Snow Day?

As I am sitting at home doing work on this snowy day, I am beginning to wonder with all the technology that is around are snow days obsolete?  With all the technology that is around I think that they can become a thing of the past.  Flipped classrooms, blended learning, learning management systems, and so much more to keep students and teachers in touch and learning on days such as this.

Let me state this before all of you start to put me on blast for the last paragraph.  There are still many access issues for students at home.  Just because you have the technology, doesn’t necessarily mean that you can use it on days like this.  Some students still don’t have access to those online materials and would be at a great disadvantage to those that do.  However, learning beyond the classroom can still take place on days like this.  If students are wanting to look ahead, get help on past assignments, get caught up from being gone.  They can still have access to their teachers.

I know that it is a shift in teacher thinking.  They want the snow day sometimes just as much as the kids do.  But as we try to move to a more blended approach to learning, we need to meet the students where they are.  It becomes a 24/7, anytime/anywhere learning situation.  Not only can this be used for snow days, but for students that must stay home because of sickness, doctors releases, or family reasons.

Some snow day, just have a twitter chat, a Google Hangout for virtual office hours, or a discussion online.  It might surprise you when more students show that they want to learn that way.