You treasure the picture of your two year old wearing his mask. The youngest member of the family clearly wants his mom and older brother to know that even at the age of two, he is also capable and wants to be included in keeping everyone safe!
Tonight your head is full of thoughts and prayers for all your teacher friends and student’s families as the elementary and middle school children go back 100% and remote tomorrow! You know that the day will be full of experiences and challenges, whether the children in your school and in your class are at home or in school. You know that you will have 26 little faces all in different stages emotionally, socially, and academically. Some of those cute little faces will be on Zoom lessons tomorrow.
You are nervous.
You have gone over the day in your mind 100 times already. From mask challenges, to wiping things down, to balancing Zoom with a full class, worrying about your own son or your health, to wanting to hug your sweet littles who will miss their families while they are in class! You are, however, confident in your school and the team has done to prepare, Everyone has worked so hard! You are going to remember to have both patience and grace and your are gong to be pleading with your eyes for everyone to please Mask Up!! If the community want kids in school then adults need to prove it as a community!
Finding a New Normal Requires Lots of Innovation and Adaptation
If your children started school this week then they may be some of the students across the nation who are actually attending in person classes. And even if they are in real classrooms instead of remote learning, it is very likely that the room where the go to school has seen some major changes. In addition to the requirement of having to wear masks and socially distance, the look of the classroom itself may have changed.
For instance, in schools that have the resources, there may be clear prefabricated office walls that have been installed to create more barriers for the children and the staff as well. And while you have likely thought of warehouse partitions in one light in the past, today those same kinds of warehouse partitioning systems are being used to retro fit classrooms to be safer places. In fact, the same technology that has helped create inplant offices in the past is now being used for a wide range of purposes. From the inplant office patricians that are used to create break rooms for factory workers to new inplant office dividers, there are many ways that these temporary office materials can be used in settings outside of the warehouse.
Permanent and relocatable are the two main types of modular construction. Used to make spaces more adaptable and more privates, some of the same inplant office techniques are now being used in schools, hospital waiting rooms, and other locations as the nation looks for what they hope to be short term solutions to the difficulties surrounding the Covid 19 pandemic. And while not all building processes are known for their speed and efficiency, the truth is that in these challenging times many people are looking for fast solutions. Modular methods, by definition, allow for speedier construction times while still maintaining quality. One Chinese modular construction company, for instance, recently built building 57 stories in height in just 19 days. And while the expense of these modular solutions can be significant, it is important to note that when it comes to the safety of workers there should not be a price tag that causes limitations.
Fortunately, in addition to the speed and ease of installation, modular constructions also reduce energy consumption during the building process by as much as 67% and reduces energy costs later on for occupants. No one wants to continue living in the forced isolation that so many of us feel these days, but finding temporary solutions for keeping teachers, students, and workers safe may be the very best way to win this battle against the pandemic. Is your school safe and healthy?
