John Willoughby
reporter2@greenepublishing.com
COVID-19 has closed the schools across Madison County, but continuous education has yet to be excused. At home, students continue their classwork in a different manner, while teachers remain open to any questions or concerns their students or student parents may have.
On the other end of the computer screen, instructors at Lee Elementary School (LES) are getting used to the circumstances. Nancy Varn, a third-grade teacher, stands by her fellow colleagues in saying they remain steadfast in supporting the parents and their now homebound students during this time of distance learning. "I'm enjoying getting to know my students and their families," said Varn, who works closely with Heather Douglas, teaching a gifted program at LES.
Douglas, a pre-kindergarten educator at LES and a mom to students who are participating in the online platform, has a bright outlook about the temporary learning approach. While she says the teachers weren't trained to be online teachers, they are adapting. "It's a learning process for all of us," said Douglas. "Parents have been really receptive."
Douglas, an experienced Madison County teacher, has utilized Zoom for individual, meetings with students and their parents and has participated in other activities, such as a school-wide bedtime story activity, show and tell and class lessons using Class Dojo, a widely-used tool for teachers throughout North Florida.
"I could not do it without the support of the district, my principal, my co-workers at LES and fellow Pre-K teachers in the district. At Lee, we are a family and our closeness helps as we are in contact with each other every day, working together to do what is best for our students," Douglas added.
On the other end of the county, Deidre Myers, a first-year teacher at Greenville Elementary School (GES), says that distance learning has been a learning experience in itself. "Nothing could have prepared me for being an online teacher. It was not easy to adjust from teaching my students face to face to guiding them through a phone, computer or tablet," said Myers, who is also pursuing an online college degree outside of teaching.
Myers stated that one of her biggest hurdles was taking into consideration that not every student has access to internet. A majority of her students are learning online, but there are some who are learning out of textbooks. She details that the highlight of her day is being able to visit with her students via Zoom, allowing them to catch up with their fellow classmates.
"I miss my students more than anything and I wish we could go back to our school to continue out the year since none of us had the opportunity to say 'goodbye,'" said Myers. "A lot of this would be a lot more stressful and harder to adjust to if it wasn't for my team leader, Ms. Jakira Moore!"
Shirley Joseph, Superintendent of Schools for Madison County, stated that this form of instruction is just as much of a new territory for the Madison County School District (MCSD) as it is for the teachers, parents and students. "Some say 'yay,' others say 'nay,'" says Supt. Joseph.
MCSD has made learning resources available to students and parents for their use at any time during the period of at-home instruction. Ms. Joseph continues to encourage parents to utilize resources through their teachers as needed. "Your teacher is at your disposal," the Superintendent adds. "You just have to get into the habit of [reaching out to them]." She also states, if you can't reach the teacher, "call the district office."