Teacher Q & A

Q&A

Local Teacher’s Discuss How We Can Prepare for New Learning Environments

Written By Ryan Hoover With blended learning a likely option for many schools across the country this fall, many students school year routines will change significantly. How can students put themselves in positions to best navigate this change?

Matthew Lukens – Mt. Ellis Academy English Teacher

One of the benefits to living in a place like this is that you can go outside. It’s not like New York City where you go outside and its almost safer to be inside. You can’t really do it. That is something that our school emphasizes, and I believe taking the time to get outside is even more important in this new environment were in. I think it’s a reality that some students will fall behind. Academic success is a process: responsibility, showing up on time, being disciplined, and being focused. There are also the skills that you learn. It’s much harder to teach the process of success remotely. I think that people tend to associate the youth with being native to technology; that it comes intuitively. But in the past, I think phones and computers have not been traditionally how students learn. They’ve been used for social media and entertainment. So, when you use those devices as the primary means of delivering education, you already have a different set of associations in place. As teachers we should try and give students the benefit of the doubt. If something doesn’t work, we should recalibrate and try to find what will be successful.

I think it’s important for students to have a routine. If you’re in a different environment but you can enter a sort of “learning mode,” and establish different expectations for the remote classroom, this may be helpful. As a teacher, I want to try and do this for my students as much as I can. Routines will help you manage your time!

Splitting your attention between your schoolwork and your device (games) is going to drain more energy from you. Be mindful about limiting the distractions that are at hand. Have a specific spot and a specific time for your remote learning so you can start developing your routines. I think that will be helpful. Adrian Advincula – Meadowlark Elementary Principal

I think the first thing that comes to mind is the ability to give yourself permission to know that it’s not going to be perfect. We have kids starting Kindergarten that want everything to be the way it’s supposed to be. As we all know, we are in a world of unknowns right now; things keep on changing, new data on Covid-19 keeps coming out. As many other superintendents have put before, we are building the ship as we are flying it.

So, I think the first thing our students can do is to give themselves permission to make mistakes and learn from it, because that’s okay. What might work one week may not work the next week. I just want them to know that the teachers, the administrators, and all the adults in the building are here to help them work through that. We’re there for them and we’re going to continue to be there for them regardless of what model will be rolled out. We’re always going to be taking care of them and continue to support them and their families.

In terms of practical things that everyone can do, what we’ve been trying to do with our daughter is practice. Practice on things you’re not typically doing at school, like wearing a mask. Give yourself time to get used to that. Start with a minute at a time and slowly increase the time you wear it in order get comfortable.

I think practicing the social distancing piece is huge, too. When kids see their friends and teachers for the first time in a long time, they are going to want to approach and hug them. We just have to practice that social distancing component early. We have to show our affection and care for each other in a different way. Lena Romeo – Meadowlark Elementary First Grade Teacher

Our district has elected a hybrid model, so no matter whether families have elected to attend school fully-remotely or a mixture of remote and in-person, everyone’s school experience will be MUCH different than any other year. I think one of the most important things for families to remember is everyone is in this situation together. We will all need to be flexible and give ourselves and one another grace. We are all doing the best we can.

Remote learning makes it a lot more difficult for teachers to work 1-on-1 with students. Do you think teachers should make it a priority to check in with students while they’re at home? Maybe even give them a call?

Matthew Lukens – Mt. Ellis Academy English Teacher

Absolutely. 100%. I think it’s really important to maintain that rapport and connection that exists between the teacher and student. I think that the younger generation is already very attached to their phones and this new learning environment will just intensify that. So, that connection with students is extremely important. One of the things I did at the beginning of every week last spring was a short preview video for the week, with some personal stuff as well. I did this to give the students a sense of what’s going on.

I also set up group chats for each class. It was mainly for academic discussion’s and questions, but students ended up getting on the chat session and talking about whatever came to mind! I want to set something like that up for parents this year as well, so they can chat. I think it’s important to maintain a connection with the students, but even more so with the parents. That’s where the students are. Adrian Advincula – Meadowlark Elementary Principal

I think that connection is huge. I think it’s important for our teachers and staff to reach out to kids. That was something we tried to do at Meadowlark Elementary this past spring. Just because were doing things remotely doesn’t mean we’ve gone away completely. Those phone calls, those emails, Zoom calls I personally feel it all made an impact on our students. I can reflect on my daughter and when she received a one-on-one Zoom call from her teacher who she loves. That meant so much to her and helped her process through this tough time. I think it’s important that we continue to do that. Teachers are naturally caring people, so I think it will be second nature for them. Students are part of our family and community when they’re here, and it will be the same when they’re remote. Lena Romeo – Meadowlark Elementary First Grade Teacher

Absolutely. Teachers will have to work harder than ever to create the classroom culture that we generally create while in the comfort of our classrooms. With parents unable to visit our classrooms, we will not only have to strive to build relationships with our students on a remote platform, but with parents as well. One of the things that I enjoyed about remote learning last spring was that we were able to have one-on-one Google Hangouts throughout the day. It truly felt that you were a part of your student’s family when you could see him or her in his or her home environment. I plan to continue this tradition with my students this year.

Now that some parents are overseeing a version of a classroom from home, how can they prepare for this? How involved should they be?

Matthew Lukens – Mt. Ellis Academy English Teacher

There’s a concept called Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development. Think of weight lighting as an example. If the weights are too easy for me, I’m going to be lifting the weights all day, and it may not be really developing my muscles. If they’re too heavy and I can’t lift it at all, then that won’t be beneficial either. So, there’s a sweet spot, where I’m struggling but I can do it. It comes down to a judgement call. But parents should ask themselves where their child needs help and intervene if necessary. But there should also be some struggle involved.

My goal as a teacher is to work myself out of a job. I want my students to be individually capable of completing a task themselves. If it’s something you haven’t done before, it’s going to be hard and there are going to be mistakes. But ultimately, there needs to be structure too. Adrian Advincula – Meadowlark Elementary Principal

I think it’s very dependent on the situation that they’re in. We as educators and administrators have to realize that not everything will be the same for every family, and we have to be cognizant of that. We’ll have some families that will have the ability to be there every step of the way while their child learns remotely. We also have some that won’t be, and their children will be learning in pods, with friends, or at a daycare. We have to remember this as we are setting remote learning up. We have to balance what we need the students to do with the situation that parents and families are in.

We’ve never taught in a situation like this before; where a student’s home is now school and the parents are working there too, all under one umbrella. That was hard enough for adults to try and figure out and manage last spring. Now a kid is trying to figure it out. It’s one big tangled web and something educators have to remember when we put information out. If families are struggling, we have to accommodate that and do what we can to help them.

Fortunately, we get guidance from previous teachers on how we can best support different students and their families. We also have a team of adults in our building to help families that may be struggling in this situation. Our district has support staff like student support specialists, counselors, psychologists, and Thrive liaisons to help with families that need support, and the teachers too. Our teachers are trying to figure this out as we go along. If you throw in the potential of quarantining, or the potential of someone getting sick, you realize there are going to be a lot of moving parts. Our support staff will be important for ensuring we do what we need to do for those families. Besides having them in our building, they also have connections with support groups in our community. They know who to reach out to if we don’t know what to do.

Lena Romeo – Meadowlark Elementary First Grade Teacher

This truly depends on the age-level of the student. I will speak for first-grade families as that is the grade that I currently teach. Truthfully, first graders (especially at the beginning of the year) will likely need parent support to log in, access assignments, and learn the technology required to complete tasks. Hopefully, as the year progresses, students will need less and less parent support. It is my vision that some of our classroom time can be spent helping our students to navigate the technological aspects of remote learning as well. Parents who have students in the Bozeman School District can begin by familiarizing themselves with Canvas. This is the program that we will be using to deliver online instruction. There are many helpful videos on YouTube to get started. Also, don’t shy away from contacting your child’s teacher if you need support. We don’t expect you to have all the answers or be able to transition to this “new normal” seamlessly. We are here to help. Use us!

Many students rely heavily on the outlets that a school provides outside of the classroom: friends, favorite teachers, sports teams, clubs, etc. With remote learning, you lose a lot of that and many parents are finding their children lacking motivation during these times. How can this be solved? How can you make remote learning more like the classroom?

Matthew Lukens – Mt. Ellis Academy English Teacher

I think it really goes back to maintaining that personal connection with the teacher and with other students. It’s so important. Parents should also be aware that there is a lot of anxiety circulating right now for physical safety, finances, societal concerns, etc. Things are very unstable and tenuous right now. I think parents needs to be honest with their children, but also not overwhelm them with a sense of dread.

Mt. Ellis Academy provides students with faith, hope, and a higher power as well. A purpose. Try and enjoy things in the moment. There are things that you can control, and things that you can’t. No one will benefit from you getting too worked up about things you can’t control.

Keeping a close sense of community is so important. It doesn’t always have to be a big thing. Sometimes it can just be asking someone how’s it going?

When Mt. Ellis Academy embarks on its annual Outdoor School every August, I try and make the educational units that are held very interactive; students are interacting and communicating. Working in groups helps keep engagement and focus.

Whatever your situation is, try and discover what is around you. After you discover what it’s like, develop that a bit. This may be by writing about what life is like attending school from home. Then, you can use that to connect with other people.

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Adrian Advincula – Meadowlark Elementary Principal

I think as educators in this particular situation, we need to make sure we’re not copying what was done before. We need to look at what we can do in this new situation and help our communities, families, and students while at the same time not burn out. Teachers are such giving people and I worry that they’re going to want to do as much as they can, all the time, and forget about themselves. We must give ourselves permission to know that this whole situation is going to ebb and flow.

We learned of this lack of motivation during our brief moment of remote learning in the spring. When we started off, there was a lot of engagement because it was new and interesting. But that engagement piece started to taper off as we went on. As educators and administrators, when we’re creating these lessons and doing synchronous and asynchronous learning, we need to make sure the lessons we are providing are not only rigorous, but also engaging. We should balance that screen time with activities that we can do outside and share that back with our groups. Some of the things we did in the spring may not work now. We have to continuously reflect on what we’ve been practicing and doing for our students and families. Lena Romeo – Meadowlark Elementary First Grade Teacher

There is no magic answer for how lack of motivation can be solved; different techniques work for different students. One of the positives about the blended model is that students can form friendships, get to know their teacher in person, and engage in social activities when they are in the classroom. Having a smaller class size (only half the class at a time), will help teachers to cover more material in less time. Hopefully this will help with parents feeling like they need to engage their students in schoolwork all day long. Remember that elementary students should be spending no more than 2-3 hours a day on schoolwork when they are home. Do what works for your family. Make sure to schedule plenty of breaks. When frustration sets in, take a break. If your child’s motivation is fading, take a break. If you’ve been working for longer than 30 minutes, take a break. When in doubt, take a break.