As we abruptly went online in the spring, it took a little while to get the fuller picture that a number of our students were making due with shared cell phones for both live zoom sessions and classwork.
Teachers have been physically reaching out to bridge that virtual gap as well, by any means necessary. We have been completing safe-distance home visits to help troubleshoot tech, to provide paper packets and deliver the district's grocery boxes. Families literally drop what they're doing to check in during these home visits, to get the most from them.
Our middle schoolers have been amazing at connecting to their peers as though their lives depend on it, because they know it does. When we are able to put appropriate technology in all of their hands, the group can move together and succeed. We have been reaching out to our students over the summer to determine exactly how each family will handle their online connectivity and, with these tablets added to our school's inventory, we believe we can bridge that technology gap. As charter schools in our district, our students were not afforded with additional tech after school closures. In the buildings, we were using computers and chromebooks once or twice a week on shared carts. The move to virtual learning increased the impact on our budget.
Teach for America reached out to me to help next year's teachers learn more about the practice of home visits. We know that tech in and of itself is not the key, connection is key. With peer-to-peer encouragement, family and teacher engagement, and appropriate tech, we got this fall semester and beyond! Thank you for reading about my project.
About my class
As we abruptly went online in the spring, it took a little while to get the fuller picture that a number of our students were making due with shared cell phones for both live zoom sessions and classwork.
Teachers have been physically reaching out to bridge that virtual gap as well, by any means necessary. We have been completing safe-distance home visits to help troubleshoot tech, to provide paper packets and deliver the district's grocery boxes. Families literally drop what they're doing to check in during these home visits, to get the most from them.
Our middle schoolers have been amazing at connecting to their peers as though their lives depend on it, because they know it does. When we are able to put appropriate technology in all of their hands, the group can move together and succeed. We have been reaching out to our students over the summer to determine exactly how each family will handle their online connectivity and, with these tablets added to our school's inventory, we believe we can bridge that technology gap. As charter schools in our district, our students were not afforded with additional tech after school closures. In the buildings, we were using computers and chromebooks once or twice a week on shared carts. The move to virtual learning increased the impact on our budget.
Teach for America reached out to me to help next year's teachers learn more about the practice of home visits. We know that tech in and of itself is not the key, connection is key. With peer-to-peer encouragement, family and teacher engagement, and appropriate tech, we got this fall semester and beyond! Thank you for reading about my project.
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