By Casey Brown and Wil Phinney of the CUJ
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regon students haven’t been sitting in desks in front of their teachers since March 12, but education hasn’t stopped, it’s just been from a distance. Like everything COVID, social distancing came to Oregon schools on March 12 when Oregon Gov. Kate Brown virtually closed the state over the novel coronavirus pandemic. In mid-April schools were directed to begin “Distance Learning for All.” Instead of big busy buildings with bustling hallways and buzzers every 50 minutes, homes with kitchen-table desks, rambunctious brothers and sisters, and noisy pets have become the classrooms for students across the country. Students are working from home computers and laptops on loan from schools in a variety of age-appropriate, multi-media communication and blended-learning strategies, not just digital/ online platforms. In addition to teachers, parents and older siblings are the instructors. Young people are keeping up with algebra and science, and they are drawing cars and writing essays. They are learning about self-motivation, time management and how to deal with stress. All of a sudden they have time to spend with their families and many are learning more about their culture. The CUJ asked several young people and their parents what they were doing during the COVID-19 pandemic. The following is a sampling of their responses.
Taking the classroom home... Ivory Herrera Ivory Herrera is a junior at Nixyaawii Community School where her schedule includes anatomy, her favorite, plus Language Arts 3 and algebra 2. She sports a 3.8 grade point average. Ivory is self-motivated, but it doesn’t hurt that her father, Freddy Herrera, is a retired Marine MP who gives her marching orders. “My dad makes sure I get it done,” Ivory said. She’s online with Acellis at 7:30 each morning. She uses the school’s gmail or Remind message to communicate with teachers who “get back right away.” In addition to her regular classes, Ivory is a reader. She likes to read books about Native America, but currently is working on ‘Night Shift,’ one of Steven King’s thrillers. A basketball player for the Golden Eagles this year, Ivory said she misses her friends but keeps up with texts and facetime. COVID-19 hasn’t caused her much stress. “I’m cool with it,” she said. Her father said the coronavirus has been “kind of a blessing in disguise” because it “gets down to what matters” and that may be learning outside the classroom. He takes Ivory, an aspiring veterinarian, to the mountains to hunt and fish, to learn about and gather roots. “I want her to learn our traditions and ceremonies, our way of life,” her father said.
having the hardest time adapting to a new routine. “They know they are all in the same boat,” Nikki said. “He’s a boy, so I feel that he’s got all this extra energy. He’s pretty social. I think out of all of my kids, he’s had the toughest time adjusting.” It’s been hard for them to “miss going to school, not see any family, not going anywhere.” Ella’s youngest sibling, Sarah, goes to Cay-Uma-Wa Head Start on the Umatilla Indian Reservation, and her two oldest brothers, Greyson and Dakota, go to Pendleton High School. Ella, 13, shares a birthday with her younger sister Sarah, 5, and they celebrated birthdays in quarantine this year. “It’s tough to celebrate in quarantine because they are used to celebrating with their whole family. That was a tough one for Ella,” Nikki said. When she can go back to school, she’s most looking forward to one thing: her friends. “Getting out of the house. It gets boring being stuck with your family for so long without going someplace,” she said. In the meantime, she’ll continue focusing on schoolwork, including her favorite class, which is history because her teacher is “chilled back.” He doesn’t overwhelm students with too much work in the Google Classroom, Ella said. “It’s a lot. We have five kids at home,” Nikki said. “It’s a big change because every day is a different day.” Lindsey Littlesky Pasena Lindsey Littlesky Pasena is a sophomore at Pendleton High School where she excels academically and athletically. She is the Chair of the Youth Council for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. She said being away from school was “making everything else important” and giving her time to do things she didn’t think she had time for before. “I didn’t have time for family, I didn’t have time to draw, I didn’t have time to engage in my culture. Now I have time to try new things,” Lindsey said. In addition to being a student, Lindsey also serves as a teacher for her brother Kyman, 10, and sister, Brees, 9. Her mom is a teacher at Nixyaawii Community School but isn’t familiar with online instruction so Lindsey is helping her as well. She continues to take Spanish via video and honors biology. She’s writing persuasive essay and dialogue in English and using Acellus for math and world history. “It’s hard to focus when the focus is on everything in the world,” Lindsey said, adding that her mother has the news on “all day.” “Our world literally changed in a week span,” Lindsey said. “This is the new normal and we have to make it what we can. It’s up to you to motivate yourself and stay active.” Some positive things may come of COVID-19, Lindsey said. In fact, the earth may be healing itself. “The animals are returning. They may be on the streets, but they’re back. The pollution is gone; traffic is gone. It’s sad to say we’ve had to sacrifice lives to fix what other people have done to the world.”
Avery Quaempts is a sixth grader at Sunridge Middle School. Avery Quaempts Avery Quaempts, a sixth grader at Sunridge Middle School, finds math easiest to learn at home. Science is the most difficult because she misses in-class instruction. “It’s difficult because we don’t have our teacher to explain in words,” she said. The information is in text form rather than a lecture, which is what she’s used to. In mid-April, during her first week of distance learning, she was is using her own computer to log into Google Classroom, an online learning platform used by the Pendleton School District. Her dad, Justin, says that paper packets are an option, but are more appropriate for students that can’t get internet access. Justin, recovering from two back surgeries, has been to stay home with Avery, but he’s looking forward to projects at Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts. Avery misses her friends, but she stays in touch on Snap Chat and FaceTime. She also misses her softball, which has been a big part of her life. “It feels devastating because I remember that we used to have a team bond. We’d get so excited to see each other at tournaments and create memories,” she said. But she isn’t letting being away from school stop her from being active. She still conditions for softball and practices basketball skills, particularly dribbling to get her “handling down.” Her dad says they are adjusting and dealing with the ups and downs of the constant changes and uncertainly, while also staying active and positive. “It’s been kind of a state of uneasiness just because the overall sentiment in the world is not knowing what’s going on now. Or in the future. That energy infiltrates no matter where you are. The past few weeks that’s been overwhelming, rightfully so,” he said. Avery and Justin say they know what to do because they look to their ancestors. “As a tribe, we’ve got to understand that that’s what we’ve been doing for centuries is adapting. This is just a modern day iteration of that. If we trust what our ancestors told us for a long time I think we’ll be okay,” Justin said.
May 2020
Ella Sams sits next to her brother Quincy. She shares a birthday with her younger sister Sarah that they celebrated in quarantine. Ella Sams Ella Sams, a seventh grader at Sunridge Middle School, gets bored easily sitting at home all day. She knows she’s staying home due to social distancing requirements for COVID-19, but she doesn’t like to talk about the virus. “We don’t really talk about it because we want it off our minds,” she said. Her mom Nikki already works from home for a consulting company out of Maryland. She said that despite the official designation to move to distance learning the week of April 13, she’s had her kids working on school work since Pendleton schools closed in March. “She started pretty much when they left school. I wanted them to stay on top of things, so we got in touch with Janet Maddern,” Nikki said. Janet Maddern is the Indian Education Coordinator at Sunridge, and she has been using two programs from her home for a couple of years. She has experience with distance learning. “It has been a bit easier for me, since I have had Acellus classes put into place for the past two years,” she said. “I am able to keep in contact with the kiddos either through e-mail or calling the parents,” Maddern said. “I have given all parents my e-mail address and phone number, just in case the kids need help.” She’s also come up with an interesting way to help students who seem to struggle with the same assignments. “It seems that the math part has been difficult for many of the kiddos and the parents, so sometimes I will post the problem on Facebook, so all can see how to work it out together,” she said. To get her assignments, Ella logs on to her student e-mail and turns in her work on Google Classroom. She also uses i-Ready, an online learning program, for math and reading. For her physical education (P.E.) class, she keeps a log that she turns in to a teacher. She’s been running and working on softball skills with her dad, Ryan Sams. “I have these softball exercises, so I put down hitting, throwing, and softball workouts like sit-ups, pushups, crunches,” she said. Ella’s brother Quincy is in second grade. Mom said he’s been
Confederated Umatilla Journal
Serenity Antelope has been excelling in classes while studying from home. She’s improved two grade levels in math this year. Serenity Antelope Serenity Antelope is a seventh grader at Sunridge Middle School. She said she likes doing schoolwork at home. “It’s been fun because I can do my work at my own pace. I like working at my own pace,” she said. “I can still get help from my teachers if I e-mail them. We do this thing called Google Meets where we video chat with our teachers,” she said. Her uncle, David Filkins, helps her with her schoolwork. “I bother my Uncle Bubba a lot,” she said. “It helps me get my schoolwork done.” Like most students, Serenity misses her normal routine. “I miss school because I like to interact with the teachers. It’s kind of weird not seeing their faces. I miss being social. It’s hard to keep my distance,” she said. However, she’s been staying in touch with her family via FaceTime, a video chat program available on iPhone and iPads. She says that math her most difficult subject. “It’s hard because I can’t ask questions. When I’m face-to-face with my teachers I know what to ask. When I’m typing, it is more confusing to ask questions. I have to go to all these apps and find the stuff that he’s posting for me. I’d rather just get my packet that we usually do,” she said. She’s been working on improving her math skills with a proTaking the classroom home on page 20A
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