The Future of Snow Days

January 4, 2021

Class is canceled.  Enjoy your Snow day!

A northeastern winter wonderland accompanies the Tweet – white undulating hills, glassy pine trees, large snowflakes, and two children building the second layer of a snowman.

Two hours after the post, it has received over 1,000 likes and several hundred retweets.  Dozens of comments praise the teacher’s sensitivity and humanity, providing students with a sliver of normalcy in an otherwise trying school year.  Virtual class could’ve taken place during the December blizzard, but instead, the teacher chose to let their students be children.  I appreciated the teacher’s gesture and well-deserved compliments, but it led me to much deeper thoughts, not only about the future of snow days, but also education.

For all the toil and dysfunction that online school has caused, a few teachers and institutions have managed enough success to start rethinking how instruction is delivered.  Conducting school virtually cuts overhead costs such as bus transportation, heating bills, and hiring paraprofessionals.  Disciplinary problems have diminished and teachers who no longer commute have more time for lesson planning and other paperwork, tasks that consumed their energy in previous school years.  As a result, some pundits and educators are predicting a seismic shift to virtual learning being the new normal:

• Is school as we know it nearly extinct?

• Should we embrace virtual learning as an inevitability and, even after the pandemic passes, transition as quickly as possible to online instruction?

• In 20 years, will children no longer learn inside school buildings? 

This minority (yet strong) cohort would answer Yes to each question.

New technologies normally introduce conveniences never known before, while unintentionally eliminating simple benefits that inventors and their consumers never considered.  The light bulb made evening work possible but led to less sleep and ended after dinner storytelling traditions.  Zoom and Google Classroom have helped pandemic learning, but in the process expanded the achievement gap, the effects of which might be felt for the next decade, or longer.  Virtual platforms favor children who are already on grade level and enjoy the most home support.  Those who struggle academically and/or receive sparse parental help fall further behind, because they’re missing the stability that only a live teacher and classroom experience can bring.

The teacher/student, mentor/protégé relationship is integral to education.  An instructor can lecture and demonstrate virtually, but there are aspects of their job that can’t be done well in two-dimensions. Kindergarten teachers must help five year-olds grip pencils, a Phys. Ed teacher can’t organize cooperative play from behind a computer screen, and middle school instructors need to whisper words of encouragement to volatile students who struggle – but still try – to cooperate.

Although live classroom learning is superior to virtual instruction, the latter is a worthy alternative to no instruction at all.  Therefore, the greatest advancement that this year’s online online school experience should bring is less missed class time. 

Over the past forty years, student and teacher truancy has become an epidemic of its own.  Some schools encourage students to stay at home if they have mild cold symptoms, and some parents are open to allowing their children occasional days off.  This includes lengthening holiday breaks with island getaways and ski trips.  As a result, many private school teachers feel discouraged from teaching standard lessons the week leading into breaks.  Students who attend school feel punished, and because so many students are absent, the instructor winds up reteaching the concept anyway.

The child that is absent ten times misses out on over five percent of a school year’s instruction, as do teachers who use their allotment of sick and personal days.  As academically damaging as this is, truancy’s ripple effect is much greater than the actual days missed.  For most students, learning challenging content requires consecutive days of concentrated work.  When lesson sequences are interrupted by teacher or pupil absences, the work becomes more challenging and the classroom dynamic suffers.  The teacher invariably uses additional class time to catch up struggling students and the morale of perfect attendees suffers.

Virtual school is not optimal, but it is a worthwhile substitute for students and teachers who can’t be in class due to sniffles or ski slopes.  Neither would be expected to attend school for the entire day, but video conferencing during core subject areas could and should be expected.  Children who are very sick can watch lesson recordings, and vacationers can attend online.

The most well-run elementary schools maintain Sacred learning time each day, structuring their rosters so that each child receives a minimum of two instructional hours – one for math and one for reading.  Fire drills, assemblies, field trips, etc. are scheduled outside of these times.  Wise administrators consider implementing this blueprint virtually, ensuring that sick or personal days do not yield net zero learning.

The Tweeter who canceled class was understandably praised.  I would’ve considered them more heroic had their decision led to this Tweet:

School is ending early today.  After Math & Reading is over, enjoy the snow!