Zoom Schooling - The 2020 Classroom
BY CANDICE ABRO
March 12th is a date I’ll always remember. I was in my classroom with my 16 kindergarteners and a guest reader when I received an email saying we would not have school the following day or Monday. The email let parents know that students would be off for a couple of days while teachers received training on distance learning.
Little did I know that March 12th would be our last day in the classroom and the last day to see my kindergartners in person. No goodbyes said, no memory books made, no end of the year celebrations, or letter countdowns done. Within a matter of days, our administration and team had a distance learning plan put in place and teachers were trained on how to virtually teach. Not only was it a learning process for teachers and administration, but for everyone else as well.
Covid-19 has dramatically changed the world within days and impacted every aspect of our lives, including education. Unsure what to do, many are dealing with their own jobs and businesses, as well as parents homeschooling their children. As a school, we put those concerns into place when creating a distance learning plan. How would parents with multiple children and limited devices connect? How would students submit work? Do grades count during this time? What platform should we use? All of these questions and more went through our minds when creating a distance learning plan.
Within a matter of days, my circus-themed classroom quickly changed into a Weebly page filled with kindergarten resources and daily Zoom meetings. I’m now posting assignments and resources for parents online and having to turn my hands-on lessons into virtual lessons. It has been a trial and error the first couple of weeks and has felt like starting the school year all over again.
March to June are some of the best times in the classroom. Students know the routine and basics and we work on challenging them and getting them ready for the next year. We have established a relationship, I know my students strengths and weaknesses. I know how to motivate and engage them. Now, I have to learn how to do that virtually.
Of course, it’s not the same as being in the classroom. I can’t give my students the one-on-one attention; I can’t physically see how they are doing on their work or if it’s frustrating to them. Kindergarten is such a hands-on, educational year and it’s hard to teach it over a Zoom meeting. This is the most heartbreaking part of Zoom teaching; I can’t physically be there for my students.
However, I still can teach them and be there for them emotionally, even if its quick check-in on Zoom where they want to tell me about their nature walk or how they built a fort with their family. We are fortunate enough to live in a world where we have technology that allows us to connect with one another and that allows me to continue teaching. There is an amazing world of teachers out there helping one another during this time as we navigate this new world of teaching.
Not all of our students are going to make it to our Zoom meetings or turn in work. They may have other things going on at home, especially with younger students. They are depending on their parents to help guide them and their parents may be going through other things and can’t help them at the moment and that is okay!
We are all trying to navigate this new world together but the most important thing is be present for your kids. They need you now more than ever.
My advice as an early childhood educator, is to have structure at home, but let your kids be kids. Right now, they need to feel safe and loved because their world is so uncertain. Don’t force the school work; we are all in this together and we will get through it. We will catch them up when we are back in school again but for now it is okay to let them play and create at home. Have those movie days, those days you don’t come inside because it’s nice out, play and enjoy this time with your kids and cherish the memories made.