Teachers at Oakdale elementary school show can-do attitudes as distance-learning begins
As she worked from her desk in her empty classroom at Fair Oaks Elementary School on Thursday morning, fifth-grade teacher Mary White had to put on her IT-troubleshooter hat a number of times.
Trying to help one of her students studying remotely, she said to the girl through her computer screen, “I want you to go back up to your name in the upper right-hand corner and log out.”
“I can’t do that,” the child replied.
“OK, I’ll go to your screen, I’ll GoGuardian and check it out,” White said, referring to a tool for teachers to manage their instruction tech.
A moment later, another child said she typed in a code and got a message it was invalid. White suggested the girl likely had typed it incorrectly and told her to try again.
And so it went in her classroom and almost certainly many others as four school districts in Stanislaus County — Oakdale, Riverbank, Roberts Ferry and Valley Home — began their academic years this week. Most other school districts, including Modesto City Schools and Turlock Unified, begin next week.
If they’re able to get onto the internet and sign into their schools’ learning systems — an issue at least some districts still are wrestling with — kids are studying from home, grandparents’ homes, child care facilities and other locations. Teachers are working from their classrooms, except in districts that have allowed staff with high-risk health issues or school-age children of their own to teach from home.
Oakdale Joint Unified began its school year Thursday, and Fair Oaks Principal Kathy Pinol said the first two days are meant for welcoming, settling in and problem solving, as White was doing.
“We’re all on this huge learning curve,” the principal said. “The district has said just do your first-day activities, just get the kids used to the technology and your routines, and then the actual instruction starts Monday.”
Fair Oaks, Oakdale’s biggest elementary school, with 828 students, invited The Bee into a few classrooms and corridors Thursday to observe and interview teachers. Here’s a snapshot of what was going on:
No holding puppy up to the camera
Stacy Haydn-Myer stepped outside of the second-grade classroom where she team teaches with Rebecca Peregoy. Together, they have 48 students, 37 of whom were logged in for the first day of instruction.
“I think that’s going to be typical these first couple of days,” Pinol said of the virtual absences. “Everyone’s still learning and we’re still answering phones about getting the log-in and how to get into the (online) classroom and stuff.”
Even for the kids who were present, there are still a lot of unknowns and learning as you go, Haydn-Myer said, but the students were smiling and engaging, and it’s just “really, really nice to see them.”
Thursday was all about getting to know one another, explaining routines and procedures, talking about the books and materials that will be used. “We’re just really laying out the foundation of what our classroom’s going to look like,” Haydn-Myer said.
She and Peregoy also are setting down ground rules, like don’t hold your puppy up to the camera, don’t lie down, don’t eat or drink while using your device.
And just as the teachers ask students to raise hands instead of shouting out answers in an in-person class, they’re letting the kids know how to use some nonverbal responses — thumbs up, head nods and more — rather than muting and unmuting their microphones all the time.
‘Brain breaks’ for everyone
In another classroom, third-grade teacher Macy McNeil was explaining to her students their daily schedule. From 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. is math, she said at one point, quickly reassuring the children that they won’t have to work for an hour solid. “I’ll give you lots of breaks in between. We can go and have potty breaks, we’ll have snack breaks, we’ll get up and have brain breaks just like we would in the classroom.”
She informed the kids of their other periods of study: English language arts, social studies, science, physical education. And yes, P.E. actually will get physical. She’ll give some exercise options and kids will be able to choose what they want to do to “get that energy out, get those brains working” because “we need healthy bodies and minds for this. This is a lot of time on the computer screen.”
Noon to 2 p.m. will be office hours, during which McNeil will lead small-group work and join students in Google Meet to answer questions and go over material they may be struggling with. She also spoke to her students about schoolwork such as ELA benchmark worksheets, weekly writing assessments and reading fluency.
Can you hear me now?
Teacher Joey Prather, stepping into the hallway from his fifth-grade classroom during a break, said he was surprised and pleased to have 26 of his 30 students signed on for Day 1. They seemed pleased, too, offering lots of thumbs up and smiles, he said.
That’s not to say the day was proceeding without hitches. There was a lot of trouble-shooting, just as White encountered, and the new learning platform meant unexpected obstacles, like audio difficulties, Prather said.
Students were working on their own devices, except for those who didn’t have one and were supplied one by the district. So in some cases, earbuds weren’t working, connections were bad or there was a lot of background noise. Prather found himself having to re-explain material several times.
But working out those kinks is a big reason for the early start to the year, he agreed.
Sixth-grade colleague Josh Boek was in the hallway with Prather. He had 24 of 27 students present virtually.
Asked how the day was going, Boek said, “I think my own insecurity maybe is making my own situation more complicated. Teachers who are more technologically savvy might have less anxiety.”
His students, on the other hand, largely seemed comfortable using the technology and starting the year with distance learning. He put to them a scale of 1 to 10, low end meaning feeling good about it, high end meaning unhappy or stressed. The responses were almost all 1’s and 2’s. He thinks that ending the last school year with distance learning put them more at ease in starting this year.
As for his own concerns, Boek said, “There are so many people with so much experience here, I know any questions I have, I can go to a colleague who is more proficient than I am.”
Tech coaches also are available, but he said he doesn’t anticipate needing to turn to them when fellow teachers are such great resources. “We’ve all been collaborating. We’ve all shared tutorials and skills and it’s just been a really supportive atmosphere because we all realize we’re all in the same boat.”
This story was originally published August 6, 2020 at 2:19 PM.
