentacles.

I've been pleasantly surprised that today, I'm into online teaching (courtesy of a dear colleague), the only mode left for schools to continue educating their students.

Do I like it? I love teaching, but it feels lonely in my virtual classroom. I miss the interaction, the impassioned debates, the excitement in the air during workshops, the wide-opened eyes which seem to ask for more, my students' eureka moments.

I miss doing live lectures, my own aha! moments as I learn from from their learnings, and being their go-to person when they struggle either with their lessons or their lives.

I used to complain that today's students no longer read books but rely mostly on the internet to complete their tasks. Books used to be a student's best friend and bed-mate. No longer.

My worst nightmare is magnified ten-fold as I see the culture of reading going puff, more so today.

I've always believed that reading legitimate authors' well researched and carefully-written works—as opposed to snippets of information gleaned here and there in the world wide web—inspire imagination, creativity, independent thinking, innovation, and yes, even wisdom, as students try to make sense of the harsher world they'd face after school.

But adjust we must, teachers and students alike, even in our shuttered state. I've gotten used to meeting and conversing with them in our virtual classroom. 

What about younger kids' education in these sheltering days?

We know that mastering reading, writing and math is just part of the whole equation; and that getting a grip on their EQ (emotional quotient) preps them to be prim and proper, best of all, considerate, kind and people-savvy individuals. That's what schooling equips them with—the firmness, understanding and grace to be around bullies and nice classmates alike.  

Nowadays, young kids get their “formal” learning online.

For our eight year-old granddaughter, school today means sitting in front of the computer and accessing her lessons online. She's taken to it like fish to water. I catch her from time to time acting out or voicing a stage character—prompted by an online theatre program. Cool, huh.

Children are resilient. They easily adapt. But we wonder how this forced normal will impact their lives down the line. Will sheltering cause them to be crumbly wafers? But who's to say which way of teaching is better?

It's tough being a parent nowadays. Especially in the US, parenting has turned doubly tedious as mother or father takes up the slack from their kids' teachers . This calls for creativity, inspiration and patience.

Parents are still their children's best teachers, stepping up their game when they need to.

Proverbs 22:6 "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it."

Prayer: Lord God, we pray for parents and their children. This current pandemic has upended their lives. Parents struggle with making a living and teaching their kids. Give them wisdom to manage their time wisely so that they can spend productive and enjoyable learning times with their children. May teachers cope well with teaching online and students make the most of their learning online. In Jesus' name, amen.