School districts are adapting to remote learning due to coronavirus. | Shuttershock
School districts are adapting to remote learning due to coronavirus. | Shuttershock
Students in Montgomery County and others are entering their third week of remote learning, and teachers have been preparing for this.
The original estimate for school closure was two weeks, but that was extended to the end of this month. Some districts were making plans for e-learning for next year before they were notified of the potential for school closure in March, but others scrambled to get plans in place.
“You don’t know the impact of what a school day is until you can’t have one any more. It’s a shock,” said Aaron Hopper, superintendent of the Panhandle School District, in an interview with the Journal-News.
Hopper’s district had been working on an e-learning plan for the next school year’s snow days.
Litchfield school superintendent sent a team to the Regional Office of Education to start planning for distance learning on March 11.
Many school districts had created packets of work for students who are out.
“Each grade level publishes something each week from pre-K through 12 on the district website,” said Hope McBrain, curriculum coordinator at Hillsboro High School. “Those activities are mirrored on paper, especially for the younger grades for at least two weeks at a time.”
Another change for students who are transitioning to the distance learning is that the state Board of Education is recommending a shorter period of instruction, which varies from by grade level.
Those recommendations are as follows:
- Pre-Kindergarten: 20-60 minutes per day;
- Kindergarten: 30-90 minutes daily;
- Grades 1-2: 45-90 minutes;
- Grades 3-5: 60-120 minutes;
- Grades 6-8: 15-30 minutes per class, or 90-180 minutes per day;
- Grades 9-12: 20-45 minutes a day per class, or 120-270 minutes per day.
Nokomis Superintendent Dr. Scott Doerr said work provided remotely is graded, but students will get every chance to complete their assignments or have online meetings with teachers for further instruction.
“As long as we are giving kids the opportunity to move forward in the learning process, things will work out,” said Doerr.
In addition to all of this, some districts were working on plans to hold a graduation ceremonies and proms, but the school closure means these events may be canceled. They are also providing hundreds of meals to students by bus route delivery or pickup.
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