GREENOUGH – Sunday night, March 15 when Governor Steve Bullock announced a statewide school closure for two weeks, Sunset School supervising teacher Toni Hatten started thinking about the best lesson delivery method for the school's 14 students. Without the luxury of spring break, Monday morning Hatten and teacher Hali Richmond came up with binders for each child and two weeks' worth of work to help keep them engaged in learning from home. They delivered the binders and students' Chromebooks to their homes by 8 p.m. that night. While the future remains uncertain, Hatten and Richmond are committed to continue the learning for their students remotely while adapting along the way to make it as effective as possible.
Richmond teaches six students in kindergarten through third grade. Hatten teaches fourth – eighth grade and currently has eight students in fifth, sixth and seventh grades.
When Hatten and Richmond arrived Monday morning, March 16, they met and devised a two-week plan identifying what was the most important, what students could do on their own with minimal instruction and how much work they should give. They organized the material by weeks and broke the work down into a schedule that modeled their regular class day.
"I gave them approximate times but they have flexibility to move around on that particular day as to what they do first," said Hatten.
The work for Richmond's class included hard copy paperwork as well as online enrichment activities. Hatten utilized a combination of Internet-based lessons along with paper/pencil activities.
Students were given online assignments through Khan Academy, Freckle Math, Reading Street Literacy Program and their Science and Social Studies programs since they were familiar with them and had their Chromebooks. Since only one student didn't have access to Internet and was in the younger grades, Hatten felt this was a good option for the two-week closure.
By using the online programs, Hatten said she was able to monitor her students' work habits.
"This was definitely helpful to me to see who's engaged and who is not and then try to reach out to them and find out what the issue is," said Hatten. "I can see how much time they have spent on it, I can see where they have been, I can see their score on all those platforms. I don't think they realized how much I was going to be checking in on them."
After the first week, about half of Hatten's students stayed on track, were consistent and completed 75% or more of the material.
"They are not always doing everything though and that is something that needs to be addressed," said Hatten.
Hatten said the other half is having trouble getting through the online assignments, the only thing she is able to track. Hatten told Superintendent Erin Lipkind that she was not comfortable assessing students when they had not received formal instruction from her. While there are no assessments for these two weeks, she will be talking with Lipkind to help address students that may not have the support they need to keep them engaged.
"For some kids it is really critical for them to be in that small group with me. For some of them that is the reason they are here," said Hatten.
Hatten said she has been checking in with parents and making sure she is accessible to them. She said she heard from parents that they have a new appreciation for what she and Richmond do.
"They always have but it was kind of them to say," said Hatten.
She has also heard that some parents feel it was too much work.
When Hatten added up what was assigned to her class, she figured it should take the students four hours. That is two and half hours less than they would have been in school and felt confident the students should have been able to complete the work.
Richmond has been communicating with her students through Seesaw App. This allows video messages to be sent of their work. Hatten will also be using this with her students as well.
Paraeducator Tessa Stevenson has also been helping students in her daughter's class during her free time.
"Parents should join together and help each other out as much as possible," said Hatten.
Hatten said she will need to reevaluate if they need to extend. She hopes Bullock makes a decision soon if he plans to extend.
"This requires an immense amount of planning to do this," said Hatten. "I've never done this before. I thought it could happen but not this week."
If they are closed beyond the two weeks, Hatten said she will need to address with Lipkind how much can be enforced and how there can be accountability for the information. She also thinks she will start employing tools like Skype or Facetime lessons with her students to work one-on-one with them.
"We are just doing our best and want the best for our kiddos. We miss them. We would rather go back to normal but understand the need for our country," said Hatten. "I take it pretty seriously."
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