I had almost given up hoping for a snow day, after Bloomberg announced yesterday that he would not be canceling school unless weather conditions worsened. I resigned myself to going into school, shuffling through the sludge and arriving at school tired, soggy and cold.
But this morning I awoke to find it was still snowing and checked the Department of Education website, almost as an afterthought. At first, in my sleepy state, I thought I was mistaken, but sure enough, the words were there: All New York City public schools are closed today!
I am having a great day relaxing and catching up on work, but this second snow day of the year has brought two questions to the forefront of my mind:
1. How will I stay on track to finish the material when we keep missing days?
Certainly, it has been lovely not having school, but I do have a curriculum to get through before my students sit for the Regents in June. I want them to be as prepared as possible and, although 2 days missed does not seem like much, it could make a big difference in how much material I get through. It interrupts the flow of the unit and students forget what they have learned this past week. Additional time will need to be spent reminding them.
2. What do snow days make students think about Climate Change?
While of course I recognize that global temperatures can be rising steadily and we can still experience a cold winter, students think on a much smaller time scale. To many of them, it may seem like winters are getting colder because this winter seems colder than last winter. After all, they did not have two snow days last year. This is something that is important to discuss with them.
On that note, I'm off to enjoy the day some more, as I hope all other New York City teachers are doing.
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