Finding silver linings in remote learning for post-pandemic education
Live online help for students at home during nontraditional school hours might be a silver-lining legacy of the pandemic-forced switch to virtual schooling, Hauppauge’s schools superintendent predicted Thursday.
Speaking on a Newsday-hosted webinar, the superintendent, Dennis P. O'Hara, recalled how a math teacher recently received an email from a student in the evening who had been struggling with a concept.
"‘‘Hey, do you think we could get together? I might need some extra help on this.’ The teacher wrote back and said, ‘what’re you doing now? You want to jump on a Google Meet?’ And that was 7 o’clock at night," the superintendent said. "You know, before the pandemic and before distance learning, nobody would think of that."
He spoke Thursday afternoon together with fellow educators at a Newsday LIVE webinar, a discussion moderated by editorial board member Lane Filler.
Past webinars have mostly focused on life during the coronavirus pandemic, spanning more than 100 topics since last year — the vaccine, summer camp, coronavirus variants, government paycheck protection, travel and more.
Teachers’ off-hours availability for extra help could be convenient for students who might otherwise skip the opportunity, due to conflicts with after-school practice or an extracurricular club, he said.
"If we have adults who are willing to pick a 6 o’clock, 7 o’clock, 8 o’clock time to get on a Google Meet, we have students that have done their after-school activities, have had a meal, have had a chance to unwind, and now might be more willing to jump on a Meet with their teachers and some classmates," he said. "We might find some unexpected, good consequences of all of this."
Still, O'Hara said pandemic schooling has not been favorable for all students, necessitating home visits, knocking on doors and other attempts to reach out.
"Our struggle, and who we’re worried about is, you know, pre-pandemic, you have secondary students who are disengaged or difficult to engage, and we’re finding that the students that were somewhat disengaged before the pandemic are more disengaged now."
Carisa Steinberg, a Syosset High School teacher, said that teachers Islandwide have needed to recalibrate pedagogy to simultaneously reach students who are all remote, hybrid or in person, compared to ordinary times.
"When a kid walks in, and I can say, ‘how was your volleyball game last night?’ or ‘I saw you reading that book. I read that. It’s really good.’ You know, those are the moments when I can capture them. And I cannot do that when there is a black, little square on a Google Meet, and they refuse to talk to me," she said.
Absent, she said, are the in-person cues teachers rely on.
"We are blind, and we are deaf, and we are plugging through, it is not easy," she said. "And I don’t know if we’re going to all need therapy or massages or a drink of wine, something’s gonna happen in the summer."
Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.
