I do some of my best thinking while out running. The blood flows, the music is playing in my ears, but there are no other distractions (other than not being hit by a swerving car along the road, thus the bone conduction earphones that have great sound but still allow me to hear ambient noise). So it was that this morning, after spending a fair amount of time in the “distant learning planet” that we now live on, I suited up and took off for a run. I began to think about how things are different now and in what ways. The current “talking points” in K-12 education for the regular ed folks like me all involve “personalized learning” this is simply a pivot from “individualized instruction” or any of the all too frequent monikers that administration places on “staff development” activities year in and year out, always looking for some way to increase their admin resume, thus the name changes and constant “talking points”, rarely, if ever, with a real partnership with the stakeholders (aka, the grunts actually carrying out their dictum without having legit input).

The bottom line is this: all learning and all teaching is personalized. Good teaching and better learning happens when there is a connection between the intellectual “chef” creating the meal and the intellectual “diner” consuming what has been created. This connection takes on many forms, simply tuning in to reactions, listening to responses, (of the lack of same), eye contact, smiles, frowns, jokes, and yes, even sarcasm. Being responsible for running a classroom is much more difficult that juggling axes, rarely does even the most accomplished juggler try to keep 20-30 axes in the air at the same time, all the while moving about, evaluating events, and when needed retrenching or pivoting to new or old points. The day to day connections are invaluable and I know that sometimes it seems as if there is zero personalized attention, I can guarantee you, as I finish year 44, there is always something personal going on and it’s not just the squeaky wheel getting the grease.

What I realized just this morning is that the difficulty many of us are having on both sides (chef and diner) is how different the current milieu is making this connection different. I can only speak from my own experience these past 8 weeks. I am spending hours answering individual emails and having solo Zoom sessions, this is far different in terms of delivery than being able to do it in a classroom and honestly, not nearly as effective. During a group gathering, while I do the same individual answering, that answer goes out to the group as well, the benefit: not having to do the same thing 15 times in a day, also, being able to elicit responses and replies from others at the same time that enrich and enhance what is going on and frequently an offhanded comment will open my eyes and ears to how things are being taken, sometimes far differently that my thoughts were originally. “Well why don’t you just treat the zoom meetings the same way” you say…here’s why…Even when everyone is logged in that doesn’t mean they’re “there” or “present” in the moment, frequently for lots of reasons, the kids don’t have their video active and even if they do, there is no way when a full class is logged on, to read each face and get immediate reaction.

Yes, this current situation has more one on one goings on that the classroom might (again I’m only speaking as a regular ed teacher, my wife in SPED has this whole individual thing as part of her normal routine), but is it really personal? I almost equate it to the oxymoron that is the phrase “Social Media” if anything hiding behind a phone, table, twitter, Instagram, Facebook is more “anti social” behavior. One can only hope that we in the business, as well as our audience, has already developed a deep appreciation for what education truly means.