How one Seattle teacher kept his kindergartners engaged through the coronavirus closures

Although the pandemic has set a serious tone, teachers in Staten Island are helping their students cope with at-home learning through laughter and unconventional methods. Two teachers recorded videos of themselves while wearing wigs and did their best Jersey accent to deliver grammar lessons. A biology teacher used Zoom to guide students through a dissection lesson on chicken legs. These teachers are proving that despite the challenges of teaching through a pandemic, there are also novel opportunities to seize.

To counteract learning loss imposed by the pandemic, San Antonio teachers are focusing on the most essential skills- reading and math for kindergartners through second graders. By prioritizing a specific set of skills like phonetics and arithmetic, they anticipate students will stay on track with their grade level. “We knew we had to prioritize in order to stay on grade level.” Based on their own yearly assessments, it seems the strategy is working.

A collaboration between Ohio's Wooster City Schools and the College of Wooster has allowed for an enhanced educational experience for many students during the coronavirus pandemic. The partnership not only provides tutoring services to the K-12 students but has also "strengthened the bond between the college and its surrounding community."

When schools across New Hampshire, and the U.S., suspended in-person classes as a result of the pandemic, each developed its own way of dealing with a new teaching landscape, including Beech Street Elementary in Manchester. Instead of having teachers individually their class, the school took a "collective approach" and had teachers work as a team, with each teacher in charge of one specific lesson, to deliver the lessons to all students within the same grade. The school also accommodated ELL students by relying on a translation app, and used social media platforms to communicate with parents.

The Pakistani government uses technology, like a state-owned TV channel that broadcasts content for grades 1-12 and apps sourced for free by ed-tech companies, to help the over 50 million school children without broadband internet or digital device access. The TV channel has over 54 million subscribers and there is a text-messaging service that allows its 250,000 subscribers to talk to professional teachers. Despite the digital divide, the use of educational apps has also skyrocketed since the Covid-19 pandemic. However, technology is not a silver bullet to solve the country’s deep education inequalities.

Private donors and businesses are helping some Connecticut public schools provide students and their families with access to the internet, a critical need when distance learning is imposed. Long-term hopes to close the growing achievement gap between wealthy and poorer schools through public-private partnerships need more time to ripen. But some nearer-term successes include one philanthropy's grant to provide 60,000 laptops and broadband internet to students statewide who otherwise lacked access, while a grant in Norwalk put 1,000 families online to help with homework and healthcare access.

Although the pandemic brought many difficulties to school across the globe, some institutions saw it as the time to innovate and rethink learning delivery. Cambridge High School Extension Program, "an alternative school for academically struggling students," decided to start school later in the day, schedule one-on-on sessions for students with their teachers, and distributed computers and Wi-Fi hotspots. The result has been nearly a 50% decrease in the number of chronically absent students, and an increase from 20 to 60% of students achieving honor roll.

A school in the city of Port Angeles has been reopened since October 2020, it offers valuable pandemic lessons for other schools that are in the process of reopening. Aside from logistical things like temperature checks, there are other things teachers are looking out for in classroom: mental health, energy levels, and teaching kids how to learn again. “Right now, my priority is less about content, and more about executive functioning — reteaching students how to learn."

Step Up is a pilot tutoring program that was launched to help students in the Los Angeles Unified School District navigate virtual learning during the pandemic. The program is only open to 4th, 5th, and 6th graders, and pairs them up with tutors if their teachers opt into the program. So far, nine schools are part of the program, representing 402 students.

Educators at the Lighthouse for Children Child Development Center piloted a 45-minute, weekly, math zoom session for toddlers. Parents attend the zoom lesson, and they are taught by educators. The program can offer some lessons in how to teach toddlers math virtually.