Laura from Nova

Hi Jay!

 We had zero notice that they were going to close schools. We left like it was a normal Wednesday, and Thursday morning they sent a notice that it was closed for a time period of 7 school days I believe. The students took nothing home that they wouldn’t take on a normal day.

Luckily, I’d been hounding them to take their laptops home every night to get charged to create a habit in preparation for state testing, so they had those. They did open the building early on for parents to come get items, but that was before schools were closed for the year. So, I don’t believe many parents took advantage of that offer believing that we’d be back to school after spring break. Then, a staff member at my building tested positive, so the building was locked completely down with no idea of when we will get back in.

I was able to go one day that first week to get my laptop (didn’t follow my own directions), and my room had been cleaned to the point of it looking like it had been packed up for the year. It’s bizarre. 

The instruction I do is entirely online. I believe they have packets available at the lunch pick up sites for the younger students who don’t have laptops. But 3-12 is all one-to-one in my county for devices.

I already used Google classroom, so I am giving them assignments through that per county directive. Given the structure of my classroom, I think I have it easier than most in being able to offer some instruction online, but it’s nowhere near what I could do if I had them in the classroom.

It has been very challenging for many students, parents, and teachers trying to meet everyone’s needs and offer equity in delivery. Many parents are facing a lot of added stress from working at home or loss of income, and justifiably feel like the amount of work and the rigor of work is too high for what they are able to support at this stress-filled time. Families also have varying degrees of ability to support the technology required—both from an actual bandwidth side and an understanding of how to use it side. Other parents have a greater ability to support their children with at home lessons, and they would like more than what we are offering so their children don’t fall behind. It seems next to impossible to meet everyone’s needs when everyone’s home life is different and none of us signed up for this. I do not envy the people who have to make these decisions. I think us teachers are all just trying our best and hoping that what we do will be able to benefit our students in some way.

My heart just breaks for all the students in school transition years…especially the seniors. It’s hard to miss out on the things you spent years looking forward to. My students go to 3 different middle schools, so many of them won’t get to see each other again in this way. But we will get through it and grow from it. And we’ll all get to add virtual learning master to our resumes. 🙂