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Date: 10/22/2020
HAMPDEN/WILBRAHAM – Changes are underway in the way that remote students are taught at the elementary level in the Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District (HWRSD). At the school committee’s Oct. 15 meeting, Soule Road School Principal Lisa Curtin explained that the district had completed phase one of hybrid restructuring at the beginning of the month when several new teachers were hired to break up remote class sizes. The district is now entering phase two.
This phase will further reduce class sizes, provide consistent teaching, increase teacher/student connections and provide meaningful feedback to students, Curtin said.
Beginning on Oct. 29. the new model will have fourth and fifth-grade teachers engaging in synchronous instruction of both the cohort in the classroom and with the alternate cohort who is learning from home on that day. In other words, the same teacher will be instructing both hybrid cohorts at the same time. Wednesdays will have students engage in a remote morning meeting and group instruction before breaking off to do independent work.
Teachers can have up to 12 students physically in the class and another 12 students attending class remotely. Related arts classes, such as art, music, science and physical education will be taught on in-person days, while the students attending remotely are assigned other work. Curtin said that the synchronous learning model is designed for the elementary level and is different from that being used with secondary-level students.
Cohort D, which consists of fully remote students, will continue to be instructed by their remote teacher for full-day live instruction and small group time. They will still be assigned to a “homeroom” teacher for Wednesday instruction.
Remote class sizes, which were numbering up to 124 students at the beginning of the year, were nearly halved by phase one, which saw students attend either a morning or afternoon session of live instruction with independent work for the other half of the day. Phase two cuts those class sizes down to 37 or fewer students.
Tools for teachers include laptops, headset microphones, whole class speakers, a swivel camera that tracks the movement of teachers, and follows them as they move around, and an iPad. She said that the standing desks and digital pads that are used at the high school to correct and mark digital assignments would be helpful.
Curtin said that the teachers are nervous about incorporating all of the technology into their instruction. She noted that elementary school teachers only have a 30-minute period for lunch and one for related arts to plan their classes. Three days of training have been scheduled for teachers to help them acclimate to the new way of teaching. There will be some technical support and materials, but Curtin said that the teachers need more, especially during the rollout of synchronous learning.
Fellow committee member Patrick Kiernan asked about bringing fully remote students back into the remote portion of hybrid teachers’ classes, eliminating the need for fully remote teachers. Curtin said that it is something to consider but that the schools are taking “baby steps” in terms of synchronous learning.
Meanwhile, fully remote classes in grades K through three are under 30 students each. Hybrid class sizes in kindergarten will be as large as 72 and grade one up to 63, while grade two will have as many as 34 students and grade three up to 36.
Superintendent Albert Ganem acknowledged that they were still not happy with the numbers and that one the synchronous learning in grades four and five were settled, personnel would be moved to shrink the class sizes for the lower grades. He pointed out that grades K and one have the option to use google slides with embedded instructional videos. The district is still looking to hire more teachers.
Minnechaug Regional High School (MRHS) Principal Steve Hale screened a video of “A Day in the Life at Minnechaug.” The video displayed COVID-19 precautions, including hand sanitizing stations, students taking mask breaks, and distancing with hallway directions and single desks in the cafeteria.
The video also showcased the changes in how teachers work this year. Committee members got to see how much goes into beginning a class with remote and in-person students, how remote students participate in experiments the correlate to what their in-class counterparts are doing and the way that programs, such as FlipGrid, to give students individual feedback on their assignments.
“Education, even though we’re in these little boxes, it can be personalized,” said Courtney Cofone, department head and teacher in History and Social Science. One area that she singled out as difficult about teaching students who are learning remotely, is in academic integrity. She said it can be difficult to ensure students aren’t googling answers.
Georgia Trebbe, department head, teacher and information specialist in the Information and Resource Commons (IRC) spoke about how students are using the IRC. Our webpage has never been more important,” she said. In addition to offering new digital services, such as the movie database Swank and library resource SORA, students can access the resources in the room and use distanced, numbered seating. Rather than browsing books, however, students can request books that are delivered to them in their class and are sanitized and left out for a time before being reshelved. She also said that the IRC can be a resource for families struggling with remote technology and academic platforms.
When doing science experiments, teacher Teal Lipinski explained that all experiments are run for both cohorts and equipment is sanitized between uses. Remote students observe their lab partners and some experiments are able to be done at home.
Lipinski said that the use of programs such as Near Pod allows two-sided interaction with students. The pandemic has led to a “forced evolution” in teaching, she said, adding that the best way to support teachers is with more professional development.
Fine Arts and Technology Department Head and teacher Margaret Reidy told the committee that students are using the various platforms and programs, and “not shy about engaging in new things.”
One challenge she sees is that in-class students raise their hands more than those attending remotely, but she said there haven’t been many disciplinary issues. The biggest issue from her perspective is that “it takes more than double the time for planning,” she said.
For paraprofessional Linda Kern, the largest challenge is that some paras lack Chromebooks that can support and run the programs needed for the new world of teaching. She touted the importance of Wednesdays, when she works closely with small groups of students in breakout rooms.
For those concerned about the social aspect of high school during the pandemic, Assistant Principal Heidi Drawec explained that 45 clubs and student organizations are open and running with health safety precautions in place, for example, student elections will be online this year. That said, students have a say in how their clubs are handled.
Associate Principal Nicole Smith informed the committee and community that the Massachusetts Comprehensive Academic Assessment (MCAS) will be conducted this year, despite the education gap resulting from the closure of schools in March and the break from teaching new material in the months that followed. The MCAS will be administered in January 2021 for those students who were unable to take it in the spring. A second round will be conducted for this year’s sophomores in May.
“Everything is time-consuming,” said Keith Poulin, director of Guidance. He has been meeting with families in-person, by phone and over Zoom. Google Classroom is being used for academic grades. He added that 125 seniors took the SATs at the high school on Oct. 14, as many external SAT sites have canceled their tests.
While education is ongoing at MRHS, Hale said that 50 high school students are without a device for remote learning and 86 students don’t have reliable internet access. Additionally, he said that teachers need lapel mics and continued licenses for programs that were purchased this year with federal coronavirus relief funding.
“Our instruction is forever changed,” Hale told the committee. He also said that teachers need more time to plan and create content. “I’m really concerned about the stability of this model if our teachers don’t have more time.”
A small number of students, about 35 across the high school, are not engaged, Hale reported. The school is working with those families to design gap plans for the students.
Hale said that between 30 and 45 percent of high school students are in cohort D, attending school fully remotely. “There are kids who flourish in the remote model,” he said.
School Committee Member Sean Kennedy told Hale that his presentation, “gave me faith in what we’re doing.”
Kiernan asked if the students who are not engaged could be moved to another cohort in which they might perform better. Ganem said that he and Hale can look at individual cases, but noted that many families have more than one child in the district and the cohorts would need to be carefully adjusted.
Greenmeadows Principal Sharon Moberg presented a slideshow in which teachers at every grade chose photos of their students that “sparked joy.” Students were shown playing, learning math, practicing mindfulness, making art, taking mask breaks, participating in band and working on their social-emotional learning.
“The social-emotional learning is at the heart of what we do,” Moberg said. Of the older kids, she said, “Just the opportunity to be around their peers and friends sparks joy. I know how much they value their opportunities to be together.”
Moberg praised the flexibility and hard work of the teachers and staff at Greenmeadows. She said that all policies and procedures were reviewed with an eye towards pandemic safety and changed wherever necessary, including routines around arrival/dismissal and lunches.
“We’re off to a really great start,” Moberg told the committee.
Kennedy asked Moberg if the school has everything it needs. Moberg said that at the middle school level, they need improved technology. She said synchronous learning is challenging when teachers have to stay in front of the computer screen rather than move around the room to engage with students.
To that point, Director of Curriculum Tom Mazza showed off some technology that will be available for teachers soon, including headsets with a microphone and the swivel cameras. He also reported that the 900 Chromebooks that were ordered in the spring are on their way. The district is also working with Verizon to purchase hotspots to provide internet access to the students that don’t have it.
School Committee Chair Sherrill Caruana noted that it seemed at the high school level that teachers need two screens, a document camera, a mic and a digital pad to make notes on student’s digital assignments. Mazza said that 150 document cameras have been ordered but have not yet arrived.
Kennedy made a plea on the Zoom meeting to more than 120 community members asking for donations of technology and sponsorships.