Pictured: St. Agnes teacher Tracy Morris prays with her class in her virtual classroom.
Online and distance learning is not new to education. Technologies and methods for online and distance education have been available for decades. However, teaching and learning looks different at every school and at each developmental level depending upon many factors. While teaching content can be done in many ways and take various forms, these educators all agree on one thing—they miss “their kids.”
In a CEA feature webcast with Christine Tax, Principal of St. Agnes Catholic School, the transition to online learning happened quickly and smoothly. In a model where technology integration was made possible by investments and upgrades from Shea Homes two and a half years ago, Tax was ready for this. Training teachers for blended learning and regular, integrated use of Google Classroom has been the norm.
Tax expressed that the hardest part of online learning is not being on campus for community time, especially during Lent. Celebrating mass as a community, student leaders running the assemblies in the courtyard, and Stations of the Cross are painfully absent. “We just miss being together.”
Meanwhile, at Seton Catholic Preparatory in Chandler, Theology teacher Gail Hartman shared her reflections on distance learning through Canvas, which has been available at the diocesan high schools for several years and started off as a grant through the Piper Charitable Trust to increase technology integration.
“I stressed out,” claims Hartman, “but the students excelled!” She worked hard to meet the expectations set forth by school administration to ensure equitability of expectations across the board. It took a couple of weeks to get it right, but in the groove, Hartman has been able to create more diverse student groupings for online discussions and hone her own communications with students to ensure they understand and succeed. “Classroom management is key whether in person or online. Creating and providing consistent structure is essential to lower affective filters and allow students to
soar!”
Kathi Stalzer, Spanish teacher at Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral School in Phoenix, shared that the teachers at SSJ “have risen to the challenge! They have been using social media, learning Google Classroom, figuring out how to create video content to connect with the kids, and keeping the momentum of the school year going.” Stalzer recognizes that teaching the content is much less difficult than being apart. She is left questioning, “How do we keep our community strong in this new endeavor?”
At. St. Vincent de Paul Catholic School in Phoenix, junior high Math teacher, Jeff Nosek has been deeply introspective throughout this shift, trying to address core instructional issues in an arena he cannot control. “How can I quickly respond to misunderstandings, questions, or insights from students? How can students teach one another and take ownership of their learning from afar?” Being a “techy” teacher, Nosek has utilized Zoom for online, live classes and to allow students to have small group discussions in Zoom breakout rooms. Flipgrid and EdPuzzle are also used for interactive lessons. Nosek provides a regular morning check in to get his students connected and center them all together with prayer.
