My Remote Learning Diary

A chronicle of one day of non-traditional instruction

“Ahh, nuts. Our school district is on NTI again this week,” I lamented to a friend on Monday, upon receiving an automated text notification informing me of the decisions.

“NTI?”

“Non-traditional instruction.”

“What’s that, like, the teachers sit backwards in their chairs and teach you ‘actually, Shakespeare was the original rapper?”

“I wish.”

NTI, of course, refers to remote schooling, a practice many of us had hoped to leave in the 2020-21 school year, but one that has yet again become an unfortunate necessity as the Omicron variant blazes through America and many school districts—my own included—have found themselves without sufficient staff to safely and effectively operate in-person. It’s become a rallying point for some pundits and politicians, who assert the context-free half-truth that in-person instruction is better for children while omitting the part about actually needing teachers, aides, administrative staff, cafeteria workers, custodial workers, bus drivers and crossing guards…