COVID: 'I'm Teaching From My Car' - Vallejo Teacher Holds Distance Learning From Starbucks Parking Lot After Losing Internet
VALLEJO (KPIX 5) – Losing a Wi-Fi signal can be a big problem for kids trying to do remote learning, but what if you're the teacher?
An educator at Hogan Middle School in Vallejo decided he wasn't going to let that stop him, so he took the class on a road trip.
2020 has been anything but normal for P.E. teacher Jason Guiducci. He's been teaching classes remotely from his backyard during the COVID-19 pandemic. But on Tuesday, with all the power shutoffs, he found he had no Internet at his Napa home.
"I was getting one bar on my phone," said Guiducci. "Nothing was coming through or going out so I went down to the school."
But when he got to Vallejo, he found the school had no Internet service either. Guiducci headed back home but, being a wrestling coach, he wasn't willing to throw in the towel.
"So, I went to Starbucks and I pulled up, got a signal on my district laptop and away we went," said Guiducci.
"I'm teaching from my car and I am hacking Starbucks' Wi-Fi," he said on the class recording. "Love you, Starbucks!"
Guiducci said he got the idea of going to Starbucks when he suddenly got cell service as he drove past a shopping center on his way home from the school.
For the rest of the day, he supervised conditioning for his wrestling students from the cab of his pickup.
Makaio Jimenez-Dillanto and his sister Micah are both on the team and were taken by surprise.
"He was sitting in his car and talking to us about where he was and why he was there," said Micah.
"I was, like, laughing because I've never seen that before," added Makaio.
Guiducci also streamed the session live on Instagram for a reason. He wanted his students to see that, with determination, problems can be overcome, even big ones. Such as no Internet, from power failures, caused by fire danger, during a pandemic.
"This has never been done before, as far as I know," he said, laughing. "But it's a challenge that some of us are really excited to be part of. Every generation has their challenge, and this is ours."