Facebook to the Rescue Teacher creates community to support distance learners. BY JENNY SCARBOROUGH
Two days before the June 17 deadline to choose between digital or face-to-face learning for the new school year, I was making every attempt to determine what was best for By the time we reached 1,500 my sons. I researched medical websites and members, we had divided into subgroups studied fact-checkers that analyzed news reports. for Pre-K through 12th grade, as well as a I sought the advice of my retired-educator parents. group for special education students. Admins in My husband was in a month-by-month, work-from-home these groups are organizing by schools and teachers, situation, and I would not be able to stay home because setting up connections, and rallying to keep each other I am a teacher. Luckily, that day, we received informal strong. One mom in the 6th grade subgroup organized confirmation that my husband would be home through a virtual meet-and-greet for the kids December, so we chose digital learning and had her son moderate it, complete for our sons, who are in third and sixth with talking points. After the meeting, grades. Our biggest worry was their socialThe DL Kids of broke off to play their favorite emotional health and the consequences of Cherokee County they online games together. At this moment I keeping them from social connections. realized this was the community I hoped I did what everyone around me seemed This is a group for families would form. A community lifting up to be doing during their summer of in Cherokee County, Georgia, each other, helping navigate this unique isolation: I looked to social media. People who have chosen digital experience. on Facebook were creating or joining learning due to the COVID-19 As of Aug. 4, as I sit putting the final groups that kept them connected with pandemic. This group was touches on this article, our membership others in Cherokee County who had started to help parents find is 1,982. [At press time, the number had common interests and concerns. I read connections for their children grown to 2,129]. Parents continue to through local groups, hoping to find a and help maintain their help each other find answers to questions family in our situation. The rhetoric became children's social-emotional and find patience as teachers and schools overwhelming, so I decided to create my health. We have become work tirelessly to pull everything together. own group – The DL Kids of Cherokee a community of parents Retired teachers and former teachers County. I reasoned that if I found 10 people supporting each other as we are offering to help our kids by tutoring, like me, it would be a success. help our children navigate organizing social activities, and facilitating What occurred was the equivalent of these unprecedented times pods so parents can continue working. digging a tiny hole in the ground and … It takes a village to raise a (Pods are small groups of students suddenly striking oil. Within 24 hours, child. We are that village. who work on schoolwork at the same 500 people asked to become members. I location.) We have started albums within recognized the need and started organizing. the groups to better disseminate information. I set up posts for different grade levels and encouraged The biggest surprise was how quickly this happened. I people to tell what schools they attend. Over the next 24 set out to find connections for my own children and, in hours, our number grew to 700. I asked for volunteers less than seven days, found a community of parents able to help as co-administrators, and two wonderful ladies to set aside differences and focus on what is truly most answered the call. I would be unable to manage the group important: the children. without their insight and perspectives. As the digital learning deadline passed, membership jumped to more than 1,200. I was amazed at the response. Parents who had chosen digital learning wanted to know what other Jenny Scarborough, a teacher of 24 years, has families were doing. Parents who were on the fence taught in Cherokee County since 2007. She is wanted to see if their ideas were feasible. Most of all, married and has two sons in third and sixth grades. parents wanted empathy and understanding.
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AROUND WOODSTOCK | September 2020
