ZOOMING IN
How BK approaches teaching, learning from home with Zoom Pro Meghan Williamson | Design & Layout Editor
A
s the late bell for class rings, everyone looks around to see an empty desk where their fellow student once sat. They notice a laptop at the front of the room with their classmate’s face on it, ready for class, just at home instead of at school. With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the fate of this school year is in the hands of the students and teachers, and the threat of online school looms over students’ heads every day they’re on campus. Administration has endeavored to make the transition from in-person classes to online quicker for students and teachers. “In order for us to support students who need to quarantine and to be ready for the potential of distance learning, we have purchased or acquired through grant funding for [many] tools [for learning], such as EdPuzzle and Zoom,” Academic Dean Michael Broach said. With these resources, the school aims to provide a simple shift for students into distance learning, different from the method used last March. To assist with this transition into a new school year, students will continue to use their iPad for distance learning and teachers now have a school-issued laptop for teaching remotely in the event that they need it. “[Last school year] some students transitioned very easily to online learning, others found it very challenging and disruptive to an anticipated routine,” Broach said. “An important component of teaching is making a
connection with students, which is more difficult online.” Psychology and sociology teacher Matthew Case taught his students remotely for two weeks after a possible exposure to COVID-19. The students in his class had the
“IF ONE OF YOUR TEACHERS DOES HAVE TO GO INTO QUARANTINE, JUST REMEMBER THEY ARE HUMAN TOO” -MATTHEW CASE
same teaching experience; the only difference was that Case was on a screen instead of physically in the classroom. “Teaching [from home] opened up my awareness of how much students appreciate being taught in person, and as a teacher, being reminded of that motivates me to plan the best possible lessons I can,” Case said. “It takes some definite adjusting, particularly in how you deliver material to your students.” Case was the first teacher to quarantine and teach his students from home, but there have been others after him. Students in all four grades have been transitioning into distance learning as well, but due to privacy laws in the state of Florida, the school is unable to name individuals who are ill or potentially ill. In a letter sent to the BK community on September 23, the school reported the first
positive case of COVID-19 . “The school took immediate action to sanitize all spaces used by the student, which they have been doing regularly as part of their standard operating procedures,” Superintendent Deacon Scott Conway wrote. The letter indicated that the student who tested positive would isolate at home and return to campus after 10 days, or until they were fever-free for over 72 hours with no medication, whichever is longer. Members of the school community who were in close contact with the student were also quarantined for 14 days, such as classmates who sat near them. The procedures BK has in place for future cases of COVID-19 are there to avoid an outbreak on campus for the remainder of this school year. The normal fear of getting sick from other students at school should not be an issue with mandatory masks, students are taken out of class if they are deemed ‘in close contact’ with a positive student as precaution. On October 12, the second positive case was reported. As of October 29, a total of nine positive cases have been reported at BK, with one reporting
family members positive as well. “If one of your teachers does have to go into quarantine as I did, just remember they are human too,” Case said. “They care about their responsibility to teach you, but they also have their own lives. We can all benefit from utilizing patience, compassion and empathy as often as possible.”
A typical Zoom call has students with their cameras on to
8 THE SHIELD • OCTOBER 20202020 8 THE SHIELD • OCTOBER
and
