Medicine Hat Public School Division submitted photo March 26, 2020

By Chantal Wagner

Learning at Home

Virtual classroom for students learning during a pandemic

Mar 26, 2020 | 6:09 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB -With students at home from school indefinitely due to COVID-19 precautions, educators have had to transition into a new way of teaching.

Allyson Hall, a grade 4 teacher at Dr. Ken Sauer School and just one of the teachers adjusting.

She’s teaching her students online and says this is new territory for teachers, students, and families.

Hall says its been a challenge so far and teachers have put a lot of thought into how they’re going to translate everyday classroom learning to an online platform.

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“How can we still connect with students and support them in their learning so it’s not just giving them the instruction but supporting them in the needs that they have and how they’re going to learn. So it’s been a process to think through that and to plan for it.”

She has 23 students in her class and is using Google classroom to deliver instruction, lessons, and material.

This is still very new, and her first online teaching was yesterday.

So far, she says students are enjoying working on computers but miss seeing their friends and teachers every day.

Hall says her class is focusing on literacy and numeracy.

“Right now I’m actually focusing on the skill of writing and having them learn how to write an email. So it’s opened up some more natural learning opportunities even just through the use of technology and them being able to use some of these tools and important life skills that they’re going to need to learn in navigating technology and that kind of thing so it’s opened some really good opportunities for that.”

According to grade 5 student at Dr. Ken Sauer School Wyatt Nicoll, “It’s been different, you can’t really talk to people or socialize, but other than that pretty much the same.”

Meantime, Hall says they are meeting with parents on Google conference every so often.

And they’re trying to not overwhelm families so they’re easing students into online learning.

“The parents of my students I think have been pretty involved so far, obviously depending on if they’re still working or having to work from home that they’re supporting their kids as much as they can. But we are also trying to connect with parents individually each week as well, that’s kind of our goal moving forward,” Hall said.

Medicine Hat Public School Division (MHPSD) also provided school technology to families who didn’t have access to devices.

As for wireless internet access, Telus and MHPSD came together to provide a monthly service, at no cost to families, until students are back in the classroom.

“No student will be left behind because they don’t have access to the tools and resources that they need for learning.” – Mark Davidson Superintendent MHPSD