The Ordinary Impact

I think it's a safe bet to say that no one expected cities, restaurants, and schools to shut down; but here we are living a new temporary normal. Like many educators, I am missing my classroom and students - and frankly, missing the ability to leave my house. That being said, social distancing has made me be intentional about how I connect with my friends, my students, and my family. The challenges created by COVID-19 have birthed creativity and innovation in my approach to how I educate my students and how I educate my seven year old at home. We have read together. We have learned about animals from Wild Kratts . We have learned about people in history from The Who Was? Show . We have taken virtual field trips to Hawaii , the Smithsonian , and regions of Italy and China . We have found ways to problem solve by building with Legos ; and we have practiced addition and subtraction by playing with Bakugan . Every day we discover new ways to learn. Every day we ...

Any time I go out in public I see people (adults and kids) focused on their smart phone screen. It could be at a restaurant or a store. It’s always interesting to see people sitting directly across from each other not connecting with each other because they are focused on a screen. (I’m sure it happens at home, too.) Digital connection is amazing. The internet’s theme song should be “It’s a small world,” and creating a small world has many perks. Those perks are so engaging that many people tend to disengage with the world around them. Spending time in Colorado, I haven’t seen as much “screen time”. People hang out in restaurants and lodges, taking in the sights and connecting with the people. Last night, I  saw two people staring at their phones, but then I heard their conversation. They were comparing the pictures they had taken during the day: discussing the lighting, angles, and their experiences throughout the day. All in all, people were disconnecting from technology (...