By Christine Kilfoil
For students at York Street Public School, the pandemic has been a huge disruption to their usual routine. Students have had to adjust to online learning and the lack of daily contact with their friends and teachers. For York Street student Jane Ewart, “The hardest part is not knowing when schools will reopen. It means I don’t have anything to look forward to because I don’t know when school will go back to normal.”
The school has maintained contact with parents and students through regular email updates and phone calls when necessary. The virtual classroom is the new reality for the time being and a way to ensure some measure of what is known as synchronous learning. This refers to a learning event in which a group of students are engaging in learning at the same time.
Teachers have a degree of flexibility to implement learning depending on student needs and teacher style. “In my classroom, I provide synchronous learning when I provide students and families with their ‘weekly blast’ on Monday morning. Students and families will find different learning opportunities which will be due on Friday. says York Street grade 6 teacher Sara Smith. Ms Smith notes that some other teachers are choosing to post on a daily basis. Most teachers are also making use of Google Meet. Google Meet is a video-conference-calling platform designed primarily for professional use, which links at-home students and teachers r for real-time interaction. “In my classroom, we have three Google Meets scheduled every week at the same time.” says Ms. Smith. Jane, a student in Ms. Smith’s class appreciates that her teacher gives the students 15 minutes before class to talk together, but once class starts Jane notes, “It is just like a regular class where we have to pay attention and do our work.”
Ms. Smith explains the differences with online learning that can present challenges. “Schools are very structured in terms of timing. With the introduction of online learning there is a lack of structure.” Ms. Smith recognizes the difficulties for families to adjust to the online learning environment. “Families have different characteristics which in turn become different schedules. Children in the same families often have different sleep, eating and school schedules.”
Online learning has meant that students can continue their learning while staying safe, but it requires computer literacy. “For those families who struggle with computer literacy, online learning is more difficult.” explains Ms. Smith. She further explains that in response, teachers have been creating and finding videos explaining how to navigate through online platforms. For Ms. Smith, meeting these challenges means creating a learning plan that is structured. “One way to accomplish this has been to maintain the same schedule for synchronous learning. Another important aspect is making clear directions of when work will be assigned and due.”
It is also important to recognize that students have lost more than their learning environment during this time. Recess time is the highlight of a lot of students’ school days says Ms. Smith, and she recognized that holding social gatherings virtually would boost student morale. “In my class, on Fridays we hold a game day. I often plan three games for the class to play. We also find time to chat about our day. Some examples that we have played have included; Would you rather?, Two truths and a lie, Charades, Pictionary, and Kahoots. The students are able to interact and are able to connect with the peers who attend the game day.”
Jane says that game day is something she looks forward to. “It is hard to keep up social interaction during the pandemic,” says Jane. “It’s also hard sometimes to keep motivated to do my school work or go for a walk to exercise. It’s a good thing to have the game times at the end of the week.”
Just as students have different learning needs and family situations, that school staff have different teaching styles too. Ms. Smith explains that the pandemic has been a time for teachers to get creative with ways to reach out to students and their families. At York Street, teachers have established different virtual clubs. For example, in the month of May Chess Club ran once a week and all York Street students were invited. In the month of June, York Street is introducing a games club where students will play a large variety of games with any student who joins. Again, all York Street students are welcome to join. York Street recognizes the importance of students still feeling connected to the school experience even while working from home.
Families are even more important than ever to student learning as the classroom has moved to the kitchen table. To assist families, the Ministry of Education of Ontario has established “Learn at Home” ( https://www.ontario.ca/page/learn-at-home). “Learn at Home” has been established to “[f]ind made-in-Ontario activities, courses and more to keep the learning going, from home” . These activities are used to help families extend student learning at home and as a family. The OCDSB’s Learn-at-Home framework has been developed to meet the Ministry of Education requirements that families can access to support online learning. The Government of Ontario has announced that schools will remain closed for the remainder of the school year.