Thinking back on this last year in education, it has been a crazy, mixed up experience for all. I was only in my first full year of teaching (I had started in the middle of the year before), when the Covid 19 pandemic shutdown happened. I don't follow much news and so, the whole thing came somewhat of a surprise to me. I was planning out the end of the year and just thinking about how to finish out the year. Like everyone else, my district shutdown very quickly with the intent to reopen in 3 weeks after our Spring Break. We all know that did not happen.
The district had to plan out a way to finish out the year in a big hurry. We had paper packets and gave out any device we could to accommodate. Students without internet access were provided with hotspots in hopes that they would work. The district had the infrastructure within the schools to provide access but the students did not have that at home. The reality of the socioeconomic differences throughout our district was made very real and the inequities were brought to light. The CBS Sunday Morning news clip below was shown in May 2020, two months after the original shutdown.
Being that I was very new to the district and my school, I had no real say in anything except how I chose to teach my students. There were some in my classes that had access to devices and internet, and some that did not. Those that didn't have devices were given paper packets that the district put together. Those that had access, could access class material on Google Classroom. I set up meeting times that they could join if they were available or needed extra help. A lot of my focus was on communication with students and parents. I was concerned with them more than just academically. I incorporated ways to interact with video through apps like Flipgrid. This helped kids stay connected in other ways.
Williamson and McMullan (2020) put together some things to consider when remote learning needs to be implemented.
- Districts need to hand out devices
- Teachers need to create and share online assignments
- Students need to submit work online
- Parents need to know how to support and manage their children's time and access to online learning resources
- Tech support should be waiting at the ready
For this school year, the district put out a plan for the start of school, which changed somewhat rather quickly. You can access all the information about the county's policies, plans, and protocols here and here. Now that we have begun using Schoology LMS and students have devices, all of these things could be accomplished much more smoothly in the future.
Some of the biggest issues with crisis schooling was what Kemble and McMullan (2020) listed below,
- Internet access
- Technology training
- More communication
- More face time with teachers
- Mental health and wellness support
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Williamson, D., & McMullan, A. (2020, June 30). Learning Continuity Guidebook: Implement Remote Learning. https://www.classlink.com/blog/learning-continuity-guidebook-part8.
Kemble, J., & McMullan, A. (2020, June 24). Learning Continuity Guidebook: Consider & Work With Families. https://www.classlink.com/blog/learning-continuity-guidebook-part7.
Simonson, M., Smaldino, S. E., & Zvacek, S. (2019). Teaching and learning at a distance: foundations of distance education. Information Age Publishing, Inc.
I think tech support is something that was often forgotten. Many adults were seeing and using Chromebooks for the first time without any training or instruction available. While many students figured things out really quickly, many parents didn’t. My parents tried to help my niece with her kindergarten work and often struggled with making the technology work because they are so used to working on a desktop computer. There should be access to a person who can provide the knowledge and troubleshooting abilities to help students (Simonson et al., 2019) and, unfortunately, most schools did not have these capabilities. For the future, schools may think about creating a “help desk” group of staff members who can be on call if, and when, something of this nature happens again (Castelo, 2020). This group of specially trained teachers can also be available for PD and other types of training for students and teachers throughout the year, if needed.
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Castelo, M. (2020). How IT staff provide tech support during remote learning. Technology Solutions That Drive Education. https://edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2020/05/how-it-staff-provide-tech-support-during-remote-learning-perfcon
Simonson, M., Zvacek, S., Smaldino, S. (2019). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (7thed.). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, Inc.
Hello Barbara,
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness! It was your first year teaching, and the pandemic hit! Preparing teachers is crucial even in a typical year. I couldn't even imagine being a brand new teacher and going through this. Teacher training and support was so essential during the pandemic. As a new administrator, I used my experience as a classroom teacher during the pandemic to help provide suggestions about what support teachers may need. Simonson et al.(2015) suggest that " Teaching at a distance also presents sensitive questions related to faculty workload" ( p. 299). A questionnaire was sent out to school districts in three states at the end of the 2020 school year. The purpose was to solicit the teachers on what they needed the most during the beginning onset of the pandemic. Johnson(2021) stated that "Five themes emerged from the data: professional development, instructional technology, distance learning pedagogy, equity issues, and the marginalization of PE. Teachers discussed the need for more professional development related to educational technology".
Moving forward, all teachers need support to be successful, even in a typical school year.
References
Johnson, J., Daum, D., & Norris, J. (2021). I Need Help! Physical Educators Transition to Distance Learning During COVID-19. Physical Educator, 78(2), 119–137. https://doi-org.ezproxy.montevallo.edu/10.18666/tpe-2021-v78-i2-10866
Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., & Zvacek, S. (2015). Teaching and learning at a distance: foundations of distance education. Information Age Publishing.
Lucky for me, Johanna, I had been working on my master's degree in Educational Media and Technology. This made the online switch easy for me. I had also set up a Google Classroom for all my classes already. We didn't use it much, just when we had computer lab days. They were at least taught to log in to Google Classroom and join classes. That was one of my main goals. I was hoping to gain enough devices in my classroom to be 1:1. We are now moving toward the entire district being 1:1.
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