CONTINUOUS LEARNING - Part Two

EDITOR'S NOTE: THIS IS PART 2 OF A THREE-PART SERIES

On March 17, Kansas Governor Laura Kelly ordered the closure of all schools in the state in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19, the coronavirus.
On March 19, Kansas Education Secretary Dr. Randy Watson released his guidelines for Continuous Learning, an online program for schoolchildren to continue receiving education.
For the first time in Kansas history, public schoolteachers and schoolchildren went online to finish their academic year.
USD 333 implemented plans that had been in the making for several years, and took the district online. Everyone involved, from the administrative staff to teachers and students, had begun a new era of education.
"Teaching the accounting class has been challenging," said Michael Loring, an accounting and web page design teacher at Concordia High School (CHS), who also teaches an Intro to Business class at Concordia Junior High School (CJHS). "Accounting instruction is multiple steps and multiple problems to solve. It's a little more difficult to respond to ongoing questions as the problems arise."
Loring, like every USD 333 instructor, had to make major adjustments to his normal routine. "At school I had a classroom, a desk, a chalkboard - now I use my couch at home."
Loring teaches online every day. He does video instruction on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and uses Tuesdays and Thursdays for workshops and open question periods for his students.
"It's been an adjustment for all the teachers and students. But the school administration was great. As soon as we knew this was the way we were going to go, Stacy Larsen was really good about providing live training seminars for the teachers. We were constantly getting videos showing how to do things through Google Classroom."
How are Loring's students reacting to the new process?
"At first, a lot of them were happy they were out of school," Loring said. "But really, as time went on, they began to realize how much they missed being in a classroom. They miss seeing their friends and being around their teachers. Some of the kids really like working online, but a lot of kids miss the structure of being in school. Some of them are struggling with the change."
Leah Loring, Michael's wife, is a 4th grade math and social studies teacher at Concordia Elementary School (CES). "I didn't use Google Classroom very much at the school," she said, "so there was an adjustment for me going online and getting used to it. Trying to get all the kids connected and participating has been the biggest issue. After one week, there were still some kids who hadn't turned in any work."
Loring misses the social interaction with her students. "All in all it's gone really well, especially for a rural environment where a lot of kids just don't have internet or a device to use. These kids are resilient, but they do miss the structure and routine of a classroom. Kids just react differently to their teachers than they would a parent at home trying to be a teacher."
Loring is especially pleased with how supportive parents have been, and the community as a whole. "I think we've all really rallied together for the sake of the kids. But I do worry about the kids who might not have the support system outside of school. School was always a safe place for these kids for eight hours a day. I know some of them miss that."
Gene Rundus, the At-Risk coordinator for USD 333, works with about 50 kids who need extra help. "Some of them struggle with reading interaction and were better with personal, one-on-one interaction," Rundus said. "It was hard to keep some of them engaged in a classroom, so online learning can be difficult. Different kids need different kinds of help, so contacting them and engaging them in a meaningful way is important."
Rundus also praised the district's technology team for having the school prepared for the abrupt switch to online learning. "Kelly Struebing and Trish McDaniel have done a great job. We've been able to ramp up our internet capability and connect with so many more kids in the district."
With any new endeavor, there are start-up problems, and Continuous Learning was no exception. "There have been snags and glitches," Rundus said. "Sometimes it requires a little out-of-the-box thinking. We're learning that there will be ways to do some things better, but I'm grateful for the willingness of everyone to pitch in, and our administration has allowed room for the human element through all this, not just the curriculum element."
Dave Gieber teaches CHS and CJHS business classes, and was concerned about percentages when the Continuous Learning program was put into action. "I was a little worried about how good the turnout would be with students connecting online and then getting their work back to me. But it's all been really good."
Gieber is another teacher who misses the in-classroom interaction with his students. "Their visual expressions tell you a lot about what they're thinking, and I've lost that. If we ever have to do this again, I would like to be able to have more face-to-face time with my students. But they all seem to be adjusting well. My PAWS kids have been doing very good."
Gieber has strong empathy for the seniors in his classes. "It's been a tough time for some of them. They're missing out on all those final things that seniors go through. But I think a lot of them are going to be ready to move on to the next step in life."
Gieber, like most every teacher in USD 333, has longer workdays with Continuous Learning than he did in the classroom. "I've had days where I start at 8 a.m. and I'm still working with kids at 9 p.m. But it's worth it. We want these kids to know we'll always be there for them, no matter what."
Jamie Meyer teaches Math, Algebra II, Calculus, and Trigonometry at CHS, and also misses the visual connection with her students. "What's been difficult is not being able to see the faces of the students," she said. "In Google Classroom I have to flip it over to presentation mode, and that covers up all their faces. There's so much you can tell from their faces on whether or not they understand what you're trying to tell them."
With online learning, Meyer's classroom is now the dining room table in her house. "I like to use the dining table, because there's a lot of windows and I get sunshine in. The downside is that every night I have to tear down my 'classroom' so my family can have supper."
Meyer estimates she now puts in about 70 hours a week as a teacher. "I prep every morning so I can begin classes at 10 a.m., and go straight through until 2:30 p.m. Then I start building lesson plans, grading assignments, and I get a lot of calls. Sometimes I'm still talking to kids at ten o'clock at night. But I think the hours will lessen as we get more acclimated to the process."
Meyer agrees that most of her students have adapted well to online learning. "I think some students would be very happy if this is the way school was all the time. But most of them miss the face-to-face time with the other students. I miss it too, and I miss the other teachers; that camaraderie we always have."
Meyer praised the parents and their contribution to the overall process. "The parents have also had to make a major adjustment to their home life. Sometimes both parents are still working full-time, so some older kids are baby-sitting their siblings while still trying to do their own classes. That doesn't always go well. After a week, about five-percent of my students hadn't turned in any work or logged-in online. So I started emailing their parents. That changed the tune pretty fast," she added with a laugh. "A little parental intervention always helps."
Personal contact with the students, and that one-on-one interaction, plays an integral roll in the job Brandt Hutchinson does as middle school counselor.
"When school closed I was worried," Hutchinson said. "I had personal contact with about 50 kids on a weekly basis, and probably five to ten kids a week who would just walk in to my office and want to talk. Most of the kids are doing good, but some of them really need that face-to-face time with me. I worry about the kids who just don't have a good support system outside of the school."
Hutchinson echoes the common theme among teachers, and a growing realization among the students: a school environment is important in their lives.
"I hope this makes us all appreciate how important it is - especially with young kids - to have that school environment. A lot of these kids need that one-on-one connection with their teachers and counselors."
Hutchinson praised the parents who have taken on the additional load of being part-time teachers at home. "There's more pressure being put on parents, because the home front is the front lines for all of this."
Education is the most important aspect of schooling, but when the schools closed, extracurricular activities also became a casualty. Sports programs are teaching grounds, and often an integral part of the school curriculum. School sports often teach life lessons that carry on into a student's adulthood.
Hutchinson is the baseball coach at CHS, and knows the school closure is affecting some of his players. "It's hard for all students who participate in extracurricular activities, but especially the seniors. They've lost out on that final year of competing in high school. As defending league champions, our team had lofty goals for this year, and with our depth we were prepared to make a deep run. But we'll all get past that. I think this pandemic puts everything in perspective: just being healthy and safe is what matters the most."
Michael Wahlmeier is the high school geometry and 8th grade math teacher, and also the tennis coach. He regrets the boys tennis team losing their season, and his own kids missing out on their spring sports.
"It's tough on some of them," he said. "Sports were a part of their high school lives. But these kids are also really amazing. Their ability to adapt has been inspiring."
Teachers have also adapted. Wahlmeier now teaches from a storage room at his house. "Math is not an easy language to test on video. I use the whiteboard at my house to write equations on, and that helps."
Wahlmeier applauded the district administration's efforts to convert to online learning. "Kelly (Struebing) has done a great job getting all this set up for us, and made this as efficient as possible."
Like all the teachers interviewed, Wahlmeier has experienced some problems with Continuous Learning in the first two weeks. "There are issues. Sometimes the kids - and me - get frustrated when things don't work well. One day you feel like it went great, and then the next day you're ready to throw your computer out the window. This is a learning process for all of us. We're all adapting."
The Wahlmeier family has school-age kids of their own, so he works double-hard at the teaching end. "We use the dining table for school-time, and you definitely see a difference in how that works, and sometimes doesn't."
Echoing the sentiment of other teachers, Wahlmeier wishes the online learning program provided more one-on-one time with students. "You want to be accessible to all the kids.  You just always worry about the students during something like this. We want them all to know that we might not be able to be there for them physically, but we're here for them whenever they need us."
What do the students think about all this? How has online learning affected their life, in and out of the school system?
Jacob Rosenbaum, a senior at CHS, said: "Our teachers are performing really well with distance learning. They are making the process as easy as they can for us. It is a challenge that we are all having to overcome. My biggest challenge is focusing. My biggest positive is the teachers. My biggest disappointment is not being able to sit in class with my friends."
His brother Brett, a 15-year old freshman, said: "I'm really enjoying the distance learning. Instead of 8 hours in class, I'm getting work done in less time and it's giving me more free time. My biggest challenge has been that sometimes things just don't work on the computer. Once I tried to submit a quiz and it didn't go through twice in a row. My biggest disappointment is not getting to go out for tennis."
Kendall Reynolds, a junior at CHS, wrote: "So far online classes have been going great. I know the teachers are working very hard to keep everything as normal as possible. I have much respect for them because I know it's just as hard for them as it is for us students."
Quinn Kymer, a 5th grader, is one of the students adapting well: "With all this coronavirus stuff happening, school is kind of hard to do," he said. "But it’s sort of nice because it is shorter than usual. I miss my friends and my teachers. But at the end of the day it is kind of easy."
Piper Ferrell, a 4th grade student, wrote: "Overall, online schooling is efficient, but there are some pros and cons... in the video chats kids can get very obnoxious. Things like playing odd songs, yelling, and even playing on other devices and trying to be "cool". Unfortunately this happens a lot. But you can work on your own and you don't have specific time frames. For example: math time at physical school would be 10:00 to 11:30 while as online schooling you have all day to get it done. Also, at physical school you would take it one day at a time, while at online school you have like 5 days of work due that day if you procrastinate. At online school you don't have to get up at 7:30 to get to school on time. But teachers do have specific office hours where you can chat with them and ask questions. I enjoy the websites they assign like Epic or Readworks. But the best part is our math teacher Mr. Brown made a game for the kids who logged on, and we had a blast on Kahoot. So overall, online schooling is efficient and fun."
Tre Hamiel, a 5th grader, said that he is able to have extra contact with his teachers. "I like that I can ask my two teachers (Mrs. Koester and Mrs. McFadden) questions about my homework every day. It's great that I get to see all of my friends every day (online), and we can create our own meeting place to help each other and talk. We have fun. But I don't like that some people don't turn their microphone off when we are trying to listen to the teacher, and we can hear all of their background noises. Also the camera on my Chromebook lags so much you can't hear what the other person is saying. Online school is going to help us through the school year, but I will be happy to be back in the classroom with my friends in the fall."

IN FRIDAY'S PAPER: Continuous Learning - Part Three
An interview with Concordia Elementary School principal Derek Holmes; Sara Niehues, the Assistant Director of Special Education for the Learning Cooperative of North Central Kansas; and USD 333 Superintendent of Schools Quentin Breese talks about the future of district education.