January 2021 rustlernews.com
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ROOSEVELT REMOTE LEARNING CENTER by Kerrigan Edwards, Editor in Chief and Taylor Willmarth, Video and Audio Editor Online learning was available to every student across the Great Falls Public Schools district this year, following last year’s immediate closure.
Learn more about how teachers, parents, and students are handling their education from home, during the pandemic.
Jean Falcon
Amy Sterling
Kandi Patton
“I believe that most parents want to help their kids, but they don’t have the necessary tools to help them.”
“The hardest part for me is not having kids in front of me. I value communicating and learning to build relationships.”
“As a relationship-centered teacher, it is harder to build that sense of rapport and trust.”
Kim Blaine
“There are some students that are struggling. But we have a lot of the year left, and I’ve seen a lot of kids that are starting to do better.”
CHIEF JOSEPH ELEMENTARY TEACHER HOMESCHOOLS HER CHILDREN THIS YEAR by Taylor WIllmarth, Video and Audio Editor Sabrina Schuler was a 1st grade teacher at Chief Joseph Elementary School when COVID-19 upended education nationwide. She has seen the impacts of the virus from the perspective of a parent and an educator. Before the 2020-2021 school year started, Schuler decided to homeschool her children to keep their family safe. Schuler says a key reason for their decision to participate in remote learning was the tumultuous end to last school year. Above: Roosevelt Elementary’s hallways “I can tell you that there were a lot of tears last remain bare as teachers limit contact. Spring,” she said. “From a parent perspective, it was Below: “Be Kind.” Teacher Amy Sterling fills her classroom with positive messages. rough.” Schuler’s fourth grade daughter, Celtie, and fifth Photos by Taylor Willmarth. grade son, Decker, accepted the family’s decision to go remote for safety reasons. “We don’t want to get COVID,” Celtie said. “Our grandpa is at pretty high risk for it too.” In making the decision to homeschool this school year, the family explored many programs. They settled on Seton Home Study School, a K-12 Catholic homeschool program. Celtie and Decker are also both enrolled in the gifted education program at Chief Joseph Elementary School, and participate in Zoom meetings for additional challenges and occasional check-ins with their classroom teacher. Schuler believes that her kids are progressing well
educationally despite the current situation. “I’m learning about fractions and a little about decimals and it’s going pretty good,” Decker said. Both children agreed that doing school from home has been fun, but they haven’t had the same amount of exposure to friends and peers as in years past. “After school is out, we sometimes can FaceTime or play outside with one of our best friends [who] lives two houses down,” Decker said. “Even when we play outside, we usually have to wear our masks though.” The Schulers plan to return to school when they deem it safe, and with COVID-19 vaccines rolling out, it could be as soon as next year. Like all Americans, the family hopes to return to some sense of normalcy soon. “These guys are pretty responsible and independent,” Schuler said. “However, it’s still a fulltime job trying to keep up.” Celte and Decker Schuler do schoolwork alongside younger siblings. photo courtesy of Sabrina Schuler
QUINN OVERSEES REMOTE LEARNING CENTER by Kerrigan Edwards, Editor in Chief
The task of overseeing the newly developed remote learning center, Roosevelt Elementary, was given to an obvious candidate in the district. Susan Quinn, a former Associate Principal at C. M. Russell High School, and the current High School Coordinator of Curriculum, was appointed
to a temporary position created specifically for the 2020-2021 decision-based learning environment. “What I really wanted for this full-time remote learning for this school year was to have everybody in one place so we could support each other. Teachers could get immediate feedback
and help when they needed it,” Quinn said. “I’m so grateful the teachers have been so generous with each other and their time and kind of work together to make it all work well.”
