GREENSBORO — Teachers at St. Pius X School in Greensboro have gone the distance with distance learning after in-person classes ended in mid-March.
The school community began forming its plans for distance education within a couple days of the state’s March 13 order to close schools due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Teachers worked all day March 16 planning, structuring and shaping what distance learning would look like for their classrooms. By the following day, the first instructional content was delivered to students, along with Chromebooks, learning packets, class novels, textbooks and stacks of library books.
Throughout three months of distance learning, teachers and administrators remained flexible to students’ and parents’ needs, changing the components of the online lessons to be able to better facilitate limitations in technology, motivation of students, and the needs of parents working from home. Ultimately, teachers kept a consistent framework, layering it progressively with enrichment, student-centered engagement, live and recorded classes, needs-based assessments, and small group online learning.
Along with using its learning management system of Renweb/FACTS, where all teacher lesson plans are archived, each elementary teacher at St. Pius X School emailed out a daily schedule that focused on the education of the whole child. Teachers made sure there was time built into these schedules for outdoor play, art, music, instructional videos, reading, textbook assignments, writing and online math practice. Along with posting their daily assignments on this platform, many middle school teachers used Google Classroom to formulate a learning platform where students could progress through conceptual tasks and assessments at their own pace, based on specific skill objectives.
Every teacher and instructional assistant at St. Pius X School was involved in this distance learning effort. Classroom teachers worked from a virtual teaching schedule to hold live online classes at least three days a week, with additional hours for students to check in individually. Instructional assistants met with students online in small groups for more concentrated work in the core subjects of math, reading and writing. Individualized, one-on-one instruction was facilitated by the school’s academic enrichment teachers, who helped students to complete their assignments, set goals, and organize their schedules to meet each student’s specific learning needs.
Every morning Principal Chris Kloesz also delivered morning announcements live on Facebook and posted pictures of students’ creativity in the home-school setting. In addition, middle school religion teacher Bill Parker provided the school community with opportunities to pray the Stations of the Cross and the rosary. The school’s guidance counselors also connected with students, one-on-one and through small group chats, to ensure their spiritual, social and emotional well-being throughout the challenges of learning at home during a pandemic.
— April Parker, Special to the Catholic News Herald