14 minute read
COVER STORY: Students head back
Back to school with face masks and social distancing
Dylan Phi starts first grade in the Cherry Creek School District, where young students are required to wear face masks.
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Heading back to school this fall looks and feels different this year. Like everything in 2020, there is nervousness and uncertainty as children, teachers and adminstrators start the fall semester.
Last March, schools throughout Colorado shut their doors to follow safety measures to stop the spread of COVID-19. Fast forward to August 2020, Colorado decision makers in some school districts are allowing students to return to in-person learning based on science and health data.
Denver area moms in the Facebook group Denver Asian Mom Extraordinaires reflect on making difficult decisions for their children that generally fall under: homeschooling, remote learning, in-person learning or a hybrid.
One mother shared: “I’ve been watching the superintendent and principal’s messages and feel confident in the measures they’re taking to send both my kids to school. But everyone’s decision must be their own and what’s best for their family. We still have some concerns but my kids thrive on interactions with peers. Other kids do fine by themselves.”
Another mother will be keeping her children at home. She said: “My children will start remote learning this semester since we have high risk family members. I worry that my Kindergartener will struggle in 1st grade next year as I am not sure how I’ll be able to get her to sit and study at home.”
Cover Story by Mary Jenverre Schultz
Aurora Public Schools | The school district started their first quarter with remote learning only. More than 18,000 technology devices were provided to students, enhancing student access to eBooks and tripling their usage plus partnering with providers to increase Internet access and delivering hotspots to students. aurorak12.org
Cherry Creek School District | CCSD students are provided an online learning option for K-12, full in-person learning for PreK to fifth grade, and blended in-person learning for 6th to 12th grade. Schools opened with a phased-in week in which students in each grade level attended school for a limited amount of time in the first week to get used to new routines and COVID safety practices. cherrycreekschools.org
Denver Public Schools | Denver Mayor Hancock, in a video, welcomed back students for a virtual learning experience, which started August 24. In-person learning has not started yet. dpsk12.org
Douglas County School District | The Douglas County School District will start the 2020-2021 school year on a hybrid schedule in their Road to Return plan. A hybrid schedule organizes preschool through 12th grade students into cohorts that rotate between two days of in-person learning and three days of eLearning from home each week. A 100 percent eLearning model is also offered to families who prefer that option. dcsdk12.org
Littleton Public Schools | Students started school August 24 with in-person learning for PreK to fifth grade and hybrid/blended model for grades 6 to 12. “We are ready to move between an in-person school model and a hybrid/blended learning model, as well as a robust online learning model should Arapahoe County COVID data suggest we need to do so for the safety of our students and staff,” said LPS Superintendent Brian Ewert.
littletonpublicschools.net
Students get in line on the first day of school to start their fall semester at International School in Denver.
Jason S. Wu
Teacher at Cherokee Trail High School
In less than three years, a move to Colorado, job search and a pandemic has allowed Jason S. Wu time to reflect about his career as an educator of the sciences.
Wu teaches physical science at Cherokee Trail High School in Aurora, and will also be teaching and coaching speech and debate this year, an activity he loved himself in high school. He admits to feeling like a pioneer as a Taiwanese-American educator in the public school system.
“As an Asian-American teaching in an affluent, predominantly white school, we play an important role in the Black Lives Matter conversation. On one hand, we (Asian-Americans) have significant privilege and have been able to assimilate strongly into white culture,” Wu said. “On the other hand, as minorities, we are able to empathize with the experiences of those who feel different and have faced racialized barriers.”
“Ideas of meritocracy, individualism, and being the ‘model minority’ have imbued my largely Midwestern upbringing. These experiences and ideas deserve critical examination, conversation, and understanding, especially in light of the disparate realities that are now being acknowledged.”
The Move to Colorado
Wu and his wife, Allie moved to Colorado when he finished Ph.D. from Columbia University. “As my dissertation defense approached, my wife and I considered our next steps. I wanted to return to the classroom, and my wife would be beginning a new career as a nurse. We have family in Michigan and Texas, but neither of those places were calling to us,” he said.
A few weekend trips to Estes Park and short day-trips to the Rocky Mountain National Park convinced the couple to leave the “fast-paced grind of New York City.”
“We fell in love with Colorado then and have been continuing to fall in love with it since moving here in 2017,” said Wu, adding that he enjoys mountain activities like hiking and fishing.
He enjoys the solitude as it energizes him to be outdoors. Recently, he completed a three-night trip around Aspen, the longest backpacking trip for him.
An Accomplished Career
Already, Wu has achieved great success as an educator, securing impressive fellowships and working with nonprofit organizations such as Teach for America. Other fellowships include Harlem Schools Partnership for STEM Education, the National Science Foundation and the Human Capital Fellowship.
“In chemistry, I found a subject that was intellectually engaging and offered wide explanatory power. I went on to develop a love for science and learning in general,” he said.
As an undergraduate student, he attended the University of Michigan. Most of his family lives in Michigan, while his wife’s family are from Houston.
Fluent in Spanish and Mandarin, he has won numerous awards, grants and scholarships, such as the Ballroom Dance Club Scholarship, Department of Romance Languages and Literature Book Awards and Gerald Howard Read International Travel Scholarship, just to name a few.
Since college, Wu travels back to Taiwan every four years to visit his grandmother and extended family of cousins.
Life as an Educator
Classroom activities and engaging with students are his passion. “Being with the students and executing on plans that are already in place is a great joy, as the hard work of planning is done. I can just focus on engaging the students, enjoying the lesson with them, and being responsive to their needs,” said Wu, a resident of Denver.
Joey Owen Schultz, who was an honors chemistry student, enjoyed the lab assign“ Educators’ role in society has
ments and looked forward to Wu’s class every week. “It was one of my favorite classes,” he admits.
Wu enjoys engaging and connecting with students, but it doesn’t just happen in the classroom. “There are also moments of individual connection and support that happen from time to time. These can be during or after class, during office hours, or in the hallway. They are times when students and I are getting to know each other, and times when I can provide a real source of mentoring and support,” he said. “They are treasured moments indeed and are what make the job as great as it is.”
Teaching During Pandemic Times
Uncertainties in education are occurring throughout Colorado as decision makers are pivoting to a hybrid learning environment.
“Educators’ role in society has been highlighted by these extraordinary times,” he said. “I feel it is important to do our part, whether it is making an effort to open up in-person or providing the best education possible through an online experience.”
Wu, who is 33, sympathizes with colleagues and students who come from or are living with those who are more vulnerable. “We are definitely in between a rock and hard place, but I am hopeful and excited for this coming school year,” Wu said.
Upcoming School Year
Wu is optimistic for the 2020/2021 school year and is excited about blended learning. He is creating instructional videos to include labs, practicum and Q&A formats. This year he also plans to focus on his relationships with his students.
“At this point in my career, I consider relationship building with my students to be my primary focus. Second to this would be to stay well-balanced throughout the year.” -----------------------------------------------------------
Follow Jason S. Wu @the_drwu on Instagram or view his research and published work at tinyurl.com/jswu-phd.
Bringing equity to the classroom and beyond
I am a 4th grade teacher at Village East Elementary in the Cherry Creek School District. Our district’s model for elementary is full-time in-person every day. We started the school year with a phase-in week, so that one grade came back one day at a time to review the new social distancing routines and procedures. It was valuable to take the time to adjust and build in more time to wash hands and figure out ways to best keep students safe and healthy.
Teaching young children
Children this young, need a lot of repetition to reinforce the need to wear a mask. Masks are uncomfortable and some kids need constant reminders to keep it on.
Teaching in-person carries the risk of getting the coronavirus. The extra hand washing is making my hands dry and the constant reminders to my students to wash their hands and to keep their masks on is getting tiresome. I worry about how I can best protect them while we are in a space together.
The multitude of worries
I struggled all summer and still struggle with my thoughts and feelings about teaching in-person or remotely. This past spring, there were many students who did not participate in remote learning due to linguistic access and limited resources to technology and the internet.
I was worried if my students were getting food since our school provides free breakfast and lunch. I worried if they were mentally, emotionally, and physically alright. Being isolated and not being able to see friends and distant family members can be and was very lonely.
People of color are disproportionately affected and I worry greatly about my area of the district.
Inequities that exist in Colorado classrooms
Contrary to what many people believe about the Cherry Creek School District of being predominately White and wealthy, the north side of the district is predominately students of color and have high numbers of students eligible for free and reduced lunch. I teach at a school that is at least 70% students of color. I am disheartened because I know that the inequities are deep-seeded in all of the various institutions (education, health care, housing, business, etc.). Underrepresented communities are always greatly affected and it is obvious when you step into a classroom. 2020 has been a time of revealing to the world the many inequities, hate, and racism that has existed for hundreds of years. It is important for me to provide a space for these young children to process and to find places of healing and community so that we can become stronger together.
I have Black students in my class and our whole class had a conversation about Black Lives Matter. I can see and hear the fear in their voices and on their faces. That is my responsibility as a teacher—to be that person that does what’s best for children and to keep them whole and make sure that they are not silenced, forgotten, or undervalued. Even at the age of nine, these children are hyper aware of the injustices in our world. It is important to have these conversations, even if it is uncomfortable because change won’t happen until we recognize the problems.
The disconnect with distance
The con to social distancing is feeling disconnected. I want to keep humanity at the forefront and always reflect how we can have a sense of closeness without physically doing that. Remote learning makes it more difficult to create meaningful relationships through a screen and I am so fortunate to have an amazing class and I can see them in-person. It is important for me to check-in with the students to see how they are.
School is in session and I currently have 13 students. I am glad that the numbers are low enough so that I can space their desks apart from one another. I formed them in a “U” shape so that they can see one another and break the traditional way of desks in rows and facing forward.
Planning ahead for remote learning
No doubt, at any point, we may go to remote learning, so I am preparing my students with our online platforms and learning how to navigate the computer softwares.
By starting school in-person, I am able to better teach my students so that they will be ready. We have provided our students with computers so that they have access when we go remote and I am glad that it is in place.
This is what it means to be equitable. It is not enough to be equal but we need to address the needs and provide additional resources to the ones that need it the most.
Colorado’s international students receive worrisome message
11,888
international students in Colorado
Leading countries of origin
#1 China 29.7% #2 India 18.2% #3 Saudi Arabia 7.8% #4 Kuwait 3.2% #5 South Korea 2.5%
It’s been an emotional rollercoaster for the more than 11,000 international college and university students in Colorado.
In early July, the Trump administration announced a plan to strip international college students of their F-1 visas if they did not attend some classes in person. The policy threw the higher education world into turmoil at a time when universities were already grappling with whether to reopen campuses during the pandemic.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, or ICE, later rescinded the policy, allowing students to stay in the U.S. if they took all online courses.
“This past summer has had a lot of emotions related to the pandemic itself,” said Christine P. Nguyen, International Services Specialist at CU Denver. “We were scrambling to get messages to our students on what this means for them.”
According to Lucy Yang, a graduate student at Colorado State University, she was shocked when she first heard about the policy. “I didn’t understand why it was necessary, and what’s the purpose of these new guidelines except to make international students’ studying aboard journeys more difficult during the already tough time,” she said.
Institutions with the most
She immediately contacted the ininternational students ternational program office at CSU to University of Colorado, Boulder 3,789 consult about the legitimacy of these Colorado State University, Ft. Collins 2,416 new guidelines and how they would University of Colorado, Denver 1,398 affect her studies. Luckily for Yang, as University of Denver 1,278 a second-year masters student, she Colorado School of Mines 856 wouldn’t be affected because her Source: Open Doors: 2019 Report on International regular courses had ended and she Educational Exchange was spending her last semester comstudents couldn’t even book a flight ticket pleting her thesis. back to their home countries,” said Yang.
“Fortunately, these new guidelines “And if they were fortunate enough to were later dropped by the ICE. Howevfind a flight, tickets were extremely pricey er, I think it does create some tension for that many could not even afford it.” international students because we never She also noted that international stuknow what could come next and how our dents pay much higher tuition than dolife could be affected living in the U.S.” mestic students. “We deserve to receive
Well-known schools such as Harvard an equal quality of education and life exUniversity and Massachusetts Institute of perience which includes living in the U.S. Technology (MIT) attempted to sue the during our schooling. “ government while added pressure grew Nguyen said, “our international students when a dozen technology companies, inare valuable members of the community.” cluding Google, Facebook and Twitter, also She works closely with international supported of the lawsuit, arguing that the students as her office assists students to policy would harm their businesses. assimilate into the community, which in
In 2019, nearly 30 percent of internacludes obtaining housing, work permits, tional students in Colorado were from and even driver’s licenses. China, followed by India, Saudi Arabia, Ku“They deserve to get an education and wait and South Korea. experience it in the U.S.,” Nguyen said. “We
“Many countries had already reduced should be honored that they are choosing commercial flights to the U.S., thus, many the U.S.”
