Melissa Wall and Stacey Wood, teachers at Julia A. Stark School in Stamford, Connecticut, collaborate on Friday on their Virtual Lesson plans that students will use while the schools are closed for the next two weeks. Wall and Wood, along with fellow teacher Alex Frattaroli are preparing a Read Aloud, where they as part of their lessons, read a book via a video presentation for their students.

Melissa Wall and Stacey Wood, teachers at Julia A. Stark School in Stamford, Connecticut, collaborate on Friday on their Virtual Lesson plans that students will use while the schools are closed for the next two

Photo: Matthew Brown / Hearst Connecticut Media

Melissa Wall and Stacey Wood, teachers at Julia A. Stark School in Stamford, Connecticut, collaborate on Friday on their Virtual Lesson plans that students will use while the schools are closed for the next two weeks. Wall and Wood, along with fellow teacher Alex Frattaroli are preparing a Read Aloud, where they as part of their lessons, read a book via a video presentation for their students.

Melissa Wall and Stacey Wood, teachers at Julia A. Stark School in Stamford, Connecticut, collaborate on Friday on their Virtual Lesson plans that students will use while the schools are closed for the next two

Stamford schools head into unknown world of online education

STAMFORD Online education may be common at universities, but at public schools in Stamford, that is not the case.

This is very new territory for all of us, said Amy Beldotti, associate superintendent of teaching and learning for Stamford schools speaking of preparations ongoing Friday for the distance learning approach the district will employ for the next two weeks at least. School buildings were closed this week due to the spread of COVID-19, the coronavirus.

A general shape of digital school days is taking form. Students will begin their day with a message from their teacher with an assignment for the morning, using Google Classroom. Depending on the teacher, the message could be a video or just text. Students after receiving assignments will be able to interact with teachers through the online tool or on Google Hangouts, a free online product used commonly in professional settings for coworkers to communicate with one another.

With the teacher and students connected on the platform, students can ask questions and the teacher, in turn, can have students answer problems essentially leading lessons digitally.

Thats how everything should work, in theory, but school officials wont know how the initiative will go until the beginning of next week, when distance learning kicks off.

Beldotti is expecting some technological glitches and unforeseen issues to arise at the beginning of the week, but shes hopeful the online plan will be a success.

We are ready, she said. Well just keep getting better at it as the week goes on.

Central office staff has been working on the plan for the last couple of weeks in preparation for a potential school closing, Beldotti said, but no one was expecting that day to come so quickly.

It was coming, and no one knew how much time we would have, she said.

Part of that plan was making sure all students could get online from their homes.

She said the district sent many students home with Chromebooks and some of the younger students were loaned iPads. While she didnt have a hard number of how many laptops were handed out to students, she said in some elementary schools, it was about 300.

Overall, she guessed the number is around 5,000 for the entire district.

We wanted to make sure that everyone had what they need, she said.

Alex Frattaroli, a third grade teacher at Julia A. Stark Elementary School, was collaborating with other third grade teachers on Friday, in preparation for the coming week.

She said she was excited about the possibilities of distance learning.

I really enjoy technology, so I think this will be a great way to get the kids into it, she said.

Frattaroli said students were sent home with packets that included assignments in case some do not have access to internet or cannot get to the online curriculum for whatever reason.

Students will have a list of tasks to complete every day, she said.

Frattaroli said each student must check in with her every day, as well as complete assignments in math and science, read a story, and submit written responses to prompts, among other assignments.

Administrators have told teachers to be flexible with students during the two-week period, perhaps allowing students to turn in an assignment late as everyone gets used to the new system. A number of issues could arise, such as students dealing with spotty Wi-Fi, or using a shared device, for example.

The key for all of this is flexibility and understanding and a teamwork approach, Beldotti said.

The state has waived the 180-day school year requirement, but Beldotti said the school system is treating the next two weeks as regular classroom days, and will attempt to keep pace with regular curriculum.

Were going to do our best to make sure kids dont fall behind with where we are in the curriculum, she said.

She said she wants to dispel any belief that students are merely being sent home with assignments and being left on their own.

Weve been very clear that this is not busy work, Beldotti said. Its not just a packet of crossword puzzles and Sudoku.

ignacio.laguarda@stamfordadvocate.com

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Stamford schools head into unknown world of online education - The Advocate