Readin’, Ritin’ and Rithmetic 2020
By JANET JERNIGAN &
JESSICA JOHNSON
A few months ago no one had ever heard of Covid-19 and today it is a household word.
Of all the sections of our society that were greatly affected by the virus were school children and their parents or guardians who quickly found themselves in a very difficult position. Schools suddenly closed with no re-opening date. The answer came soon, a thing called Distance Learning and Virtual Schooling.
Many college students had taken courses using the concepts of virtual school, but it had never been used to teach millions of students from kindergarten to high school seniors.
Teachers were accustomed to daily teaching and learning challenges. However, trying to teach a classroom with students who range from advanced learners to those who struggle to learn from a distance or virtual setting was a challenge teachers quickly had to face. The effect of students learning via the computer, positive or negative, has yet to be determined. Will this be a wave of the future? How will students and their families adjust and succeed? Has education changed forever?
Rural Jasper County has yet to attain the technology that urban counties have. Advanced broadband is a thing of the future, some students do not have access to computers and if they do the internet can be sketchy. Facebook has recently donated Chromebook computers to all students in Jasper County, but they have not been distributed to the students. So, how did Jasper County students continue their education during these months of Covid-19?
On March 15, Georgia schools were advised by the Center For Disease Control (CDC) to close school facilities in order to keep the spread of Covid-19 to a minimum. As the schools closed, buildings were cleaned and Distance Learning began. Administrators, teachers, parents, and students began adjusting in a hurry. With everyone working together in uncharted territories, expectations were set.
Communication held the key for all who were involved in the distant learning process. Teachers set up student/parent group emails, parent/teacher phone calls, downloaded communication apps, hand wrote letters, created virtual classrooms, and found themselves the star in recording video lesson or school updates that could be accessed at any time. Amongst all the different communication tools used, email, REMIND app, and Google Classroom proved to be most successful.
Although technology may seem to be second nature to most school aged students, unforeseen challenges arose when the virtual classroom was rolled out as the platform for concluding the 2019-2020 school year. Many students did not have access to the technology or internet needed for Google classroom or virtual lessons.
The majority of students in K-2, in the state of Georgia only had access to Ipads that were enabled for in class purposes only. If the student found themselves in this position, without technology or internet, teachers put in for specific time access to their school facility and made paper learning packets that provided the same curriculum that was covered virtually.
Any student who chose to be included in the paper packets was expected to return his or her work by a specific time or return it to a specific location. In Jasper County, school buses were sent out daily to bus stops that delivered lunches and provided a way for students to return or pick up their work at specific times. This was not the case for all counties in Georgia, but it did prove successful in Jasper. Regardless of how students chose to complete their work, education did continue to the best of everyone’s ability.
Teachers were used to standing in front of a classroom full of students, students who drove the instruction, directed the need of the lessons, and motivated each other to learn. This scenario was quickly changed due to Covid-19. Teachers became very creative with lessons that were being planned for the students of all grades.
For students who did have technology access, read aloud assignments were created, Google Doc or Google slide assignments became very attractive when completed by students. Google classroom provided a place for each teacher to create a platform for students and parents to access assignments at any hour and submit completed work to their personal portfolio.
Teachers used this virtual classroom to post learning links, learning games, and pre-recorded lessons. Google also provided a virtual meeting link known as Google Meets and Google Hangouts that allowed teachers and students to set up times to meet live and discuss lessons or questions, most importantly this allowed students and teachers to see each other and connect as if they were in a classroom.
The virtual classroom started strong, teachers with 50 to 100 students on their attendance roll saw a strong participation through the months of March and April with at least three-fourths of the students participating in assigned activities. Nearing the end of this school year school participation had dropped to less than 50 percent.
Parents stepped into a position that for most was out of their comfort zone as their child’s dominant educator during distant learning. Due to the fact that parents were sent the majority of emails and phone calls updating them on curriculum assignments and county updates they gained the responsibility of helping their student finish out the school year. Most parents accepted this responsibility with great pride and stepped in to make sure their student succeeded.
Testing and strict grading was something that was adjusted in order to be considerate of the family’s new position. For most students, testing was not mandatory. Grading was based on a “loose” rubric of attempted or completed work.
The objective of grading was switched to keeping students in a routine of completing classwork to the best of their ability, not necessarily accurate answers. In estimate, about half way through the distance learning the decision for the previous term grade dictated the promoted student’s average for their overall grading.
For the seniors graduating, ending grade exams were given only to the students who needed extra credit to graduate. Due to this extraordinarily unusual event all students returning for the 2020-2021 will have a review of the past school year and be met where their learning needs are.
Unfortunately, the students most effected by the Covid-19 distance learning would be that of the graduating class of 2020. The graduating seniors entered their senior year preparing for all the rituals that come along with accomplishing the milestone of graduating. Prom, senior day, graduation parties, and of course walking across the stage at graduation with the stands filled with cheering voices were events delayed due to the Covid-19.
This Covid-19 epidemic that has effected everyone’s life in some way has definitely redefined the needs of student’s education. The epidemic gave proof that technology is vital in our school systems for all students. School systems, administrators, teachers, parents, students and the community has entered a new way of education for all grade levels.
Although this unpredictable event sought out many challenges from the educational system, it was not a loss for student’s education. In a profession that is responsible for all other professions, challenges will always arise.
As this educational road has posed quite a challenge to teachers, students, parents, and the community, that is exactly what it is, A Challenge! We grow through challenges we face in life, professionally and personally. Never the less, challenges can and will set us back to some degree. Students will need more review.
More of teacher’s time will be spent on meeting students where they are for the upcoming school year. Schedules will be rearranged to make up for the amount of lost education time. Hopefully Covid-19 has been a learning experience for parents or guardians and will result in them being more attentive and involved knowing the importance of their child’s education.
School systems will open their eyes to an “out of the box” idea posed.
The fact of the matter is that this pandemic that has affected the world, reminded us that we are ALL a part of the world and we ALL, at our best, will strive to do what it takes to educate our future!
