One of the reasons we decided to go outside this academic year was so that we could safely be together during this pandemic. We found that connecting over Discord and Zoom was insufficient to meeting our needs as individuals and as a community, but we knew that coming together indoors would put the health of members of our community at risk, thereby potentially contributing to the growth of the pandemic. We believe that by “leaving the schoolhouse behind” we will not only create safer conditions for our community but we will be able to be together in more meaningful ways than young people who are confined to virtual learning, hybrid learning, or learning in socially distant conventional school classrooms. And we believe that we will be able to meet in-person more often than our conventional school counterparts because we won’t have to repeatedly shut down due to outbreaks that will likely be common in school settings.
But going outdoors sometimes means that we cannot meet in-person when we might have been able to meet indoors. When there is lightning, freezing rain, or thunderstorms in the forecast, for example. And we knew that it was only a matter of time before we had to call a remote day. That day happened to be our second day of the 2020-2021 academic year.
We are okay with meeting outdoors in the heat, cold, rain, and snow, but not during thunderstorms
When I woke up Wednesday morning I checked the weather and saw that thunderstorms were forecasted for the entire day. So as per the extreme weather protocol we developed this summer, I cancelled meeting in-person for the day. I then updated the cancellation on the family resources section of the website, the internal family Facebook group, sent emails to the families, and each Facilitator sent out texts telling them the same. And then instead of getting to my cell’s meet up location at 9 a.m. to ease into the day, I logged onto Zoom at 9:45 a.m. to wait for the Learners to join.
Going remote during the past year was an underwhelming experience. While I enjoyed the opportunity to connect with Learners while most of us were religiously social distancing for the wellbeing of all, what was lost was the spontaneous conversations and games that often come from being in the same physical space as others. As remote Facilitators we focused on making ourselves available for Learners online so that we could try to recreate that magic. But it was hard. We found that lingering after community meetings and providing offerings was the best way to make such opportunities viable.
I invited the Abrome Learners to three offerings on our first remote day: crossword puzzles and sudoku, straight-up writing time, and a 7-minute workout. These were all offerings that I participated in or led last year after we went remote, often in collaboration with other Agile Learning Centers. One Learner stuck around to solve a crossword puzzle with me and Facilitator Lauren after the morning meeting, no one showed up for straight-up writing time, and three Learners and a Facilitator dropped in for the 7-minute workout. We had fun being together during the offerings, but it was nothing like our first day.
Abrome Learners are not forced to turn on their cameras during remote meetings
Facilitator Jennifer and I decided to join our cells together for the afternoon meeting so that the Learners who recently enrolled could meet the Learners from the other cell. While not all Learners made the afternoon roundup (an expectation when we are meeting in-person, but not when we are meeting remotely), it was nice to see so many of us together in one virtual room. We recapped our day, shared some updates, and then adjourned the meeting and the first remote day of the year. The Facilitators then lingered for about twenty minutes to chat with the Learners who decided to stick around after the meeting. At 4:00 p.m. we closed the Zoom room so that the Facilitators could review how our first remote day went. All in all it was pretty good for a thunderstorm rainout. But I can’t wait to be back together again for Day 3.