Karen Lancaric knows all too well the flexibility needed in the world of remote learning.
In addition to her job as a second-grade teacher at Highbridge Hill Elementary in New Ipswich, Lancaric has two of her own children in the ConVal school district, which last week made the planned shift to complete remote learning through the holiday season.
It’s a balancing act, as Lancaric tries to engage and educate the students in her Highbridge Hill class, which shifted to full remote in early November after positive COVID-19 cases in the school, and make sure her own children get the support necessary to foster their own learning experience.
“This spring, it was definitely challenging because we were trying to keep our head above water,” Lancaric said. “Oftentimes, my youngest child did get put on the back burner. I was just so busy.”
When every school in the state went to the remote learning model in March and subsequently through the end of the school year, the switch caused disruptions and presented challenges. And while it is not always easy to connect with students through a computer screen, educators are working long days and getting creative to make the most of what has been a difficult school year.
Allison Maher has spent the last three years as a kindergarten teacher at Rindge Memorial School, the same school she attended for her elementary education years, after previously teaching at Jaffrey Grade School.
She was looking forward to being back in the classroom after a spring spent fully remote. But as more parents opted to have their children begin the year in the remote setting, Rindge Memorial needed educators to focus on the remote learners. So for this year, Maher is working with a group kindergarten/first graders completely remote.
“It’s nice to be in the classroom with them,” Maher said. “But I’ve been pleasantly surprised.”
She said finding those connections, both social and emotional, was a big topic of conversation.
“Yes we’ve lost a lot of things, but I try to look for the silver linings,” Maher said.
Fabiola Woods, the teaching principal at Temple Elementary School, started at the school as a kindergarten teacher and then transitioned into the double position. This year she is teaching kindergarten and first grade and just went to the remote model to begin last week.
“Certainly it looks different then a typical kindergarten year,” Woods said.
The reason for the kindergarten/first grade model was for distancing in the classroom. Under normal times, Woods has to find ways to best serve her students in the classroom and the school at large, and the shift to remote will present its own set of challenges when determining what is most needed.
“This year is a little different,” she said. “It’s a balancing act between being a teacher and being the principal. You sort of do what you have to do and you have to balance your priorities and responsibilities. There are days that are very challenging and it’s making yourself available for everybody.”
Lancaric said having the summer was crucial to prepare for the possibility of going back to a remote learning model.
The Mascenic School District implemented a plan that had students in the classroom two days a week and then learning from home the other three. The school board voted to return to in-person instruction four days a week, but never saw that plan play out after positive coronavirus cases in the district led to the decision to go full remote.
“It started with how could we best reach our students at home and in school,” Lancaric said. “We wanted to make sure everyone at home had the same lessons as the students in front of us. It’s easier said than done, but a lot of hard work, patience and understanding, and being open minded to new technology went into it. All my colleagues worked very hard to make the best out of the new model.”
Staying connected as a class is important, so Lancaric said finding ways that the students can still engage with each other was imperative.
“We had to figure out what is going to work,” she said.
In certain lessons, students have to make a video response to a prompt, which allows for them to interact “just as if we were sitting in the classroom,” she said. And it would never be possible without technology.
“I’m just so grateful we’re in this day and age with technology that we can make these things happen,” Lancaric said.
Maher said she was a little worried around starting the year as remote, but “it’s amazing how you get used to it.”
“You just adapt,” she said. “I never thought it would work this way, but it has.”
She tries to balance the work through the computer and with paper and pencil in hand – and of course building in breaks so her students are ready to learn when it’s time. Her one condition to working with fully remote students was that she could be in the building during school hours.
Lancaric said she both physically and mentally prepared for this school year with the understanding that things could change in a moment’s notice – for both her students and her children.
She knew it would add an extra layer to her already full plate when her son and daughter went fully remote. Her daughter helps by reminding her first grade son to get on Zoom calls, but “even as a first-grader, he can do a lot independently,” she said.
She was thankful that ConVal’s elementary schools were fully in-person until the planned remote learning period from Nov. 30 to Jan. 15.
“Unfortunately it just can’t be that way in every district,” she said.
She feels as though her children are staying on track and not falling behind.
Maher said a lot of the success of her students can be attributed to parents and is quick to give them a lot of credit.
“They have been so amazing,” she said. “We have to give them a lot of praise. This isn’t easy.”
Woods said she really had to take a look at what was done in the spring and figure out how to best deliver her lessons.
“We had time to be more thoughtful to better instruct our students,” she said.
The ConVal district has only been remote for a few days, but Woods spent a lot of time preparing for it. She starts with a morning meeting and has built in “What I Need Time” and an appropriate amount of breaks.
“We don’t want students sitting in front of a computer screen all day,” Woods said. “It’s probably more break times than they when they were in person.”
But at the same time, she wants it to be a typical school day, so it all comes down to balance.
“You’re still trying to make it feel like school,” Woods said.
Maher said each day there’s a morning meeting and closing circle, which students are expected to attend at least one. There are small group sessions throughout the day to best serve the students in each grade.
“It’s all about how do you make sure kids are learning,” she said.
While a lot is done on the computer, Maher wants her students learning skills they’d be working on in the classroom.
“They need to be cutting, they need to be writing – have their hands on stuff,” she said. “So I try to treat it like they’re right in front of me.”
Every student in her class gets a one on one session each week because as Maher puts it “it’s a pretty pivotal year.”
Lancaric said each day includes a mix of whole class sessions, as well as breakout rooms for more individualized instruction and small group activities.
“We want to teach them and want them to learn as successfully as possible in this crazy time,” she said.
It comes down to figuring out how to reach each student and identifying which ones need extra support.
She tries to keep it as close to an in-person school model as possible and really gives the credit to her students for making the most of the situation.
“It’s amazing what they can do. We should never underestimate a child,” Lancaric said.
While being a teacher in normal circumstances is a full-time job, Lancaric said she has been spending a lot more time preparing this year, making videos that keep the students attention at home.
“It’s definitely been tiring, been challenging, but for me I’m a big advocate for technology and how we can make it successful in our world of learning,” Lancaric said.
She wishes they could be in school every day, but understands that is just not possible right now.
“That is one of the biggest challenges, not being able to be face to face,” Lancaric said.
She spends a lot of time reviewing work to see how her students are doing.
“It’s additional work and the biggest challenge I’d say is just time,” she said.
Since the kindergarten students are just starting out, Maher worried about some of those foundational pieces of the first school year – like holding a pencil. She has asked parents to periodically send in a picture to make sure it’s being done correctly and that she can work with students who need extra guidance.
She has also spent a lot of extra time making videos to offer those connections.
“But I will say its been better than I expected,” Maher said.
Woods said there was nothing in her career that would have prepared her for life as an educator since March.
“None of us had training in how to teach during a pandemic,” she said. “But we all had to really step up and we learned a lot in the spring how to do it better.”
But she gives a lot of credit to the students for making it work.
“The kids are so resilient. They’re really rolling with the punches so to say,” Woods said.
Lancaric said that for future teachers there should be a remote technology class implemented in their studies because there is a lot that is needed to be successful.
While the hope is that once the coronavirus passes schools will resume operation as normal, but you never know what the future might hold.
“Learning as best as possible and not falling behind, that’s our new goal,” Lancaric said. “We’ve got this huge obstacle to deal with.”