Teachers share successes, challenges
Virtual program has its ups and downs
LANSDALE » As a return to classrooms draws ever nearer for the North Penn school district, what seems to have worked so far for teachers and students?
School board members heard a detailed rundown last week, as teachers from the elementary, middle and high school levels shared their successes, and sore spots, so far.
“We still need to hear what’s working well, what’s not, and how we can continue to improve,” said Assistant Superintendent Todd Bauer.
Since the school board voted in July to start with online-only instruction and return to classrooms starting in November, staff and the board have discussed and worked through all possible angles of that decision, including in the board’s Education, Curriculum and Instruction committee meeting on Oct. 6. During that meeting, first-grade teachers Andrea Bowers and Lindsay Reitz from Hatfield Elementary School, social studies teacher Brooke Bernardini of Penndale Middle School, and high school science department chairman Mark Keagy shared their likes and dislikes so far.
Reitz said her first-graders have benefited by being able to show more of their families, pets and home life while learning virtually.
“I feel my connections, and understanding of the families, are stronger at this point in October than they typically are in a regular school year,” Reitz said.
“It creates a better picture of the whole child. When we talk about teaching, we talk about the whole child, and home life is part of that,” she said.
She and Bowers have been better able to divide the day and keep an eye on their shared classes while online, she added, and some students are more confident learning from home, and many have more f lexibility to choose breaks than they would in a classroom.
What areas for improvement
have they found so far? Bowers said students have had trouble switching to the new Canvas software platform while learning virtually, and Reitz added that she has seen some students be less engaged with learning than they would in-person.
“For our youngest students, especially for firstgraders, keeping undivided attention is hard when we’re in person, so it adds another layer of challenge,” Reitz said.
“This is a kind of setting where it’s easier to not participate: walking away from the computer, turning their screen off, engaging with those home distractions around them — we continue to find ways to work on engagement and participation,” she said.
Both said they’ll typically leave their Google Meets software up and running so students can visit all day, in case they have questions or just want to say hello. Board member Christian Fusco asked if the teachers’ time commitment each day has grown since going online, and Reitz said she’s now thinking about online learning all day, every day.
“From the moment my feet hit the floor, ‘til my eyes close at night, I am planning and preparing and I’m trying to think of innovative and creative ways to deliver my lessons to my students,” she said.
“There is a tremendous amount of work, but I do it, and I know all of these teachers in the district do it, because we care about our students. And we want what’s best for them, so we’re willing to put the time in.”
At the middle school level, Bernardini shared similar thoughts: teaching online has allowed her to give more support to students, and learn new teaching tools, while the switch to Canvas has been a learning experience.
“There is so much potential that Canvas has, and I know I and many educators are just scratching the surface of what this platform can do for us and our students,” she said.
That switch has meant more of a time commitment, since lessons have to be rebuilt for the new platform, and Bernardini said that with her class sizes ranging from 10 to 30 students this year, she has also found some students making stronger connections while others have trouble.
“We also have special education and ESL students that I know are struggling with this virtual platform. I’ve had students reaching out to me for extra support,” she said.
“We’ve figured out different ways to work around it, but it is a challenge, figuring out how to provide support for our English Language learning and special needs students,” Bernardini said.
Student liaison Adityasai Palaparthi asked how Bernardini helps keep students engaged in a virtual classroom, and if she sees much lag between asking students questions and their answering. Bernardini said she’s learned to lean on a number of software tools for doing so, including one called Nod that lets students react to their teacher in real time.
“We really love Nod. We use that a lot, because kids can click to give me a thumbs-up, clap, or encourage kids to interact with each other,” she said.
At the high school level, Keagy said he sees students making better use of their time online, since normal distractions in the classroom aren’t there.
“In school, during a regular class, there are so many little interruptions that happen that are kind of normal: somebody needs to go to the bathroom, there’s a call for kids to go to the office, there’s announcements and fire drills, and there could be a behavior problem in a classroom or hallway,” he said.
“All these things disrupt the flow of a lesson. Even things like passing papers out, they chip away at instructional time, and in a virtual world those things don’t exist. I didn’t even notice it at first, but now it’s like, ‘Wow — I have this block of time, and I can use it,’” Keagy said.
Students who are engaged seem to be perform
ing better, absences are down, and students are more accountable and asking more questions.
Keag y said he spent “pretty much the entire month of August” learning Canvas to be ready for students.
“Because I have a good handle on it, I have found it to be a phenomenal tool, but it’s very time-intensive to prepare all of the material, because absolutely everything has to be recreated,” he said.
On the negative side, Keagy said teachers in his department have heard reports of students cheating, and all are looking for ways to reach those students who are falling behind.
“A colleag ue of mine commented and s a id , ‘Kids seem to be all-in, or all-out,’ and there’s a lot of truth to that,” he said.
The other big challenge Keagy said he has seen is w ith hardware: tea chers’ Chromebook laptops are “suf f icient for normal classroom things,” but have trouble w ith streaming video all day or running multiple programs. As if to prove the point, Keagy and Bernardini both had their laptop video feeds freeze during the virtual meeting, and as Keagy recovered and reconnected, Bauer said new laptops for teachers are on order and should be distributed over the next month.
“Just to prove my point, I was using my Chromebook for this, but I am t h r i l le d to hear we’re getting new devices,” Keagy said, and board member Elisha Gee answered, “You have proved your point.”
F usc o a sked if t he teachers were giving students the same amount of homework each night or week , and Ber na rdini said hers has stayed about the same, while Keagy said his was about the same but more students were completing it “because the kids have more time to do their work, but the amount of work has not increased.”
Boa rd member Tim MacBain said he’s encountered many of the same problems as an educator in a different district, and said he was glad to hear the North Penn teachers report they were working through similar issues.
“In many ways, we’re r i g ht t here w ith you. Some members of the committee are also educators, and we are absolutely feeling the same way you are,” he said.