With the announcement of the Saskatchewan government’s plan to re-open the province in five phases on April 23, teachers from all over were likely paying close attention to see what decision will be made regarding the province-wide closure of schools — and whether they’ll be back in their classrooms anytime soon.
Teachers in the Prairie South School Division have been working at a distance since March 27, providing their students with a supplementary learning program since school facilities closed abruptly on March 20.
“I don't think there's a teacher out there that doesn't feel like our year was cut short,” said Angela Simoneau, kindergarten teacher at Empire Community School. “I never, ever envisioned this happening, at least in my teaching career.”
Since then, teachers have shifted to providing their lessons through an online format. YouTube videos of lessons, Zoom meetings to answer questions in real-time, and online assignments provided through the ClassDojo app have become the new norm for students and educators alike.
Challenges
The switch to digital and distant learning hasn’t necessarily created more work for educators, said some teachers from Empire, but it has changed the way they interact with students.
The biggest challenge so far is that connecting with their entire class is nearly impossible because of the different circumstances in every household.
Some families have limited access to technology, said Simoneau, or have several children who are all working on different schoolwork at the same time.
Some parents are working from home and can’t facilitate their child’s schoolwork all day, and some parents aren’t working from home and have someone else taking care of their children.
It has been especially tough for the elementary age, said grades one and two teacher Ellen Krogan, as the younger age group needs help to set up video meetings and submit school work electronically.
“They need their parents to help them, whereas in middle years or high school, you can kind of put that responsibility more into the kids' hands,” said Krogan.
Teachers are relying on the dedication of parents right now, said Empire’s teachers. Working individually from home means that teachers have no face-to-face contact with their students, and for many, it can be hard to focus without the structure of a classroom.
“It's just not the same in a home environment, as it is at school,” said grades two and three teacher Sandi Gray.
“Some parents have commented saying like, it's really hard to get their kid to do any work. They just don't want to focus, they don't want to do it. They don't see the point,” added Krogan.
Making the Most of Technology
Krogan and Gray have done instructional video calls for their whole class, as well as one-on-one calls with students to help with any questions or concerns. But the draw of the Zoom meetings, for students, seems to be about more than just seeing a visual lesson rather than an online assignment.
“Lots of our Zoom meetings are more so to connect with the kids and say hi, and let the kids talk with each other because they're not seeing each other and they need that time too,” said Krogan.
Both Krogan and Gray are only seeing a handful of their students participating consistently and returning assignments since the change to distance learning, but that number tends to spike during the social Zoom calls.
“Zoom is definitely probably the highlight for the kids, and I think that’s what they need,” said Krogan. “They need to see their friends and that’s what they look forward to. They’re not looking forward to doing the page of math.”
Most Prairie South teachers are focusing on just English Language Arts and Math with their distance learning curriculums right now, which is only two out of seven subjects that would normally be taught.
Krogan, Gray, and Simoneau said they are feeling a bit worried that if the shutdown continues, students may fall behind come September when classes resume normally.
“We already see a slide, when they leave in June and go back in September, and now we’ve left in March,” said Simoneau. “And if we don't come back to school, then it's a five-month break because there's a lot [of students] that aren't engaging.”
A Return to Normal?
On the other hand, all three teachers felt that returning to school before the end of this year could pose it’s own unique challenges as well.
For Simoneau, the success of primary students is so relationship-based that she feels her class would need time to rebuild their trust after leaving so abruptly.
“I feel, probably, that [some of my students] think they've been abandoned a bit and I'm not sure that I would have the same trust coming back that I had when they left, and I think that would make my job more challenging,” said Simoneau.
For Gray and Krogan, they felt it would take a lot of extra set-up at this point to return their classrooms to their functional state and to get all of their students back on the same page.
“You would feel like you have to get through everything that you've missed so far,” said Gray. “And then you’ve got kids that are at different spots because some are doing work now and some are not.”
“If you want a picture of [what it’s like] in the school, our classrooms are turned upside down. It's not like it's left how it was before. It looks like it's summer holidays,” said Krogan.
The province hasn’t yet made a decision about the remainder of the school year, however, and so teachers will continue to provide their students with a regular weekly schedule of lessons.
Although, the notice to parents to retrieve any student belongings left in the schools last week was a moment that felt like a definitive answer to the question of whether schools will be back to normal at all this year.
“We haven't been given the [notice that] it's for sure done, and yet we're sending everything home, so it feels done and that's the hard part,” said Simoneau.
Advice
For now, the main piece of advice that the group of Empire teachers offered parents who may be feeling stressed about keeping their child’s education on track is to work through assignments at a pace that is manageable in your household.
“Take it at your own pace. Like, don't stress, don't get overwhelmed. [At Empire], we all have our lessons set up so that families can move at their own pace,” said Krogan. “We're very thankful to still have our jobs and be able to connect to families that are willing and wanting to and are not overwhelmed with it.”
Simoneau, Krogan, and Gray also recommended parents reach out to their child’s teachers if they have any questions or concerns, and if parents do nothing else, to keep their child’s reading skills sharp.
“I also think [it’s important] to just read with your kid, because we all know it's a stressful time,” said Krogan. “And just spend time with your kid, love them up.”
