The COVID-19 virus has impacted everyone as efforts are made to limit the spread of the virus. People are working from home, social distancing is the norm, calendars once full of activities and events are now empty, non-essential businesses are closed and school is off at least through April 6.
On March 18, Northborough Southborough Public Schools launched NSBORO-CONNECT, designed to help students stay connected to their teachers and provide optional learning opportunities, maintain their skills and continue to engage in learning.
This launch was not an easy one. In the combined districts, there are 4,400 students and 900 faculty and staff.
Marguerite E. Peaslee School fifth grade teacher Andi Daunais found it extremely challenging at first.
“We understandably had very little time to prepare and limited access to our classroom,” she said. “My goal is to offer creativity and choice for my students, as well as some fun or silly assignments to keep them engaged and happy.”
Algonquin Regional High School social studies teacher Kristin Turner feels similar.
“I feel like I am learning years of information on how to use online technology in hours,” she said. “I like writing on the board in my classroom, marking up hard copies of documents, and looking at printed pictures. This is all so different.”
Teachers have been spending time collaborating with their colleagues via live video chats to plan experiences that make the most of this new learning environment.
Robert E. Melican math teacher Melissa Jameson shared a snapshot of what this new environment looks like at the middle school level:
- Physical Education teachers are inviting students to live fitness classes taught by their teacher using Zoom. If students miss class, they can access recordings through the teacher’s YouTube page.
- World Language teachers have been using the Canvas Studio, allowing them to record themselves or their screens and post directly for students to access. Students are asked throughout the video to pause between each question and respond aloud before hearing the answer to the question, which is a great way to practice listening and speaking remotely.
- Science teachers have been offering a rotation of virtual field trips, at home lab activities, coding activities, outdoor observations, and some light reading/writing activities.
- Social Studies teachers are utilizing the discussion boards on Canvas, as well as their digital textbooks to pose questions.
- Math teachers have been reviewing skills that students worked on throughout the year, as well as utilizing online learning platforms like Khan Academy.
- English teachers are rotating grammar, reading and writing throughout the week and posting daily discussions. Eighth graders will be taking a virtual tour of the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC and Auschwitz, watching different Ted Talks and responding to related questions.
- Guidance counselors continue to support students in ways they always have, but they are also creating video challenges for students to do.
Learning hasn’t been all for the students.
“I am really loving collaborating with my colleagues and learning from each other,” said Turner. “We have had so many zoom meetings and google hangouts, where we share our screens and guide each other through new programs. It’s definitely been a new way of learning together.”
Although keeping students engaged and giving them consistency and routine in their day is important, student mental well-being is of the highest priority.
“It was a quick switch from interacting with my students each day in person to online learning,” said Daunais. “The hardest part is really not being able to communicate with my students as much as I would like to or to see them in person. Right now I am more concerned with their mental well-being than with the academics. This is a confusing and scary time for all. I am happy when I do receive emails or messages from my students.”
Turner finds this new way of teaching a bit lonely.
“I miss the everyday interactions with my students chatting about the news of the day, catching up in the halls, and being able to answer their questions,” she said. “I also miss meeting with my colleagues to plan curriculum and activities together.”
Students are slowly embracing the new normal.
“We’re working hard to engage our students,” said Turner, “but I think many of them are in rest mode and that’s okay and to be expected in this unprecedented time. I’m happy to just keep providing content for when they are ready to engage with me. I miss them though.”
Daunais is creating assignments as a choice board with a different subject each week.
“I love seeing which assignments my students are choosing,” she said. “Many of the choices are creative writing and I love to see their imagination through their writing.”
An additional challenge for teachers is that they are juggling their own families too.
“My new classroom includes all of my students and now my three children, who I am teaching fifth grade, second grade, and preschool,” said Turner.
For most school districts, this is all new territory and they are navigating how to best ensure access to all students, how to support those who need it, and how to help teachers with the new technologies being used.
“Although this is an extremely challenging time, I am hoping families are taking the time to appreciate not being over scheduled, to be creative and to get outdoors,” said Daunais. “I know many families are trying to juggle working at home and helping their kids and this is a challenge for many. I am doing my best to be there for both my family and my students.”
Teachers are working hard to keep their classrooms a place where kids feel comfortable, welcome and want to be.
“I’m so happy there are ways to stay connected in this time of social distancing,” said Turner. “While we must be apart, we are lucky to live at a time where there are technologies to connect us. We are working hard to find the ways that best connect us to our students.”
Written by Northborough Guide contributor Liz Nolan
Photos/submitted: (top of page) ARHS Teacher Kristin Turner’s new classroom from home. (Below left to right) Melican Middle School online physical education class, Distance learning with Melican Middle School math teacher Melissa Jameson, and Peaslee School teacher Andi Daunais’s home classroom.
