Monday, Republic schools will launch an unprecedented and unplanned experiment in online learning. They’ll do it with less than two weeks of preparation in response to the spread of the new coronavirus. And Superintendent Chance Wistrom said it will be a “learning process” for everyone when teachers and families begin to implement it. But he also believes improved collaboration between teachers, parents, and administrators will allow it to succeed.
The online resources are not mandatory, and a district communication even assures secondary students that submitting assignments can only help their grades, not hurt them. Wistrom’s message to parents looking at lesson plans for the first time is “Don’t get overwhelmed when this first goes out… Teachers will be there to support the process. Don’t stress out if you don’t get through all of it. It’s fantastic if you do, but we are just trying to provide as much support as possible and hit the full gamut of our students and families.”
That effort to meet every student’s needs means some lesson plans are “very robust, and teachers have done an amazing job of plugging in the supports for parents to lead some of those, but it is probably going to be overwhelming to many,” Wistrom said. He said teachers are being charged with providing support to families and students as quickly as possible as lesson plans are rolled out.
The method and timing of response is being left somewhat to individual teachers. Some may establish certain hours of support, and others may respond to requests as they come in. “We are asking that they respond at least within 24 hours for those requests for support,” Wistrom said.
It may take longer than usual for teachers to provide feedback on student work, given all the technical and other issues they are handling at the same time.
Wistrom said teachers and administrators spent a busy week last week preparing for the challenge, and technology helped make that possible when usual face-to-face meetings were not an option.
“There has been a hum of activity throughout our school district. At the middle school, they can’t have staff meetings but there has to be collaboration for this to occur. They’ve had several meetings where they’ve literally had 90 staff members participating. Then those groups would break off into meetings of departments. It was really amazing to see and hear the collaboration that was taking place virtually,” Wistrom said.
“At the elementary level, there’s been collaboration by grade level to put together lessons by day. Regardless of building, grade-level teachers have been collaborating virtually to establish lesson plans for each day, and those will go out. There’s been a tremendous amount of collaboration behind the scenes.”
Wistrom said students and families should get word of lesson plans for all classes, but different classes will have to be handled in different ways.
“Some classes are just more conducive to what we’re trying to accomplish, and other classes, it’s more difficult,” Wistrom said. “People are still trying to work through how they’ll support students and families. Obviously, we can’t replicate school, but we’re going to do the best we can to support folks.”
Elementary teachers will use the same communication platform they’ve been using up to now to push out weekly lesson plans to families. That may be email, or it may be online platforms like Seesaw. Families who don’t have online access can also request printed packets.
Middle school and high school students will get coursework through the Canvas system that has been in place for several years. More information about specific plans is at the district’s website here.