Leveraging Learning

 In real school, teachers have ways of getting to know kids. It's a thing we try to do intentionally, but, like everything else is subjective and sometimes problematic.  In virtual school - "fake school" as my kids have taken to calling it - all the regular methods are gone. We don't know what all of our kids look like, or how they sound, or what styles they wear or even their handwriting. I miss these things and joke all the time with kids "If I ran into you in the grocery store, we would not recognize each other!" And yet, a year into this fake school, I notice that there are different things I know about kids, which makes me question some of the old ways. It's easy to say to a kid - "gee, I love those shoes!" - and it isn't without merit. The kid feels noticed and I begin to think of my next shoe purchase. But there is a superficial quality to these exchanges, that now that we can no longer rely upon, I miss less and less. In place of th