HUMANITY BEHIND THE HEADLINES MOSCOW this challenge. It is of critical importance to protect our pupils and teaching staff in this pandemic. But we have to get the balance right,” says Sergei Graskin, the school’s principal. “Older pupils can study mostly online because they know how to use the technology and discipline themselves. This is not the case for the youngest ones. They absolutely need personal attention, to have their questions answered and be shown how to do things. It also seems that the younger children are the least vulnerable to this virus, and we have not been seeing many infections in our school,” he says. Put student teachers in charge? Russia gets creative in pandemic. By Fred Weir / Special correspondent several pedagogical colleges and universities, which train teachers, to act as in-class tutors. Meanwhile older and more vulnerable regular teachers deliver lessons from the safety of their homes, displayed on a big computer screen at the front of the classroom. A few senior students, nearing graduation, are even being handed full teaching responsibilities on a temporary basis. “We know that many countries are in this situation, so we’re not the only ones facing A ll across Moscow, schools are mostly empty amid the city’s raging second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, as city government orders older pupils and staff to shelter at home and continue their studies online. But, in a controversial move, Moscow officials have decreed that younger pupils cannot afford a repeat of the spring’s total lockdown. Rather, students in grades one to six need to have regular classes and daily face time with teachers. That has led to an unusual experiment in Moscow’s schools. Inside one of those – School No. 1580, a large, sprawling grade school that occupies most of a block in a leafy neighborhood in the center of the city – healthy young volunteers have been recruited from Moscow’s Learning on the job The scheme appears to be working well. In several classrooms, lessons are in full swing, with teachers delivering their material and handing out class work remotely, visible on a large screen. Meanwhile a masked student teacher hovers among the kids, directing their attention if it wanders, and later giving supplementary tutorials. In one class, fifth-year pedagogical student Irina Vinogradova is teaching a history WHY WE WROTE THIS How do schools balance educational needs of young students with the health of older teachers? In Moscow, the answer is to move the older teachers remote and bring teachers in training into the classroom. PHOTOS BY FRED WEIR TRY OUT: Student teacher Irina Vinogradova points to a map of the ancient world as she delivers a history lesson at School No. 1580 in Moscow, Nov. 10, 2020. “I can try out the methods I’ve been learning,” says Ms. Vinogradova. “If I run into a problem, senior staff are being very helpful.” 10 THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR WEEKLY | DECEMBER 7, 2020 PRINTED AND DISTRIBUTED BY PRESSREADER PressReader.com +1 604 278 4604 ORIGINAL COPY . ORIGINAL COPY . ORIGINAL COPY . ORIGINAL COPY . ORIGINAL COPY . ORIGINAL COPY COPYRIGHT AND PROTECTED BY APPLICABLE LAW