Support the Timberjay by making a donation.

Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

SCHOOL CLOSURES

Distance learning underway in Ely schools

Teachers, students, and parents try to make the best of a tough situation

Keith Vandervort
Posted 4/1/20

ELY – Classrooms were empty and hallways were quiet this week at the Washington and Memorial school buildings, and they will remain that way for the rest of April as students in ISD 696, and …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in
SCHOOL CLOSURES

Distance learning underway in Ely schools

Teachers, students, and parents try to make the best of a tough situation

Posted

ELY – Classrooms were empty and hallways were quiet this week at the Washington and Memorial school buildings, and they will remain that way for the rest of April as students in ISD 696, and across the state, participate in “distance learning.”
The state Department of Education mandated the initiative through an abundance of caution over the expanding coronavirus pandemic sweeping the state, the nation and the world.
The new teaching model will be in place at least through May 4. At this point many question if students will return at all this school year.
Superintendent Erik Erie praised ISD 696 teachers and staff for embracing the changes and taking the steps to transition to the temporary procedures. “We set up the technology and are proceeding with what I think is a great plan to teach our students,” he said. “We are taking all this one step at a time and are aware that things could change quickly.”
He noted that districtwide assessment testing this spring has been put on hold. “The entire state education system will receive a waiver from this federal program this year because of the coronavirus,” he said.
“This has been pretty chaotic,” said K-5 Principal Anne Oelke this week. “It is hard to plan for five weeks of instruction in about six days. We improvised and developed this plan to take us through the month of April.”
Teachers and staff will then be required to reposition their learning plans for students to return to the classroom, hopefully, on Monday, May 4. “We will have to wait to see if that actually happens or if we will continue through the end of May,” Oelke said.
Instead of gathering in their classrooms, students and parents or guardians, along with their teachers, will log on to the internet each school day to gather learning checklists and various worksheets for each subject.
“Just a very small number of parents did not pick up their materials and I am following up with them,” she said.
She outlined how the distance-learning plan will work.
Teachers will be making daily interactions with students on designated school days this month.  “These interactions will look like daily emails to our parents and will include daily checklists for parents or guardians to work through with their students,” Oelke said.
Required attendance will be recorded by each response to the daily email from the classroom. “This is how we will be collecting student attendance through distance learning,” she said. Warm up exercises are followed by activities for each subject, such as language arts, writing, math, reading and exercise.
Oelke said the difference in the ages of students presents unique problems for learning technology. “You can’t just put a five-year-old on a device to do education for themselves. Our focus was really on helping our parents or guardians set up a learning environment at their home and give them everything they could possibly need to facilitate that,” she said.
The first week of distance learning at Washington Elementary was purposefully made slow for families and students to allow everyone to ease into the new way of learning.
Oelke stressed that the school is still there for the families and students. “We want them to call their teachers with any issue concerning this new learning process. We want to answer questions and concerns right away so that families do not become frustrated or overwhelmed. We do not want tears or stress,” she said. 
Grades 6-12 principal Megan Anderson said the transition for students and teachers to the Google Classroom format, which most students are familiar with already, has gone “quite smoothly” while just a couple of teachers were quickly brought up to speed on the process.
“Students are presented with everything from videos and instructions to specific assignments, and they can take tests and quizzes through Google Classroom as well,” Anderson said. “I’m really proud of our staff in stepping up the way they have. This situation has forced everyone out of their comfort zone and they have done amazingly well.”
A few high school teachers are using other means, including the internet video site YouTube. “Our phy-ed teachers have set up regular routines and exercise videos to make sure students stay active,” she said. “And our band teacher (Sarah Mason) is having some fun with different technology resources.”
Anderson stressed that teachers are communicating with all their students on a regular basis. “Some of our teachers said they are impressed with the amount of communication they are having with students,” she said.
The extension of the school closure, that started March 18, forced the postponement of the annual senior class trip to Washington, D.C. late last month. The Junior/Senior Prom at Memorial High School, scheduled for April 18, and the Junior/Senior Banquet, slated for May 6, were postponed, according to Anderson.
Graduation ceremonies are still on as scheduled, but administrators are considering other ways of recognizing seniors should commencement be postponed or even canceled.
“For our seniors in particular, this is their last year in high school and I would love to help them celebrate their graduation. If that means having a ceremony in August, maybe we can do that,” Anderson said.
All school sports and other extracurricular activities remain on hold until the school closure declaration is lifted.
Meals continue to be provided by the Ely school district through the school closure period this month. Breakfast and lunch will be provided on previously scheduled school days, free of charge, from 11a.m. to 1 p.m. To order meals, call 218-365-1735. Pick up meals near the front doors of the Memorial High School. Delivery can be arranged if needed.

coronavirus, schools