Teachers, Students Find Ways to Stay Connected

By Vincent Corso and Connie Cousins
Centre County Gazette

BELLEFONTE — Colleen Defonzo, a fifth-grade teacher at Marion-Walker Elementary School, said the unplanned extended time away from the classroom because of the coronavirus has been difficult to navigate for everyone.

“When we left on Wednesday for what we thought was just a five-day ‘spring break,’ we said a few extra goodbyes and I encouraged my students to grab an extra book or two so they’d have plenty to read, but we said our goodbyes with the understanding that we’d be back together the following Tuesday,” said Defonzo, a language arts educator.

“At this point in the year, we have formed such a strong bond with our students, which I think has made this especially hard. I think of my students as being like my own children, so to be unexpectedly away from them for an undefined amount of time is very difficult.”

And it is that uncertainty and the disruption of the school year that may be the most difficult for Defonzo and her students. She misses many things about her classroom, but mostly the connections that she made with her students through the year.

“Mostly, I miss the ability to connect with the kids every single day. So much of our time is spent working with them one-on-one to help them grow and to challenge them, and we aren’t able to do that from home,” Defonzo said. “I miss talking to the kids about what they’re reading and helping them find the perfect book to read next. I miss watching them share books with each other and helping them find authors and series that they love. I miss watching them grow as readers and writers and take risks and get back up when they stumble.”

But she, like so many of her colleagues, has been working hard each day to make connections with her class during this time, utilizing all the resources she has to help the kids continue to learn and grow.

“Over the last few weeks, I’ve been able to re-establish a home connection with almost all of my families, whether through messages and pictures of what their children are up to, or responses from the kids themselves to videos of me reading books aloud that I’ve posted in our Google Classroom,” said Defonzo.

She said she is grateful for the many companies offering free materials and resources to the students, which she thinks “shows the generosity of many in our county.”

On March 30, Bellefonte Area School District rolled out a remote learning program for students who are home due to COVID-19. The learning program is considered enrichment and is reviewed by the state, and while students are encouraged to participate, there will be no grades or assessments and attendance will not be recorded.

Defonzo said teachers, administrators and instructional coaches worked hard to create the “one-stop,” user-friendly collection of optional resources and ideas in the remote learning program, which will allow each student across all buildings the access to the same resources and “help keep families from feeling overwhelmed with information coming at them from all directions.”

“I’m really excited to be a part of the planning and development of this and I’m hopeful that it will bring our families some peace of mind when it comes to the educational aspect of this difficult situation,” said Defonzo. “And hopefully, it brings some peace of mind to teachers as well.”

The first week working from home was difficult for Defonzo, who was balancing a family with young children who were also home, in addition to the stress and worry that she and her family were feeling. She said though, through trial and error, her family was able to find a balance.

Now, she feels she is getting into her groove at home and finding ways to connect her students and their families together as a class, as well as finding the time to stay connected to her teaching colleagues through technology.

She said she hopes to get back into the classroom with her students this academic year. She knows there will be challenges, but said she will be glad to embrace them if it means having her students back together at Marion-Walker.

“I think that while it will be a little challenging at first to figure out where everyone is academically and find a good place to re-start our learning, we’re all up for the task and eager to get back in there,” said Defonzo. “Overall, the sense of relief and joy that we will feel at being reunited with our students and colleagues will take center stage. I think we all know that we will need to take it slow at first to rebuild those connections and re-establish routines, but we are all eager to get back into the classroom and help our students get back to their normal lives and continue to learn and grow.”

ST. JOHN CATHOLIC SCHOOL

Kristina Tice is the principal of St. John the Evangelist Catholic School on Bishop Street in Bellefonte. She had begun a packet collection even before the students’ spring break ended. When the news broke about the schools closing for at least two weeks, she assembled the teachers to pack up each child’s books, work and assignments, and organize them in the school auditorium.

On March 20, parents drove by to pick up their children’s things. Tice and two of her staff ran in and out of the school and delivered the items to the waiting parents.

Tice has been messaging the parents about topics regarding the school and their children and showing care and concern for all.

“I never really stopped, as one thing turned into another. It is so important for students to have structure and routine in their lives. It makes them feel safe,” Tice said. “We want to help them maintain their skills in ways that are easy and fun. The new plan, starting Monday (March 30) will have the classroom teachers emailing some assignments and teaching some lessons online. Most instructors are scheduling one-half hour Zoom (digital) sessions also.”

The students miss their friends and the younger ones in particular miss their teachers. The extension of the “stay at home” time is difficult for both students and parents. In many cases, one or both parents are working from home. Now that lessons are being taught at least in part online, the sharing of the internet becomes a challenge.

Parent Paula Roland said that the teachers, as well as Tice, have been doing a great job.

“One thing I like about St. John’s is their website,” said Roland. “Everything you need to see is in one place. The kids are used to being online with programs like iXL, where they do their math and language arts. They have been journaling about their work and their days. My third-grader is getting along well and when it is sunny and the kids can get outside for a time, well, that really helps.”

The internet sharing, though, remains a challenge. She has two sixth-grade students, a fourth-grade student and a third-grader. She said her daughter needed to do a telehealth video chat and her son needed to get on to do his work. Roland is an accountant, and this being tax season, the pressure has only mounted.

Elizabeth Dechow spoke by phone about the school shutdown.

“I have five children and the 16-year-old and 15-year-old are at Bald Eagle Area High School. My sixth-grader is home-schooled, and I have a fourth-grader and a first-grader at St. John’s. That school has been proactive from the initial shut down,” Dechow said.

She added that Tice does not get enough credit for all she does — much of which is behind the scenes.

A quick look at the St. John Facebook pages shows there are many suggestions for mindfulness exercises and for games and activities for families.

Erin St. Armant shared her experiences as a parent during these stay-at-home school days. She has two children at St. John’s — one in pre-K and one in fourth grade.

“I emailed my fourth-grader’s teacher in the beginning because I wasn’t certain about something. The teacher answered in a short time and it’s been that way all along. My pre-K child is continuing to work on letters and numbers and will likely have a Zoom call this next week. Mrs. Stanton has continued the read-a-loud programs on video.”

OUR LADY OF VICTORY

Emma Cousins, a kindergarten teacher at Our Lady of Victory Catholic School in State College, offered her thoughts on educating such young minds as kindergarten students online.

“We are making slideshows for each week with our lessons and communicating via Google Classroom,” she said. “Since they are so little, I have to add audio recordings in the slideshow to read instructions and so they can read books along with my voice. We’ve been recording videos of ourselves and doing lots of reading aloud exercises.”

Cousins and her class met once for a “Lunch with the Teacher” over Zoom and the kids showed their teacher their pets.

“We will meet this next week over Zoom to play a game of ‘Simon Says Prepositions,’ where we give each other Simon’s commands using prepositions,” said Cousins.

Taylor McElhinney, a kindergarten student at Our Lady of Victory Catholic School, is learning through internet communication with her teachers during the pandemic. Submitted photo

This week (March 30 to April 3), “we are using the program Formative so students can interact with some of our slides,” she added. “They can draw answers, record their voices and select answers and their work gets sent straight to us.”

Cousins said her kids have been sending her lots of pictures of themselves holding up their work with proud smiles.

“One even sent me a video complete with background music, then signed off with a song he had written for me:

“Miss Cousins, Miss Cousins, I love you so much,

“Miss Cousins, Miss Cousins, my day has been much,

“Miss Cousins, Miss Cousins, the show is done now.”