TOWSON, Md. — Education in America has come to a screeching halt for many children.
At the Immaculate Conception School in Towson they are celebrating Spirit Week on the third week they’ve switched to online learning.
The teachers have been showing off their impressive spirit and improv talent since the school made the switch.
“I usually make a video for students so like a screen share video, I teach specifically math,” said Mary Pace a 4th grade math teacher. “I go in and it’s really nice it’s almost like using a SmartBoard. I can write and share and have my voice over for that.”
The schools Facebook page filled with grids of smiling young faces who miss their classmates and teachers learning in online group settings.
“Whether it’s through zoom or Microsoft teams where they get that kind of interaction,” said Stacey Dawes a mother of a 5th grader. “I think they feel more engaged at that time.
The staff comes together digitally to share notes on what’s working and what isn’t.
Principal Heather Cucuzzella is asking for progress not perfection.
Shes very proud of the results so far.
“It’s the same mission but it’s being divvied out in a very different medium,” Cucuzzella said. “For us as adults that’s our jobs as professionals to make the adjustments. The key is to try to provide that same high quality product to the students.”
It’s not the style of school anyone is used to.
“I miss the kids,” said Pace. “They are really funny and sweet and I also miss my colleagues, but honestly I miss that connection I make with the kids everyday. That’s why I went into teaching in the first place.”
The creativity and love that was cultivated in the now empty classrooms is again being poured into the students through a screen.
“We’re talking to our students all the time about collaboration and flexibility and problem solving and to keep it feels like we’re being called to practice what we preach now more than ever,” said Cucuzzella.
