A Proactive Approach to Teaching & Learning in an Unprecedented Time

How many times have you heard the term “unprecedented” in the past month? It feels like every new day adds an unexpected layer to the COVID-19 conversation. Managing uncertainty in a crisis is uncomfortable. (Goodness, that’s a lot of “uns.”) 

A collective disruption of our country, our economy, and our schools is new territory for everyone. While making every effort to ensure the safety of my personal family and the Open Up Resources family, I remain deeply committed to ensuring that our family of educators is supported right now, in the months to come, and into the next school year. As educators, it’s in our DNA to nimbly solve challenges with finite resources and this moment is no different.

Right Now

Open Up Resources is continuing to address your immediate needs. Our curriculum-specific resources blog is being updated in real time, and our recent town halls and webinars are leading to community-driven virtual PLCs providing the just-in-time support educators need to continue teaching amidst these new challenges. As new resources and tools become available, we’ll continue to update the blog and provide additional virtual learning opportunities. 

What’s Next

Educators need access to relevant professional learning and meaningful connection to their peer community. It’s one of the things that makes the Open Up Resources family so special—the vibrant dynamic of our national community of practitioners. It’s why we launched HIVE  in 2019 and why this conference was magical. 

It’s not safe now, and we can’t guarantee it will be safe at the end of June, to come together in person. However, we cannot let physical distance take away the resources, connection, and learning opportunities the HIVE committee and our partners have been building for you. 

The response to this year’s HIVE 2020 conference has been overwhelming. Many pathways are nearly sold out. And now, more than ever, we need a way to come together and engage in a collective conversation around reimagining education. In that spirit, HIVE 2020 is going completely virtual.

We were built for this.

Our nonprofit has been 100% virtual since Day 1. As educators ourselves, we bring that “think on your feet with the tools you have” mentality to work each day and we’ve had several years to get really good at driving towards our mission of equity and impact while working from our homes around the country (in yoga pants).

The Open Up Resources HIVE team and our talented partners are dedicated to bringing you the best parts of HIVE in a virtual environment. And with the infinity of the internet, we can expand the size of HIVE and make tickets even more cost-effective to open our doors wider while still ensuring the intimacy and connection you would expect. I’ve asked Brooke Powers, Director of Professional Learning at Open Up Resources, to outline what this means in more detail later this week. 

In the same ways you are currently navigating ways to bring your best selves to your students, Open Up will continue to show up and support you. Here’s how we’ll do this at HIVE 2020: 

• Math and ELA curricula will all have curriculum-specific / level-specific pathways. We are building schedules for all 9 original pathways now. 
• Pathways will now account for the new world of distance learning in order to prepare educators for the uncertainties of the upcoming school year.
• Expect virtual coffee chats, thought-provoking keynotes and interactive workshops.
• The sessions will span 5 days, rather than 2.5, to give you additional time with everything you’re juggling. 
• All sessions will be recorded and available to registrants after the conference, enabling you to go back and refresh your knowledge as often as you like as the new school year approaches.
• For those who have purchased a HIVE 2020 ticket, we will return the difference of the original ticket and the lower-priced virtual ticket. Anyone who requests a complete refund before May 1 will receive one—but we sincerely hope you will still plan to join us. 

There will be much more provided by the Open Up Resources team in the days to come. We have updated the HIVE 2020 page on our website and our registration pages now reflect new virtual tickets.

If we can answer any questions, do not hesitate to contact your regional district manager or post a question in our communities or on twitter. We’re committed to bringing you a meaningful and memorable professional learning event virtually until we can once again safely gather in person. 

In health and with deep gratitude to all you fearless educators,
Jess

Jessica Sliwerski
CEO, Open Up Resources