◆ Distance learning and alternative plans were the name of the game in spring 2020.

In a time of uncertainty and abrupt change, one thing has remained certain and unchanging. Just as the rising sun daily dispels the dark and cold of night, the administrators and staff of Lincoln County School District 2 have continued to provide the light of learning and the warmth of love to the students and families they serve.

When schools closed in Mid-March due to shelter-in-place guidelines, educators reached through the distance-learning platform with smiles, enthusiasm, and devotion to providing each student with the best education possible through digital platforms and handmade packets that were created by staff and picked up by parents.

SVI reached out to Dr. Amanda McAdams, LCSD2 Director of Curriculum, to learn what teachers have done to bridge the gap. McAdams and her colleagues at the District Office are extremely impressed with the innovative and creative ways that teachers have continued to reach students. Elementary principals throughout the district also shared a few insights into the heroic efforts of teachers and staff.

Across the district, students are demonstrating learning and they are feeling successful. All 5th grade students are still participating in the Living History Museums through digital means. Mrs. Teri Moore at Etna Elementary is continuing the tradition of an annual song for her 5th grade class.

Kindergarten teachers at Afton Elementary are still holding virtual show and tell sessions with their students, helping each student feel important and included. Each teacher’s personal touch is still present and very real.

As schools went to an online platform, communication between schools and their patrons was critical to success. Each school immediately established calling trees in which every teacher took responsibility for communication with a given list of households. Each home received a personal call from a school representative in the first two weeks of the school closure, which allowed staff to assess which students had the resources necessary to successfully school in the digital platform. Did each home have access to WiFi?

Did each home have enough devices for all the students in the home? Did each family prefer digital or paper packet materials? Each family was then provided with whatever would help them succeed.

A few weeks into the closure, representatives from the district office and from schools reached out to invite feedback from parents about how things were going for them. Through personal phone calls and Zoom meetings, families shared feedback about what the district was doing well and what they could improve.  As the experience has been entirely new for most teachers and families, the feedback was very valuable, helping inspire adjustments to make the experience as comfortable and productive as possible.

“The first thing we did as a staff when the closure was announced was learn how to make a video, save a video, upload a video and share a video,” said Cokeville Elementary Principal, Harold Hatch.  “A very small percentage of our staff had done this.  Now, they could host webinars on how to do this.  This turned out to be a great way to teach new concepts.  Students had the video and could watch it over and over again as they practiced their new skill.”

Every teacher in every school has invested well beyond contract hours each day to ensure that their students felt successful and parents felt supported. Teachers learned new technical skills. Extra materials packets were created and distributed. Phone calls were answered to assist parents who needed to work all day and school their children in the evenings. For many, the school day has been hours longer than it was in the brick and mortar setting.

“One teacher in our building, Mrs. Marti Warner, wrote a simple handwritten individual note to her students with a treat taped to it,” said Hatch.  “It was a form of great encouragement and support to each student as we were all a little shocked at what was going on in the world.  My son is in her class and it brought a warm smile to his face.  I know other teachers in our building did similar things for their students as well.  A couple weeks into the closure, one of our paraprofessionals, Jan Moody, made signs for each student with an emoji face of their teacher (They really looked life-like), and a positive phrase of encouragement from each teacher on the signs. She posted them in each student’s front yard.  The kids loved them!  I received a lot of compliments from parents on how thoughtful this was.”

CES families have responded with expressions of appreciation. “We had a number of families use sidewalk chalk on the sidewalk of our school to write thank you notes to our staff for all of their hard work,” said Hatch.  “Several of the notes said, ‘Thanks for helping me learn,’ and one funny one said ‘Please. No more homework!’  It was a very thoughtful and kind deed that we all appreciated.”

“Our music program has probably had to be the most flexible and creative,” said Keith Klein, Etna Elementary Principal.  “Mr. Luke Kratz and Mrs. Lisa Barber have worked hard to stay connected to students via Google Classroom and Zoom.  Their commitment and persistence have been commendable.  Mr. Kratz has figured out how to instruct, model, and facilitate performances for our students from 4th grade to 6th grade.”

Mrs. Katie Thygerson, Library and Media Specialist at EES has worked to provide a variety of digital learning and reading opportunities for students during the closure.  In addition, she has done all she can to make the best of a disappointing situation created by the closure.  The EES school play was only days away from performance dates when school closed.  She has maintained communication with the cast and ordered t-shirts as a gift for each student involved to recognize the hard work they invested. She and other directors are working to assemble a collection of pictures and videos that they will share with cast members as a keepsake.

“Our paraprofessionals have functioned as amazing support for teachers and students, whether it be assisting in individual tutoring and learning support or aiding in providing feedback to students in the Google Classrooms,” said Klein.  “What our Special Education Department has done for students with Individualized Education Plans has been AMAZING!  They have worked hard to keep generally struggling and reluctant learners engaged and successful.”

Some students have thrived in the new digital classroom environment. “We have been pleasantly surprised by some of our students who in the classroom have introverted personalities and have blossomed with our alternative learning plan,” said Klein.  “Their Zoom personas have been a delight to get to know.  Teachers have also used strategies out of necessity that they are excited to put into practice when we return to brick and mortar.  Specifically, the Google Classroom has been a great way to facilitate learning for individuals and create some flexibility and organization of work that was previously under-utilized.”

Osmond Elementary also adapted quickly to the environment and continued to make adjustments based on their experience, student need, and parent feedback. One teacher at OES did a live Zoom session to teach her students about measurement through a cooking activity.  She taught the students how to measure ingredients and they all cooked together through Zoom.

“When one teacher structured her Google Classroom, she posted assignments and tasks forum-style, housed videos separately, and provided feedback after tasks were completed,” said Daniel Barnes, Principal at OES. “After recognizing that these were aesthetically mutually exclusive, she went to work streamlining the experience for kids by making slideshows for every day of the week. The slideshow contained warm greetings, a review of prior concepts, videos, positive affirmations, instructional videos, assignments to be completed, and a rubric for self-evaluation and teacher feedback. In this way, teaching, learning, assessment, and feedback were more deeply aligned.”

“One teacher at Osmond has assigned the class to read and discuss the content of a grade-level novel,” said Barnes. “The teacher has recorded lessons where she reads excerpts of the assigned chunk of text and stops strategically to ask questions and promote connections with the text and the skills being taught and practiced (inferring, for example). She then assigns students questions to answer and provides feedback for improvement. Students who struggle with the reading are given the opportunity to meet with a small group via Zoom to read the book together and ask questions to help further support their comprehension.”

Celebration must be adjusted along with academics, and so OES staff members have prepared a video presentation recognizing students who have achieved goals and excelled throughout the year. The presentation will be available on the school website this week.

Thayne Elementary staff and teachers have provided very personal service to families throughout the closure. “Teachers have gone above and beyond by helping parents with things outside of school like getting tires fixed, buying diapers, taking food and grocery store gift cards,” said TES Principal, Dr. Lori Schieffer.  “We have had virtual assemblies, given out awards, sung school songs, and played games. One game we played was Guess the Masked Teacher by having a teacher sing the school song without the students being able to see the teacher. Third grade teachers created name poems for each student and printed them on their ‘Go Home Bags’ for their belongings. They also attached fun treats like sunglasses or inflatable balls to help students get a jump start on summer.”

Mrs. Annette Matijczyk sent home plants for her students in their ‘Go Home Bags,’ and other teachers sent glow sticks, candy, and novelty items. Each TES staff member has created a personal farewell video to share with the students as the school year formally ends.

The TES 2nd Grade teachers have traditionally taken their students on a spring field trip to Shumway Farms in Osmond. This year, they adjusted the tradition by creating a virtual field trip. They shot and edited video footage of the farm, sent home seeds for students to plant grass, and assigned a journal activity for students to measure and track the growth of their grass. Videos were uploaded to the Google Classroom to show students how to do it, and they are creating a virtual memory book for the students.

“One exciting piece to all of this that we’ve been through is that it has helped us pinpoint what is very most important in the world of education,” said Hatch.  “And that is most definitely the students.  The silence in our schools right now is a vivid reminder of why we do what we do – we do it all for the kids.  They are our joy.  They are our future.  They are the reason we love our jobs.  The closure has allowed us to focus our curriculum into what is really essential for our students to learn and be able to do.  During the closure we have constantly asked ourselves, ‘Is this really important for my students to know?’  And we’re adjusting our curriculum accordingly.”

Some might feel that so much has been lost to our students due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but the administrators of LCSD2 agree that the district has made incredible gains and learned critical things. Even through educating has continued through technical means, teachers have found creative and meaningful ways to give their work the personal touch they always have, filling the children of our communities with light, warmth and peace.