Episode #67: Teaching During a Pandemic, Part One.
On today’s episode of Book Friends Forever, Alvina and Grace are joined by two friends of Alvina’s who teach at a prep school in Asheville, NC. They have joined the show to talk about what teaching during the pandemic has been like for them. The interview went a bit long, so it will be divided into two parts. Welcome to Part One!
Before diving into what’s been going on for everyone this week, the BFF’s wanted to announce that in a couple weeks, they will be having a book discussion on the book, Stamped, by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi.
They encourage you to read the book. If you have any questions that you would like Grace and Alvina to answer, please send them to Bookfriendsforever.com! The book will then be discussed two weeks from now.
First up, we welcome friends! Heather teaches pre-K in Asheville. Fernando also works at the same school only he teaches Spanish to the high school students. They’re feeling relieved lately that school is now over. It’s been really stressful. They also mention that recent protests in Asheville have not gone well. Police were destroying the water and medical supplies for protestors.
Grace All things considered, she has been doing well and staying buys as usual. She has been trying to think of ways to help but it adds so much more to her plate. She has been featuring all black authors on her other podcast, Kids Ask Authors. It has not been a problem to find black authors to interview, but it’s been quite a challenge to find kid giving book reviews with black authors. It is a reminder of what black authors are up against. Grace is realizing she’ll have to take big steps if she wants to level out this inequity and they’re all time consuming things. However, all things that she feel strongly about.
Alvina mentions the grassroots movement in the publishing world..…a day of solidarity. Publishing staff were encouraged to put an “OUT OF OFFICE” on their email they could go protest or if they wanted to. It was interesting to see what transpired.
Heather and Fernando talk about how their school responded to the shutdown at the beginning of the pandemic and what some of the initial troubles were. They live in a mountainous area, so connectivity was one of the largest problems. The school made sure everyone had access to technology. One of the biggest challenges they faced while scrambling to teach remotely, was choosing the right software. There were so many options to choose from it was overwhelming for both the teachers and the students as they were all having to learn different ones and at a pretty fast pace. They primarily used Google Hangouts to have meetings/chats and Heather used House Party for the pre-k littles. It was especially hard for pre-K because there had to be constant adult supervision with all of the videos and activities. It was really hard to work around parent schedules. The parents often watched all the lessons at once in the morning so then the kids had nothing to do the rest of the day. Normally at school, the lessons and activities are broken up over the course of the day by recess, story times, etc…
What are we grateful for?
Grace is grateful for the Sesame Street Town Hall show that really explained racism to kids. She thought it was perfect for her 8-year-old daughter. Alvina is grateful for the summer weather and her back patio that now has Wifi. She can work out there and zoom catch-up with family and friends.
2-minute Book Review with Alison Morris!
Alison reviews, “Incredible Jobs You’ve (Probably) Never Heard Of” by Natalie Labarre.
It’s a tough time right now for children and adults to feel secure about the future.
I think the point of this book is to get kids thinking, questioning, and imagining futures for themselves and it really helps facilitates all of those things.
Thank you Alison!
Alison Morris is a nationally recognized children's book buyer with an infectious enthusiasm for reading and 20 years' experience matching books to readers. As the Senior Director of Title Selection for nonprofit First Book, she oversees the curation of children’s and young adult books on the First Book Marketplace, hand-selecting a diverse range of titles that speak to and address the needs of kids in underserved communities, with a keen eye to inclusion, authenticity, and kid-appeal. She previously served as Senior Editor at Scholastic Book Clubs, Children's Book Buyer for Wellesley Booksmith and The Dartmouth Bookstore, and was the founding blogger of the ShelfTalker children’s book blog for Publishers Weekly. She'll be joining us from her home near Washington, DC where she spends LOTS of time discussing books with her husband, illustrator and graphic novelist Gareth Hinds.
