With two polar vortices down and one more to go, anyone with children in school are looking at the calendar and cursing their snow days. Yet some schools are beginning to leverage snow days to their benefit by setting at home assignments that are to be completed during the snow days.
This is an absolutely brilliant concept on a number of levels. First, it sets expectations that not all adversities are going to keep us down. Second, it prepares students for college and the post-education world where this is common. Getting students familiar with working from home now will help their chances later when this expectation is put on them. Third, it gives schools greater flexibility in how lesson plans can work.
At the same time there is essentially no cost to this plan even though there are savings. There is no cost because either the school has provided technology or the students already have it. This can’t be done in every school district yet but progress comes in waves. Savings comes from not having to extend the school year beyond the planned calendar. Everyone wins.
Lessons like this one show how the simplest of concepts can push the boundaries of what was considered possible. Look for those simple improvements because they are often the most powerful.