LEARN Intergalactic CEO Log: Star Date 022021
I am a galactic explorer with a home base here on Earth, and I just returned from Mars last week. Wow! So much has changed since I left last January; in fact, I find myself a little confused and disoriented now. For example, I still can go to the Depanneur or Home Depot; however, I cannot go after 20:00, and I might not be able to buy non-essentials like underwear or shoes. The good news though is that vodka is still in ample supply. I confess that after a year of abstinence, a cold Stolly is most welcome. The sad news is that everyone is wearing a mask, or most everyone, and everyone has to keep a certain 6 feet of distance. Hospitals are overflowing, and morticians are doing a booming business.
The biggest surprise is that teachers almost everywhere are now teaching online, but it is being called Emergency Remote Teaching, ERT. Actually, most of these teachers have never taught online before, nor have they any idea really of how it can be done effectively.
Luckily for them, for students and for parents, the team of intrepid educators at this organization called LEARN have come to the rescue. The people there have been teaching online now for ages, but more importantly they have been doing it in an exceptional fashion. Students are engaged and motivated, and they succeed on so many levels while developing 21st Century competencies. These LEARN teachers are models, exemplars, and just darn good people. I can attest to this because both parents and students have written to tell them so. Many teachers look to them for guidance and support, and they always deliver. I can tell you I did not find any like them on Mars, or in between, even on some of the asteroid belts which were a real pain to navigate. I have secretly observed what they are doing these days, and I am taking notes because not only are they working hard, but they seem to be having fun. Their hard work and fun show up in their interactions in their online classes, and when I lurk in the background as they have their Twitter Chats, I can see how these educators/teachers are devoted and empathetic and maybe just a little crazy (but the good sort of crazy)!
I plan on going to the dark side of the Sun soon, and I can assure you that I will tell everyone there about the LEARN Virtual Campus teachers and how they are stars in their own galaxies, that they shine bright, that they are blazing forth into a future made better by their work, and that I am honoured to have moved through their cosmic dust.
