Brown County High School English teacher Rebekah Bryan conducts a Zoom meeting with her 11th grade remote learners. Bryan was sharing her screen with her students and minimized their faces so she could also see the entire document. Bryan is one of the teachers at the high school who are teaching students virtually this year due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. Submitted photo
A teacher stands in front of the room finishing the day’s lesson. He looks over to see a student make a frustrated face and shrug his shoulders as he starts working on the assignment.
That’s a signal to a teacher to go stand by that student’s desk to ask if he is OK or needs some extra help. Or, the teacher could have the student stay after class to talk about it.
This is the case for about 83 percent of Brown County Schools students. They are in a classroom each day, face to face with a teacher, and can easily ask for help by raising their hand or by simply dropping cues that they are frustrated.
When instruction happens through a screen instead, it is more difficult for teachers to develop a relationship with students, several local teachers say.
About 17 percent of BCS students are learning remotely this trimester because of concerns about COVID-19.
“My No. 1 priority is building relationships with kids, because you know that old adage, ‘They don’t care what you know until they know you care,’” said Rebekah Bryan, an English teacher at Brown County High School.
“It’s super hard for me because you don’t get that same level of connection over the computer.”
Bryan has been an English teacher at BCHS for three years and has been teaching overall for 13 years. This year, it’s safe to say, is unlike any other.
Some teachers in every school building are tasked with instructing students both in class and virtually.
There are also two teachers in the entire district who are tasked with instructing all remote-learning first- and second-graders together and all remote-learning third- and fourth-graders together. Requests to interview remote teachers at the elementary level were not returned by deadline.
Bryan has mostly in-person classes, but during the second period of the school day at the high school, she is on Zoom instructing a group of around 20 juniors whom she has never met in person.
“When we come back from group or independent work, I’ll say something like, ‘Type in the chat your favorite fall activity.’ … One day I was like, ‘Apple cider or pumpkin spice?’ It became a whole team thing,” she said.
“There are those little moments. Just, the sustained connection is a lot more difficult.”
Making connections
Having her virtual class built into her school day schedule is something Bryan appreciates, because she knows of teachers in other school districts who are expected to teach virtual learners after the in-person school day is over.
Bryan and other teachers in the high school teach their virtual learners the same material as their peers attending class in person. Her students all read the same materials, like the “Declaration of Independence” in a unit focusing on arguments.
“As far as planning, it’s a little more time consuming. I’ve taught 11th grade forever, so I mostly have the content down; it’s just now taking all of that stuff that I had already and making it digital, or making it so that it works in a digital setting, is a little bit different, and you have to get kind of creative about it,” Bryan said.
Getting students engaged in discussions on Zoom can also be a challenge.
“I can go stand next to a kid in the classroom if a kid is goofing around, or I want them to pay closer attention, I can stand closer to them. I can’t just walk off screen into a kid’s house in remote learning. That’s really complicated,” Bryan said.
“It’s the body language, the facial expressions that you cannot give a kid on Zoom. It’s those things you encourage engagement in the classroom that you just cannot do remotely.”
BCHS math teacher Matt Roberts agrees. Interacting with students via Zoom is the biggest challenge this school year, he said.
“You’re not able to walk around your classroom and walk up beside a student to see what they’re doing and ask them questions. We can still get some of that interaction, but it’s just a little bit more difficult to really personalize it in a sense,” he said.
Bryan’s class is hands-on, with discussions and group work, which is more difficult to plan and monitor virtually. Students are put into Zoom breakout rooms to work in small groups.
“If I’m in breakout room seven, there are six other rooms I don’t know what’s going on. Where if they are in my classroom, I can generally get the feel of all seven groups at one time even though I am not right in their group,” Bryan said.
Bryan has not had problems with virtual students turning in their assignments compared to those in person, but she has had to take extra steps to make sure they are on the same page as the in-person students, she said.
“In my classroom, on my board, I have a space where it says, ‘Homework.’ It tells them what’s due. They also have it on Canvas (an online program). … Some of my kids didn’t even know they could see the calendar on Canvas,” she said.
“It’s just like things I didn’t realize, like, ‘Oh, it would make sense to show them the calendar that has all of their due dates for them.’”
Managing a class virtually can also be difficult. “You don’t know if there’s an adult home or not, if there are other siblings in the house trying to do work too. You just do not know what kind of environment they are in,” Roberts said.
As the school year enters its second month, Bryan said virtual engagement has improved.
“I think it was just awkward for everyone in the beginning. It’s like no one wanted to talk because we’re all weirdly staring. It’s like ‘The Brady Bunch,’ like looking at the Brady Brunch screen,” she said.
Bryan has around 87 students she teaches in person along with 20 or so virtual learners, which is in line with the number of students she had in past years: between 100 and 120 every year.
Roberts, an eight-year teaching veteran at the high school and a teacher in total for 20, is teaching Algebra I this year. He has three in-person classes where he teaches around 90 students.
He also a virtual class with around 20 students in it. Most of them are freshmen whom he has not met in person.
He said the school day does not feel dramatically different for him because his remote class is built into his daily schedule.
Zoom allows Roberts to ask questions of the entire group, or a student can message him privately to explain a lesson more or ask a question. But they are still hesitant to interact or share online, he said.
“Not even getting to see their face sometimes (is a challenge). With technical difficulties, the video is not working for them, there’s not always some of that face-to-face interaction,” he said.
Both groups of students use Canvas to access materials for Roberts’ class. He is also available via email to answer questions. “It’s something that hasn’t felt like a ridiculous amount more by any means,” he said of teaching remote learners.
Remote students are held accountable by completing and submitting assignments as well as signing into class and engaging. But a parent checking in on progress helps, too, Roberts said.
“If there’s not a parent or guardian there to consistently make sure they are on their device or on task, there’s only so much you as a teacher can do through a screen,” he said.
Social studies teacher Alecia Adams has been teaching for 13 years, but she said this year she feels like a first-year teacher.
She is teaching two remote classes this year: Government and economics. She also teaches government in person. She said she has been using more individualized assignments instead of group assignments like in years past.
Adams said she also struggles with being able to tell if a student is grasping the lessons because she isn’t seeing the usual cues.
“It’s been hard to adjust, but it’s been hard for students as well. I think we’re all doing the best that we can given the circumstances,” she said.
For more specialty courses, like Advanced Placement, the district is partnering with Indiana Online to offer them to virtual students. This will cost the district about $200 per credit hour, but that cost will be covered by a portion of the CARES Act grant which the school district received.
Here for the kids
BCHS Principal Matt Stark sits outside of the high school on Sept. 3 as it slowly empties of students for the day. “I can’t think of a single year that I knew that today would be Day 22,” he said.
“Every day we walk in and we get to have school, I’m excited. … With everything that is going on in the larger scope of things, the school year has gone pretty well.”
The high school has about 80 percent of its students attending school in person and the rest on remote. He notes that the remote high school is only 22 days old.
“We’re running two high schools right now. … It’s not perfect, but it never is perfect,” Stark said.
“There have been bumps and there have been growing pains; there have been technology issues and there have been frustrations. … I would say most people have been understanding. I think that people who haven’t been understanding, I think while sometimes it’s directed at us, I think it’s just a boiling over of all of it. … That patience level that everyone seems to have is being strained.”
From the last day of in-person learning last school year on March 13 to the start of this school year, educators went almost 150 days without seeing kids. “That’s hard. Teachers and staff, myself included, the reason why we got into this business is the kids,” Stark said.
Students attending high school remotely have a class schedule. For five periods a day, they are expected to log in to Zoom. Extra assistance also is available on Zoom during teacher prep periods or during the Student Resource Time (SRT) period.
Along with educators, virtual learning has been an adjustment for students, too.
Students playing video games or watching a move during Zoom meetings have been reported to Stark. Some students get distracted by their pets. Sometimes, simply getting out of bed on time can be a challenge.
“The issue with remote learning is if you are a distracted learner, remote learning becomes exceptionally hard because you’re at home. There are so many distractions,” Stark said.
Stark and Assistant Principal Chuck Hutchins have called every remote student who had at least one F three weeks into school.
“I really appreciate some of the families’ honesty. (They say) ‘There is no technology issue; he’s not doing his work,’” Stark said.
“There’s frustration on parents because their high school student who should be doing work, isn’t, and they are at their job.”
Students are asked to turn their cameras on for Zoom classes, but some don’t.
“We had student that emailed their teacher and said, ‘Hey, sorry; I was driving home from work while your remote class was going on, so I lost the connectivity while I was on the drive.’ OK, one, you’re at work, and, two, you’re driving while you’re trying to do Zoom time? What are you doing?” Stark said.
Despite the challenges virtual learning can bring, Stark said the school year is going well due to the resiliency of teachers and students.
“I hope that many years from now, when these students are parents, or grandparents, and are talking about this time period, they talk about how they still managed to have school and do what they’re supposed to do in spite of a global pandemic and all of the other flurry of things that are going on,” he said.
Helping kids succeed
Brown County Junior High School Principal Brian Garman said the school year is off to a great start.
“I think the teachers are doing a great job of finding new, creative and innovative ways to provide instruction in this new world we’re living in and still making sure kids are getting a high-quality educational experience in an environment that is not perfect.”
At the junior high school, there are four teachers responsible for teaching science, math, language arts and social studies to both seventh- and eighth-grade students online. They also teach in-person classes.
Those teachers have a class period each day where they hold Zoom help sessions for students who need additional assistance after viewing 15-minute recorded lessons by their teachers, Garman explained. They’re supposed to be viewed before a student does their assignment.
Garman said the online element this year is overwhelming because it’s new.
Families can choose to send their children back to in-person learning if remote isn’t working for them. At the high school, families are encouraged to wait a trimester before making the switch.
The state requires that students be learning remotely four to six hours a day at the junior high, which is a balancing act in itself, Garman said.
“Some kids, it might take longer and some kids, it’s not going to take as long,” he said.
Every course at the junior high is curated through Canvas, so every student, whether in person or at home, will have a Canvas page for each class. But some students are home learning while their parents still have to work, which can make monitoring Canvas and assignments difficult.
“It’s hard. I totally understand that. Parents aren’t familiar with Canvas. Junior high kids are really good about manipulating things. That’s just the nature of kids, so it’s easy to say, ‘I’m doing everything.’ Or, ‘I don’t have anything to do today,’” Garman said.
“But the reality is that the kids who are doing their work, I’ve audited their grades more than once and they’re doing well. But if you aren’t engaging and aren’t turning anything in, you’re not going to do well. You have to get the work completed.”
This is Cindy Stark’s first year teaching in Brown County. She is the language arts teacher at BCJHS and also serves as a mentor teacher there. (Matt Stark is her husband.)
Her schedule includes several in-person classes and then an hour each day for remote learners. She also teaches the remote learners the same lessons as those in person.
“I’m really trying to give all of my kids what they deserve as much as I can,” she said.
She said she records her mini-lessons the night before and has them up online for students to view by about 7:45 a.m. along with any additional instructions and assignments. Every day she has 45-minute Zoom meetings with students where she gives feedback.
“I’m also trying to use that time to build relationships and have fun, let them see other kids and interact with other kids. That time varies depending on who shows up to Zoom,” she said.
Cindy Stark said she offers kids a chance to stay on the Zoom call if they need more help after everyone else hangs up. If she has free time after the hour Zoom meeting, she is often giving feedback to students or answering emails.
She, too, is missing out on the “best part” of teaching when instructing students virtually: “Getting to see when something isn’t clicking or when something clicks and they are really excited. I don’t get that,” she said.
“If they choose not to show up for Zoom, I have really never met them, and I can only tell based on the work they submit. I don’t know how much they are struggling, how quickly it comes to them, how much time they are spending on it unless I hear. I haven’t heard a lot of feedback, good or bad, from families.”
Teachers emphasize the importance of communicating with them if something is not working during virtual learning.
“We’re trying to get these kids engaged; we’re trying to make them want to keep turning on their computer every day, so we’re trying new programs, but a lot of us are learning these programs with them. We use them for a week before we roll them out to the kids,” Bryan said.
Roberts said teachers are here to help during this time.
“That’s the heart and attitude of all the teachers I work with. They want kids to find a way to feel good about themselves, feel like they are still able to get everything they would get in an in-person environment,” he said.
“We want to hear their feedback to let us know when they need something,” Cindy Stark added. “It would be great to hear when something is going well, too. It’s really hard when you don’t have the kids there with you,” she said.
“… Doing our best with what we have and trying to fill needs where they can be filled is at the heart of what everyone is doing.”
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