This is a Review.
Shane is finally getting a little education back into his life. With the schools now closed for another month, we’re not sure how much of this we’ll have in the near future.
But today, Shane participated in an AP class – online. The College Board (responsible for things like AP tests and SATs) has decided to allow kids taking AP classes to take the AP exams for those classes. In other words, they can still get college credit.
Only a few weeks ago, we had no idea if the AP and IB kids would get credit, even though they worked all year long with that goal in mind.
This year, Shane is taking AP Government. He has loved both of his teachers, and he’s learning a lot. Sometimes he even talks about it at home, which is when I learn something, too.
Today’s class was through the College Board’s (new?) You Tube channel. Shane was doing a jigsaw puzzle and missed the first few minutes of class, but we (I) quickly got him signed on when we (I) realized what time it was.
There were nearly 8,000 other AP Government students “in” his class.
“Even if you went to Virginia Tech,” I told him, “you wouldn’t have this many students in your class.”
While he was sitting at the computer, and the teacher gave an overview of our voting system – the topic for today – I noticed that Shane wasn’t looking at the screen. The teacher was using visual aids and Shane was twirling a stick instead of looking at the screen. At one point, he was completely backwards in his chair.
I noticed – but tried so stay quiet. When he was literally not facing the screen, though, I got suddenly frustrated.
“What are you doing?” I shrieked.
Shane stopped twirling his stick and looked at me. “I’m listening,” he said.
And I remembered: he really was listening. In kindergarten, Shane was the kid who would be lying on his face, not looking at the teacher, and yelling out the correct response to every question. Part of it was his vision processing disorder. Another part of it was just … Shane.
I corrected myself pretty quickly. “Sorry, Shane,” I said. “I forgot you can listen without looking like you’re listening.”
“This is a review of stuff we’ve already learned anyway,” he said.
“Oh good!” I said. “So this is actually going to help you study for the exam!”
“Well I have my notes,” he said. “But yeah I guess.”
The mere fact that Shane knew the material – even a little – excited me. Since the College Board has decided to only test on Units 1 through 3 in this particular class, I was afraid they might be teaching him new material. Fortunately for everyone, they’re just reviewing.
The reviews will be helpful. If nothing else, they will give Shane a chance to regain a tiny sense of normalcy in tumultuous times.
Once a week, for 45 minutes, he can study the U.S. government. And that is something. It may not be wildly entertaining or even helpful. But it brings with it the sense that, on the other side of all this abnormal life, we will continue.