Teachers find technology a boon during distance learning

Friday, May. 01, 2020

SALT LAKE CITY — Like others across the country, teachers in Utah Catholic Schools have been using technology to connect with their students during distance learning. Email, YouTube, Zoom calls, Google Hangouts, Google Classroom and Google Meet are common. Some of the schools have been also been using their Facebook page to post resources. 

One application the first grade at Saint Joseph Catholic Elementary has been using to teach lessons and conduct activities is Seesaw. 

“The students have loved getting to make videos, read to us, and send us messages through this platform,” teacher Jessica Kradel said.

At St. Joseph Catholic Middle School, Angela Hummel uses Google Hangouts to connect with her students.

“This allows more interaction with students, allows for discussion of the topics we are covering, and an opportunity for them to ask questions,” she said. 

Teachers at St. Olaf Catholic School have used Zoom to read books and eat snacks together with their students, check in with class pets, like their dwarf hamster Sonic, participate in show-and-tell, enjoy guest speakers and even socialize and play virtually. 

J.E. Cosgriff Memorial Catholic School art teacher Robin Harmston gave out some unique assignments, asking eighth-grade students to choose a poem that connected with their identity in some way. Once they identified the connections and discussed them via Zoom, the students used artistic elements to express those connections.

“This project was started before the pandemic started and it was completed at home after our school closure,” Harmston said. “Students felt that it was beneficial to have an artistic outlet at home, especially one where they could express their emotions through imagery.”

At Juan Diego CHS, math teacher Brewster Christiansen posts videos and uses screenshots of assignments as a jumping off point. He tracks student engagement using the PlayPosit app, which records who watches the videos and exactly how much of each video a student watches. That’s how he takes attendance, Christiansen said, while students submit their homework and take tests through  ALEKS.com, a web-based math program.

“I do think the math department was set up for success because we had an online system going already,” Christiansen said. “That made our transition even easier, but the kids have responded really well; the rigor of it is the exact same that I would have in a normal classroom.”

The biggest surprise for all the teachers was how easily they adapted to  distance learning, he said.

“We’re hitting it across the board,” he said. “These kids aren’t really missing out on a whole bunch of the academic rigor that would be happening here in a traditional setting. This is creating a system where they have to be independent learners, which is a great skill to have; some of them are adapting really well to that.

“Out of the chaos has come a lot of good,” he added. “These kids are going to be way more prepared as independent learners; that’s definitely a silver lining of all of this going on.” 

Besides ensuring that students are thriving academically, teachers and school staffs are using various methods to help the children, teachers and even parents through this difficult time.

At St. Olaf’s, teachers and administrators use Groupme, a communication app to communicate with each other, check in, share thoughts, concerns, prayer requests, and even occasional memes.

 “We have found it to be very useful and needed,” Principal Simon McFall said. 

While students and teachers have been connecting well digitally, parents have been feeling isolated from the school, McFall said, so he switched his weekly “Coffee with the Principal” to a Zoom meeting to allow for updates, general communication, feedback and a question-and-answer time. 

“We consistently have from a third to half of our parents participating, and have found the shared time and information extremely valuable to all,” McFall said.

Several schools post daily prayer and announcements on YouTube or have faculty meetings on Zoom. At St. Vincent de Paul School, Principal Gary Green and Vice Principal Sarah Lambert recorded the Stations of the Cross in their parish church, and teachers sent the recording to their students.

St. Vincent’s librarian also set up a safe book exchange at the front of the school. With the lower elementary students, the school’s literacy team plans activities such as the students recording themselves reciting a memorized poem that is then shared with the rest of the class.

Kradel, the first grade teacher at St. Joseph Elementary, has been doing doorstep visits. In early-April over the course of a week she visited all her students, took them a treat and talked to them face to face – at a 6-foot or more distance. One family even made her a sign. She plans to visit her students again before the end of the school year. 

“We are finding unique ways to continue connecting with our students even though we do not see them daily in our building,” she said. “We know that this is difficult for a 7-year-old to understand, and we are a safe place for them. We miss our students, but we will continue to be a source of light for them.”