Scribner teacher Megan Stevens opens up a lesson on her computer and little faces begin popping in one after another on her screen. There is a great big smile on her face as she greets each student. They wave, say hello, and quickly volunteer to share what’s going on in their lives today. This is how the Literacy Specialist turned English Language Arts teacher begins every day. At this particular moment, she is teaching Core ELA to over 20 fourth graders, not something she would normally be doing as a reading specialist. But, then nothing about teaching in 2020 is normal.
“I miss the small group interaction and I’m definitely talking a lot more doing a virtual lesson than I would in person,” Mrs. Stevens said. “It’s different, but it’s important for them that I greet them with a smile each day and make our time as interactive and engaging as possible,” she said.
Since the beginning of the school year, Mrs. Stevens has made a point of getting to know each of her students and connecting with them as best as she can virtually. “You have to find a way to get to know them and get them to want to work for you,” she said.
This year, she is providing Response to Intervention (RtI) reading support for small groups, as well as teaching core ELA virtually to 4th and 5th grade hybrid students. She says her previous experience as a classroom teacher has definitely helped her make the adjustment to larger classes again. The District is also using math specialists to teach both virtual RtI and core math classes to hybrid students.
“In the past, I had small groups of kids from all grade levels, so the nice thing about this is that I can really dig into these grades and become more of an expert at this level,” Mrs. Stevens said.
She admits that at the beginning of the year, there was a learning curve around technology for both herself and her students, but at this point they have become much more adept at it and have settled into a routine.
“I definitely miss seeing the kids in person, but this is what we have to do right now and so I try to stay positive,” Mrs. Stevens said. “It’s a mindset,” she said, “The kids feed off the way you act, so you’ve got to focus on making them feel better and making sure they’re still enjoying learning.”