Students return to campus
Twenty-five years of teaching and nothing could have prepared her for the year to come.
Special education coordinator Karen Pumphrey and her students were among the first to return to campus but not without taking the proper COVID-19 precautions.
“We are required to wear a face mask,” Pumphrey said. “We are limited to how many students or how many people we can have in a classroom, and we have to allow for social distancing.”
Other precautions include face shields, gloves, plexiglass, taking temperatures and family health screenings.
Among other changes, the schedule of students on campus is new and improved to ensure the safety of all.
“Students on campus have an alternating day schedule.” Zimmerman said. “Last names A-L are ‘A’ day and M-Z are ‘B’ day” Other aspects of the school day have been altered as well. Students are to enjoy an on campus and socially distance lunch period, along with nine week grading periods.
Of course, these new rules come with their challenges, especially for Pumphrey.
“Just making sure that there’s space, and people are feeling like it’s a safe environment is important,” Pumphrey said. “Not overstepping into a boundary that might be uncomfortable for others. I think that’s probably been the hardest thing.”
But, no challenge comes without reward. Pumphrey has enjoyed her first few weeks back to in-person teaching, even in the new school environment.
“It’s been fantastic. It was actually so nice to get students back into the classroom,” Pumphrey said. “It feels like we’re moving towards normal. Even though (my students) are working from their devices while they’re in the classroom, just seeing their faces and getting that reassurance of ‘yes, I get it’ or ‘I need some help’ has been really nice. It just feels like it’s right to have them back into the classroom.”
Even Pumphrey’s students are enjoying their time back on campus, and so are the other students who have returned more recently.
“Talking to students who have returned to campus, they are glad to be back.”
Zimmerman said. “Although it is different than they expected overall I think the majority of those students who have returned are happy with the choice and feel a sense of normalcy.”
Keeping up with the new precautions has not been as challenging as Pumphrey anticipated.
“I thought it was going to be more difficult, because we didn’t think that some of our students would be able to keep their mask on throughout the day,” Pumphrey said. “We do have some students that have health issues that don’t allow them to wear a mask all day long. I thought that would be the biggest thing, but it’s not, and everybody’s been washing their hands.”
The new safety procedures in place also have not affected connecting with students, which is the aspect of teaching which has had the most impact on Pumphrey.
“I am an advocate for all students and provide opportunities for continuous relation building,” Pumphrey said. “I believe in showing respect, being patient and having a flexible mindset.”
These students are still able to understand what is said with the face mask on, and in the case of Pumphrey’s classes, they’re looking for the cues with hands and eyes.
Although planning for in-person school was a little last minute and adjusting to teaching students online and on campus simultaneously was difficult, Pumphrey is still optimistic about the rest of this year.
“I see growth for everyone,” Pumphrey said. “Learning the new methods, taking things that work and building upon those. I hope to see more students returning, and for those who are not able to return, connecting a little bit more or being able to follow along with the activities more independently.”
If you are questioning whether or not you wish to return to campus, here are a few things to consider.
“Students need to determine what method of learning works best for them.” Zimmerman said. “Being on campus does come with some expectations for behavior that are not in place while they are at home. Also, students may find that what they are expecting when they return to the classroom may look very different.”
As more students are returning to campus, it is important to learn from the mistakes made as we transition to a new, safe, learning environment.
“We are lifelong learners,” Pumphrey said. “I’ve learned over the years that everything changes, and it’s so important to be able to adapt.” By Kira Sandys
First-day frustrations with new program
In her 19 years of teaching, she had never felt so ill-equipped.
AP English teacher Kimberly Dill, and many teachers like her, had a rough first week with the new tools given for digital education.
She wondered why she had to click so much, why the system wasn’t as intuitive as other digital applications.
She wondered why it was taking so long for the various digital problems to get fixed.
The new digital format simply made it much harder for Dill to do her job.
“Teaching is meant to be in-person – building relationships is an important part of that – reading students’ faces when they get it or don’t,” Dill said.
“Yes, I can build relationships and teach through a screen, but it makes it much more difficult when systems have not been put in place or teachers are staring at black screens instead of faces.”
This new format is Schoology, and it has replaced Google Classroom as the new system of learning in Dill’s district.
For the 2020-21 school year, Northside chose the system as the new main digital hub for distance learning, picking it over another system Canvas.
Vice principal Melissa Hurst explains that the Schoology system was chosen to curb digital problems from last year.
“The district recognized the need for a more robust, for lack of a better term, learning management system,” Hurst said. “Many, many people lodged complaints about the Google Classroom in the Spring.”
“It’s been a little rough on the front end getting the systems to sync correctly in some instances,” Hurst said. “But I think in the end, it will prove to be a much more powerful tool [than Google Classroom].”
AP English teacher Cameron Yarborough has seen this syncing problem firsthand.
“The big problem really is that we are asking Schoology to talk to a lot of other systems. Our portal, the grade book, Google,” Yarborough said.” And that sometimes makes a crowded conversation and not everyone hears each other so well.”
Regardless of the syncing issues, AP History teacher Lauren Bartell likes the way she can organize folders and info on Schoology.
While Google Classroom was just a list or stream of announcements, she feels this new organization is better for students in the long term, especially for information they may need all year in AP classes.
“Students [need to] find things,” Bartell said. “This might sound crazy but there is a lot of brain research that says you need to be able to categorize info you put into your brain so you can retrieve it later. That’s why I’m big on making sure students understand what unit, world region, and time period we are studying at all times.”
With changes to be seen all over Clark, Northside, and education as a whole, Yarborough gives advice to students progressing forward in this changing environment.
“My advice would be the same as my advice given to teachers, to adapt,” Yarborough says. “You know, we really don’t have a choice. I would rather have students at their desks; I miss the conversations, miss the human interaction.
However, we can still form the kind of student-teacher relationships that help all of us be successful. So much more is being put on our students’ shoulders right now. It’s probably harder for a student to be motivated but for the moment, but we have to adapt, find a way, and that’s really what progress is, being able to adapt.” By Ian Pumphrey