Dinowitz describes the pandemic pivot to screens and the choice we now face
Dinowitz recounts teaching through a screen during COVID-19, notes that screens stayed after in-person learning returned, and frames the hearing as addressing whether students should continue facing screens all day.
And I'm pleased to be here to co-chair the hearing to examine screen time and the use of digital devices in New York City public schools.
Six and a half years ago, New York City public schools shut their doors in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
I was in a classroom then.
Like every other teacher in our system, I started teaching through a screen, almost overnight.
Teachers and students were asked to embrace learning management systems, video conferencing platforms, and educational software because the alternative was nothing.
We had no preparation, no warning, no choice.
But today, we have a choice.
And as students and teachers went back into the classroom, the screens stayed.
The pivot to screens was necessary when we were locked away from each other.
With the return to in-person learning, did students need to continue facing a screen all day instead of each other?