Compiled by the Education Team
In these unprecedented times, it seems important to continue to amplify the voices of those being impacted by the seismic shift in education. In Part 2 of this two-part series, you will hear from teachers and principals (and a bonus student!) as they react, respond and manage education from home. This primary source content was solicited by the Education Team and has only been edited for flow where needed.
From the Teacher's Perspective:
Teacher at a Montessori school in Sweden
“As an elementary school teacher in Sweden, where our schools have remained open (preschool thru grade 9), it is a challenging time. When the high schools and universities closed and switched over to digital learning, we thought it would be just a matter of days until all schools closed. But that never happened. Since everyone who could was told to work from home, we initially had more than half of our students at home for a week. We will never know if they were actually sick or if they stayed at home as a preventive measure. After the first week, we have had 80‒90% of the students in school, while other families have chosen to keep their children home. But we have been had to provide the students at home with schoolwork while simultaneously continuing with our regular classroom work. I have emailed with students, had them write stories and send them to me,assigned card and dice games, and have told them to read and write book reports. Fortunately, we already use educational apps at school in both math and Swedish (letter forming, grammar, spelling, reading comprehension and more), so those at home can work on the apps and I can monitor their progress and give feedback.
The challenge and frustration in school is how to maintain physical distance and teach at the same time. Young children are physical, and many of our teaching materials are laborative and used commonly. Our routines have only been slightly changed. The parents may not enter the school. The students wash hands more often and are served their food in the cafeteria line instead of serving themselves. All physical education is outside. All interaction between other classes and schools has been cancelled. But we are still over 50 children in my class and at least six adults during the day, so it is impossible to maintain distance properly. It is a frustrating and demanding time!” Written April 14
Teacher at an international school, Saudi Arabia
“I am a middle school teacher at an international school in Saudi Arabia. We started teaching online classes early, with almost no warning, but luckily we already had some experience with virtual school as we occasionally close for dust storms and heavy rains. Our students and teachers are used to posting and reading online assignments, but now we need to work on entire units online, instead of just individual lessons. As a math teacher, I find the hardest part is assessing learning. It’s so easy to look up the answer to a math problem online! My students tell me they enjoy being at home and working there, but I worry about the weaker students and not being there in person to support them.” Written March 26
From the Principal's Perspective:
Arryn Schneider: Principal ‒ elementary school, Michigan, USA
“On March 13, we were notified that schools would be closed in Michigan for three weeks. We were given 24 hours to plan, design and assemble three weeks of reading, writing and math review lessons. Teachers then had the primary responsibility to make contacts with all of their students. We asked them to make sure families were safe and healthy, received notification on food resources and were able to care for their students. Teachers created Facebook Classroom Groups, had Zoom meetings, created videos of them reading a favorite story, and made hundreds of phone calls.
Mrs. Schneider helping with lunch pickup during quarantine. Photo credit: Arryn Schneider
This changed everything. I wasn’t concerned about the buildings being closed; I was worried about my teachers and my students. A foundational piece of learning at school is based on the relationships we form with one another. Questions like ‘What will this look like?’, ‘How will we check in and support our students and one another?’, ‘How will I make sure everyone is healthy ‒ physically, emotionally and mentally?’ As I began to process all of these pieces, I realized that my primary focus needed to be based on student, family and staff well-being. Academic learning will need to take a backseat for a while. We know students will be missing key concepts next year, but we will meet them where they are and build from there.
Teachers are some of the most committed, selfless people that I know. I knew they would be worried about the loss of academic learning. I knew they’d worry about their ‘kids.’ I knew some of them would become ill or have family members who would become ill. I knew many of them had their own children that they would be trying to comfort, teach, and parent while also trying to be the best teacher for their students and learning totally different teaching methods.
We anticipated returning to school on April 14. Our governor then announced that all schools would remain closed for the remainder of the year. This came as a crushing blow. We knew this was the right decision to keep people safe, but it meant no more high fives as we entered the building, providing real-time face-to-face instruction, sitting with a student to discuss a story s/he was writing, and no end-of-the-year celebrations which provide the opportunity to say good-bye. For high school students, it also meant no sports competitions, no theater performances and no graduation ceremonies. There was a lot of emotion that came with these announcements.
We were also informed that teaching would continue! We were thrilled with that decision, but unsure of what it would look like. We had two weeks to develop a district-wide remote learning plan. How could we best move forward with instruction, yet not overwhelm our teachers and families? How does classroom instruction translate to home school instruction? How will parents balance their responsibilities as they, too, are trying to work from home and now will also need to support their children’s learning?
Our district chose to move forward with all online instruction of new material. We were transparent that we could not recreate the classroom environment, but would focus on the key learning standards. We would focus on social/emotional and academic learning needs, providing more feedback rather than grading and on engagement rather than attendance.
In order to make this happen, we had to make sure families had access to technology and the internet. We had to make this piece happen quickly. We were also going to need to require teachers to utilize online teaching platforms. Our middle school and high school teachers and students were already familiar with Google Classroom or Canvas. Our elementary schools were not using electronic platforms. The plan had been to introduce that next year and provide professional development. Fast forward to a pandemic, and now our elementary teachers needed to learn a new platform of their choice within a week and have lessons prepared using new formats with little teacher-centered instruction.
There was a lot of fear, anxiety, frustration and sadness during that week. This was not the best way to teach their little ones, but they needed to make it work. They also knew that they would need to know their systems well enough to explain them to parents and students. This is where teachers AMAZE me! Through phone calls, Zoom meetings and lots of videos, they learned and grew at a pace I don’t think many of them realized they could. They did it, though, for their ‘kids,’ because that is what teachers do each and every day, pandemic or no pandemic!
What started as crisis education has led to the most remarkable examples of compassion, connection, risk-taking, teamwork and selflessness that I have seen in my career. I am so proud to say that I have the privilege to lead such a great team! My hope is that when we return to our physical school settings, some of the shifts that we have made will translate into our classroom teaching. Unfortunately, this may not be able to happen everywhere. A spotlight has been placed on the inequity of educational opportunities that exist across communities. We were fortunate to be able to implement this style of remote learning; not all districts will be able to make this possible.” Written April 19
Principal: Houston, USA
“After 20 years of working in education, this is the first time I experienced this type of challenge, the COVID-19 pandemic challenge. I am currently a principal in an inner-city school in the Houston Independent School District, where many of our students lack technology and internet service. The first day we were informed that the schools would be closed, the teachers, other staff members and I diligently worked together as a team to create work packets. We met at the school in groups of 10 people or less, wearing our masks and gloves and staying six feet away from each other. We managed to put work together and make copies for 353 students. We had a curbside pick-up, and approximately 85% of our students received their work packets.
During that first week, teachers faced the challenge of reaching their students virtually. They continued to use the applications ClassDojo and Twitter to deliver important information to parents and students. They also began using Google Voice to call parents and students.
The second week of virtual learning, teachers and staff members began teaching themselves to use Microsoft Teams, the platform adopted by our district, for video conferences to deliver instruction and hold meetings. HISD provided training through the website HISD@HOME, and teachers worked together to navigate the new platform. Teachers were able to create classrooms on Microsoft Teams, and as of now we have a few students connected to the platform.
Next week we will continue to provide professional development training for teachers who need more training on the use of Microsoft Teams. As of today, teachers have already held video conferences to teach the students who are connected to the Microsoft Teams. The teachers are able to record the lesson and send the link through Class Dojo for those students who are not on Microsoft Teams yet.
As I reflect on these past two weeks, I have learned that they the key is to stay connected with each other. The staff and I have been consistent in holding video conferences to have PLCs [Professional Learning Communities], faculty meetings and professional development. I also learned that students need to stay connected to their teachers and the principal. By staying connected with each other, we will be able to get through this COVID-19 pandemic together. We will continue to work hard to maintain relationships during this time of crisis.” Written April 6
Bonus Student Perspective:
21-year-old from Oberlin studying abroad in Berlin
“I’m continuing to study with my host institution, Bard College Berlin. I have been lucky both in the fact that my courses are continuing for full credit and that, with such a heavily international student body, most of whom have returned to their home countries, my classes have been adjusted to accommodate respective time zones that span at least 10 hours. I have friends who returned from abroad and are waking up at 3:00 am to take classes where participation is mandatory or are short on credits because their institution cannot accommodate certain courses online. My professors have been incredibly understanding and have worked hard to adapt and continue adapting classes that are based in discussion, creation and group work for an online form. That being said, even with the best efforts, the classes feel like ghosts of their original state; in-person class time is essentially halved, the missed time is often replaced by busy work, and the scopes of projects and presentations are scaled back.
While logistics have been an inevitable issue, I think the biggest challenge my peers and I have encountered is apathy. Being online has made for an entirely different mode of learning which lacks the most essential aspect of the college experience. Online, we lack the hub of intellectual and creative thought, the constant cycling of events, performances and talks, and conversations that carry outside the classroom. As we worry about the physical, mental and financial well-being of friends, family and communities, and grapple with an impending graduation into economic recession, this feeling of loss empowers a lack of motivation that makes learning particularly difficult.” Written April 7
All Photos by: Arryn Schneider
