Nancy Edmonds Hanson
nancy.edmonds.hanson@gmail.com

On a Sunday afternoon in the middle of March, everything changed for everyone in the Moorhead school system. That’s when Gov. Tim Walz announced Minnesota schools would close to control the onslaught of COVID-19, the novel coronavirus that has turned the world upside down.
By the time classes resumed in radically different form March 30, Moorhead’s teachers and leadership had reinvented the last quarter of the school year. Teachers are launching their days with upbeat online videos. Classes have evolved from the comfortable schoolday routine into online learning assignments and activities meant to replicate at home what would have gone on in classrooms on any other day in any other school year.
And, several teachers in the front lines agree, it all has gone surprisingly well. “I’ve heard lots of good feedback from my families,” says Kristi Rusten, who teaches 19 kindergartners at Ellen Hopkins School. “They say it’s going well. “
“I’m most amazed by how we worked together to create the lessons and how well it’s going,” says Melissa Hagen, who teaches second grade at Robert Asp School. “By Monday, March 16th, we were creating our linked teams and figuring out what our kids needed. We had one goal to guide us – to make instruction clear, simple and predictable. I’m in awe of what we’ve created and how we’ve executed it so quickly.”
Kristi agrees. “Our district came together as a whole. We have very good leadership in Moorhead. They allowed every teacher to have a voice but kept us on the same track.
“My biggest concern was how to adapt it to my students. Kindergarten classes depend so much on responsiveness and hands-on activities. We all contributed our ideas, and I think it’s working.”
Led by Kari Yates, the district’s director of elementary learning and accountability, the educators were divided into three teams for each grade level based on broad content areas: reading and writing; math, science and social studies; and communication and technology. They shaped their curriculum to fit a template that’s consistent across the entire district, breaking each day’s topics into clear sections that offers youngsters a maximum of choice.
They all follow the same school-day format. Students receive emails from their teachers at about 7:30 each morning. They start with a five-minute video in which she welcomes them, encourages them and lays out the plan for the day ahead. “We ask a question of the day – something for them to think about,” Melissa explains.
The email includes links to resources … but not all learning comes via the internet. Each of the nearly 3,000 K-4 students received a book bag full of hands-on schoolroom basics, including 15 to 20 books chosen by their teachers from the school library and basic materials like paper, pencils, crayons and other essentials.
The reading segments, for example, might be provided by an online video, but they may also be delivered by a parent reading aloud from a “real book.” Children can select what interests them most from a choice menu provided every Monday. “You might read out loud to someone in your house, or tell somebody about a story you listened to,” Kristi says. “There’s a lot of room.”
Videos are scattered strategically throughout the week’s agenda. “We don’t want kids to be staring at a screen all the time,” Melissa points out. “It’s varied so that they may have just two or three short videos a day, with plenty of other activities in between.”
Each day’s lessons, the teachers say, are roughly timed for 90 minutes of learning and at least 45 of creative and movement activities. There’s no set schedule – no time when students must begin or end. “Parents have different schedules and needs,” Melissa notes. “Some are still working and have to do this after they get home. Others have more than one child in the family and need to divide their attention up among them. We want to keep this as simple as we can for our families. We realize how busy they are.” She adds, “We’re not policing it.”
Teachers are working hard to keep in touch with their young charges, even if they don’t see them every day. “There’s a strong expectation that we meet with our students daily,” she notes. “Some teachers are calling five of them every day,” often using Google Voice. “Others are keeping in touch with email.” Other staff members may help keep up more frequent contact.
When teams of teachers were putting together their plans of actions, they worked around the knowledge that not all families have same access to technology; nor are all equally familiar with how to use it. Daily plans are laid out with an eye to offering options on three different levels – those with no or low technology as well as those who are more digitally sophisticated. Those with no access have been supplied with Chromebooks from the district, and hot spots have been set up to offer some degree of online access. But adapting to the new system has had unexpected bumps in the road for many families in every category. Much of last week was spent troubleshooting and answering parents’ questions, as well as getting them logged in on the district’s S.P.U.D.S. gateway.
The process of gearing up for virtual school has been an education in itself for the teachers abruptly released from their classrooms and thrust into cyberspace. “I’m a second-grade teacher. I’ve never taught online before,” Melissa says. “Before, I wasn’t a techy kind of person. Now I feel like I’m learning new things every day.”
Kristi, who has more familiarity with the online world, points to the conversations and collaborations between teachers themselves as being an unexpected benefit of the unexpected shift to distance learning. “We’re communicating with each other more than we ever have before. It seemed like we never had enough time. Now we connect on Google Hangouts to share ideas and really talk with each other. It’s been great. I think we’re going to take some of that with us when we get back into our classrooms.”
They say their connection with their students has strengthened, too, even though they’re far apart. “They’re so excited when I call them,” Melissa reports. “That may be the big advantage – how personal it can be. During the normal day, how often do you get to talk one on one about whatever they want to? They’re really excited to have their teacher all to themselves.”
That, she says, has been one of the most important lessons for her. “This helps me realize how important we are as teachers to thee kids. Computer programs and technology can’t do the teaching. We all – teachers, parents and kids – need to realize how much that face-to-face interaction means.”
She pauses a moment, then adds: “And we need them, too. That relationship means so much. No one is meant to sit and stare at a computer screen all day.”