Contact over content

Focus on connecting with students as classes move online

Tom Milstead
Posted 4/15/20

GOSHEN COUNTY – The COVID-19 pandemic has created an unprecedented time of government-mandated closures and ushered in an era of social distancing.

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Contact over content

Focus on connecting with students as classes move online

Posted

GOSHEN COUNTY – The COVID-19 pandemic has created an unprecedented time of government-mandated closures and ushered in an era of social distancing.

But, thanks to a massive and selfless effort by Goshen County School District No. 1, one thing it didn’t do was leave the county’s children without access to their teachers and guidance counselors. In light of Governor Mark Gordon’s order to close public spaces – including school buildings – the district made the decision to take its curriculum online. These modified classes started Monday, and according to GCSD Superintendent Ryan Kramer, the first week has gone pretty well.

“There’s a lot of up and downs and a lot of things we’re going to talk about in the district-wide staff meetings,” he said. “We went from our typical, face-to-face, seeing-kids-every day expectations to implement an online learning plan in a matter of days.”

According to the district’s distance learning plan, which is available on goshen1.org, kindergarteners and first graders have a maximum instruction time of 45 minutes a day. Second and third graders have a maximum of 60 minutes, while fourth and fifth graders have a maximum of 90 minutes. Junior high and high school students are allowed 30 minutes per class, and no more than three hours per day. The district’s first priority, the plan said, is to keep the family and the students in mind.

One major change during this time, however, is that the content is to taking a back seat to contact. Kramer said the mental health of students, teachers and families is paramount, as they’re trying to learn while the pandemic runs its course.

“It’s something that will really drive where we’re at in the coming weeks,” Kramer said. “‘Are you feeling overwhelmed? Is this too much? Where can we get balance between what can be reasonable at your home, and what might be unreasonable?’”

“There are so many variables. You have some families who have multiple adults who can provide significant support throughout the day, and in other homes all of the adults are working on a daily basis. Some kids are having to take care of their siblings. All of those things are just so significantly different from family to family, and we have to make sure we’re working with each individual family to curtail what the expectations are and make sure we have the most success we possibly can.”

The district issued its guidance counselors cell phones and listed the numbers on the GCSD website, goshen1.org. Kramer said affronting students access to their guidance counselors was an important measure.

“One of our biggest things is having our counselors available on school-issued cell phones. We have all of their numbers posted on our website for students to access. That was one of our primary areas of importance – having the ability there, checking in. That is really a central point of our whole remote learning plan.

“It’s not necessarily built around what content we expect students to master, but about the communication between the teacher and the student – ‘how is everybody doing? It’s checking in on that weekly basis, not only for attendance, but for mental health purposes, to check and see how we can help. That has been a common theme this week.”

While the transition to learning online can be difficult for every student, it can be even more daunting for special education students. According to Kramer, the district has made every effort to ensure those students have access to the resources and accommodations they need to be successful.

“We have each individual who has an IEP, they have been working with a special education teacher to develop a distance learning plan,” he said. “What we’re doing is taking their existing accommodations and interventions and modifying those to meet the needs of this current environment. That might be from having Zoom meetings with their special education teacher to work on specific assignments, to having breakout Zoom meetings, from where they meet with their regular classroom and that special education teacher of associate can pull them out into their own small room and work individually with kids.”

While the first week, went smooth, it wasn’t without issues. As things come up, Kramer said the district will work through to provide the best service it can until school buildings reopen.

“I think we’ve learned a lot after the first week and it will continue to get better,” he said. “I think we’re going to find things that are very successful from some of our Zoom meetings, to some of our activities that are very successful, and some that might not have worked out the way we planned.”