feature story
Forging an Electronic Community in an Instant BY RYAN STOWELL
I
will never forget the afternoon of March 12. We had a possible case of COVID-19 in our county and I was watching Governor DeWine’s press conference with the administrative team. We had to stop watching and go outside for student dismissal, when we came back in we learned that he was in fact going to close schools for three weeks. Later that afternoon the suspected case was confirmed, and schools in our county were closed immediately. We had no idea when we walked out for dismissal that afternoon that we would not see our students again this school year.
Connecting Every Student
We met with our staff the next day and made plans to deliver instruction electronically while our building was closed. The collaboration of our teachers, technology staff, and administrators was remarkable as many of our teachers created Google Classrooms for the first time. There were definitely challenges early on, but we adapted and learned a lot along the way.
Supporting Our Teachers
Communication with Families One of my responsibilities was to share with our parents how to utilize our online resources during distance learning. Videos and screencasts became my primary tool for this purpose, which I shared on our school social media platform and YouTube. At first the videos were just the screen and my narration; they were awfully boring. As time went on, I began adding title screens, transitions, and text on the screen to make them more engaging. We also began a weekly birthday video to celebrate student birthdays. YouTube provides tremendous viewership data. Early on we had a high level of engagement and most viewers watched the entire video, but as time went on fewer people viewed them and many stopped watching after two minutes. This was important because it showed that our message was not always getting to our audience, and I began to strive to keep every video under two minutes in duration.
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principal navigator
We recognized that internet connectivity and device availability for every student was a critical component of our plan. Chromebooks were delivered to students that did not have a device and we were fortunate that internet service companies provided free access this spring. While we could have provided packets, students with access to technology would receive a more robust educational experience than those without it and we sought to close that gap.
Our initial Zoom staff meetings were not highly productive. We had much greater success meeting with staff in grade level and department teams. Our meetings focused on two topics: improving instruction in a digital environment and engaging students who were not participating. Guidance counselors or administrators were assigned to contact families that were not engaged. In many cases, these families needed connectivity, a device, or guidance and support accessing the online content. The transition was difficult for our teachers. Our technology department and several tech savvy teachers put together virtual workshops to assist with technology, but it was still overwhelming for many. Meetings were sometimes cancelled when we sensed very high stress levels, and we planned virtual staff lunches where schoolrelated topics were prohibited. During teacher appreciation week, we set up a drive-thru for teachers to pick-up dinner for their families and gift cards from our PTO. This was well received and appreciated. Procedures, Consistency, and Routines One of our first challenges was the lack of consistency and procedures in our online environment. Overall our families were appreciative and understanding of the situation, but we did receive
