URBANDALE, Iowa — As the pandemic freeze thaws out, some of the changes to our daily routines may be here to stay.
And that includes how teachers reach students and how students learn.
Two central Iowa educators shared their reflections on what they want to keep from teaching during a pandemic, and what should go.
Elizabeth Whitver - Urbandale Elementary School
"I think my unsuccessful moments were when I tried to teach online in a traditional way," said Whitver. "So it was quick to learn that you couldn't do it. And you couldn't teach remotely in the traditional way that you would do it in person with students. It's not a traditional setting, you had to get creative and you have to think outside the box."
Whitver said she valued the monthly conversations she had with parents and students over Zoom, more interaction than she's ever had with families in the past.
"And we talked about what was going well, and then what wasn't working for them. Because if it was working for me as I had planned, you lay everything out. And if I thought it was working, and then they were like, no, like, this isn't going well, I wanted to hear it," said Whitver.
Even though using the technology could be difficult at times, Whitver said she believes adding more resources and technological opportunities into the physical classroom next year will help students.
"These kids have technology skills that we can't, as educators, lose like that ball needs to keep rolling and we need to continue to build," said Whitver.
Jo Ellen Latham - Southeast Polk Director of Curriculum Instruction
"I've been in education all those 40 years. And it was it's just incomparable to anything else that we've ever done," said Latham.
Latham said she wants to keep some elements of online learning, noting the district is looking at adding some online classes for high school students.
"One of our biggest takeaways for remote learning will have an impact whether we're in the classroom or learning remotely, but that was student engagement because we could have the very best online lesson prepared," said Latham. "But if we weren't able to build relationships with that student and have a relationship through the camera, then the lesson really never landed."
Noting one of the positives from the pandemic was teachers growing closer and speaking up when they needed help. Latham said she'd like to see that maintained in the future.
"It was nothing was off the table in terms of how we could work together to make adjustments," said Latham. "And we made a lot of adjustments along the way which was needed in this particular situation."
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