Reflections on Distance Learning

2020 will be remembered in history for the many ways our society has been marked by social, racial and economic strife in the wake of a global pandemic and a divided political climate.

At Parkside, we’ll remember this year for the lengths to which our community of teachers, therapists and parents went to support our students in spite of unprecedented challenges and changes to our daily lives.

LEARNING

It was Friday, March 13 when the decision was made to close Parkside’s school building for the safety of our staff and families. By Tuesday, teachers were live on Zoom teaching classes via video conference, with parents supporting their children as they quickly adapted to attending school through the screen of their computer or iPad. Teachers adjusted their curriculum, learned new technology, and developed a strategy for engaging each individual child in order to ensure every student would continue to learn and grow, even when attending school from the confines of quarantine. At the time, there was talk of the lockdown lasting for just four to six weeks, which felt like an eternity. How could we possibly support our students effectively on Zoom for such an extended period of time? Therapists stepped up their support in the Zoom classrooms, and within days were finding new ways to facilitate therapy sessions with students so that Parkside continued to meet, and exceed, the mandates on each child’s IEP.

It wasn’t long before we knew that lockdown was going to last longer than six weeks. And, there were many challenges – zoops, as we like to call them at Parkside – along the way that made the tasks at hand seem all but insurmountable. Things we took for granted like transitioning from a group math class in the classroom to a dyad therapy session in one of the speech offices, required thoughtful planning and trial and error in distance learning. Wifi strength, equal access to technology, and cybersecurity were now pivotal aspects of our ability to educate our students. How could we ensure that every student received the equal attention and support they deserved, when so many of our teachers and therapists were doing double duty; conducting a full day’s work for Parkside on Zoom while supporting their own children who were also now learning from home? Not to mention the intense anxiety and fear so many were feeling as we adjusted to a very different way of life. There were many questions, and so many unknowns.

Seven months later, we find ourselves in a careful balance that feels like it could shift at any moment without notice. Some students have returned to school in the building and are adjusting to a myriad of protocols to protect each other. Others continue to learn online in blended classrooms that include both in-person and remote learners. As we look back, it’s difficult to remember exactly how we got here, but it is reassuring to know that we got here together.

In an attempt to capture what this experience has been like for Parkside families and staff, we offer the following recollections from various members of our community, in their own words.

“We are fortunate that our daughter Halle is able to work well through remote learning. Parkside did an amazing job at putting together a virtual learning program in the spring and summer. Halle felt connected and looked forward to starting the new school year on Zoom. She was almost as excited starting the school year on Zoom as she is when she goes in person.”

Laurie Marshall Current Parent

“I had never been a teletherapy provider before, so I’ll admit that approaching virtual learning was intimidating! I immediately readjusted my expectations for speech therapy – first and foremost, the top priority is always health, safety, and the happiness of our students. During sessions, we gave each other tours of our apartments, introduced one another to our pets and family members, and talked a lot about how we were feeling. We built a strong connection over Zoom, which I hadn’t thought possible. As students became more comfortable, we raised the bar for learning academics and adjusted the program accordingly. Our students completely blew me away with their flexibility and compassion during this time. Our sessions together were the light in a long tunnel, and I am so grateful that we had the opportunity to continue our work together while at home. As I reflect on distance learning for the past 5 months, I have an overwhelming appreciation and understanding of the term #PARKSIDESTRONG. I’m so proud of our students!!”

Amanda Wiener

Speech-Language Pathologist

“While we are thrilled that our son currently has the opportunity to attend Parkside in-person, we are confident that Parkside will transition gracefully to fully virtual learning if/when needed. What they accomplished when forced to become fully remote in the height of the pandemic was and continues to be amazing. Despite the limitations of learning remotely, Parkside has managed to transfer their creative curriculum and supportive approach from that iconic building with red doors to a virtual space online. We are grateful that our son is at Parkside during this challenging time.”

Elena Shahom Current Parent

“Distance Learning at Parkside gave me an up-close and personal view of the dedication of the administration and teachers, and their commitment to providing the consistency and attention my daughter needs. At a time when most schools were opting to leave parents on their own during COVID, sending home packets of work with the expectation that parents will now be able to teach their children, Parkside never skipped a beat, keeping classes going through Zoom and providing a full schedule of academics, therapies, and activities. My daughter actually improved academically in some key areas, and the consistency of the daily schedule gave her something to feel grounded in while the city was in crisis.”

Susan Kerschbaumer

Current Parent

“It was so complicated for all kids, and perhaps especially for Parkside’s kids, to be in school doing normal things one moment, and then suddenly thrust into a new and different world the next. And it was challenging for all of us to adjust to a new normal and to establish new and different routines. In the face of all of that uncertainty, it is truly not an overstatement to say that Parkside came to the rescue in its usual fashion.

Our kids were, in short order, back in a remote approximation of their usual school day — with their classmates’ familiar faces and those of their classroom teachers — with them for several hours a day. The fact that Parkside phased things in gradually, like adding back reading and math groups and therapy appointments to the schedule over time, but starting right away with classroom meetings and group work was so critical. Our son, James, was so proud that he was able to log in by himself and change Zoom codes from one subject to the next before long. And Parkside’s teachers and staff supported the kids and parents alike, ensuring that everyone was accommodated, emphasizing for parents that our kids would continue to learn and this was very much a time not to sweat the small stuff. It truly felt like remote learning came with built in supports for the whole family. It was so important to have a schedule that took up a significant portion of the school day, but also built in some break time. As a parent of another child at a different school, I can honestly say that Parkside got into a rhythm and cultivated the right balance so much more quickly, and in a way that permitted our kids largely to be independent learners, which was so helpful for those of us working full time jobs from home while also trying to facilitate remote learning. This past year was James’s graduation year, and it was so difficult to think about his goodbye to Parkside occurring over a computer screen. But in that context as well, Parkside exceeded all expectations. James’s classroom teachers sent special graduation gifts that made James feel so valued. They worked tirelessly with the kids on their graduation speeches, and the school sent such incredible extra gifts – really thoughtful mementos – at graduation time. We were just overwhelmed by the thoughtfulness and the care that went into all of it. And James truly felt celebrated. Thanks to Parkside’s incredible music and drama team, there was even a school play, something that is always our son’s favorite part of the spring. To be able to watch the play together as a school community, while also watching the faces of the performers watching themselves, and supporting and cheering for each other in the chat was somehow even more special than the play has felt before. It was such a fitting tribute to our kids and their creativity, as well as the strength, resilience and joy of the Parkside community, that in the end, perhaps it was the best possible celebration and way to end an incredible several years at Parkside.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder, or so the old saying goes. Somehow the remote learning experience further enhanced our family’s already very significant affection for Parkside and everything that it offers and stands for, whether in person or not. Just a spectacular job by an incredibly dedicated group of teachers and administrators and staff who devote everything they have – their talent, their creativity, their love – to our kids on a daily basis.”

Ethan Dabbs P’20

Board Member

“Zoom therapy ended up being a profound experience for me and I think for many of the children and families. When we are in person, we are of course building very meaningful connections with our students, but we don’t always have those same connections with the parents. Conducting therapy sessions through Zoom, while it certainly took some time to adjust, ended up being very meaningful. It was a very different experience, being “in” the child’s home during these sessions.

Adjusting the structure of our play sessions online took a good deal of energy and effort. I found myself relying on parents often to help keep children on task. I had to think creatively — as did the child — about how to adapt play therapy to fit our new virtual world. As play therapists, our department talked and shared ideas, learned from other professionals through webinars as well as from our colleagues from Parkside about how to use technology for fun and connection. Our entire team and school, in partnership with the parents, went above and beyond to make sure students received every bit of support that they needed during this challenging and unique time.

I found that as I got into the rhythm of distance therapy, it became more and more fun to create new ways of forming bonds and sustaining interaction and connection with the children. Whether creating a scavenger hunt for household items beginning with the letter of the child’s name, making breakfast together as we sat in different states, or using background features on Zoom to provide an entree into a particular child’s interests, I found that although I often had to stay one step ahead, actual play and development did happen on Zoom. Sometimes we just got really silly and tried a lot of different things until something stuck. And then it was as if the computer would “fall away”, and we were just connecting in our sessions like there was not a screen between us. There was an intimacy in being in the child’s home which fostered the connection. Kudos to the parents for assisting their children at key times, too.”

Rachel Sosland

Social Worker

“Switching to remote learning with only a day of prep was almost as scary as COVID-19 itself. Students, teachers, and families had to get used to a new normal on the fly while also dealing with the anxieties of a world in quarantine. The word “zoop” never rang truer. Being a new member of the Parkside community, I knew a little bit about the strength of everyone in this building, but was in awe of how everyone came together for truly impressive Spring and Summer programs. The staff collaboration was amazing, as we all worked together to find fun ways to keep the students engaged and social on Zoom. This obviously could not have been accomplished without the never-ending support of our parents and guardians, and even more so, the resilience of our student body. Students logged on every day, bringing their energy and support for each other when we all felt overwhelmed and anxious on a daily basis. This tremendous cooperative effort led to a really beneficial academic program. As students became more and more technologically independent teachers were able to take advantage of the vast resources of the internet. Being forced to rely solely on technology had its drawbacks, but also led me to find a lot of fun activities and ideas that I plan to bring into my in-person teaching at Parkside this Fall. While I much prefer being in the classroom with my students, I actually found distance learning to be a useful period in my life, as I grow as an educator, and as we all continue to grow together as a community.”

Nick Flickinger Associate Teacher

“This unprecedented pandemic caught every one of us off guard, threw the world upside down and created huge disruptions to our lives, but Parkside, through their distance learning system, kept our community members connected to each other and anchored our hearts in this crazily tumultuous time. I was amazed by how swiftly Parkside moved to set up a distance learning system for kids to move forward with their learning. It was vital for Lucas to feel that learning still goes on no matter what happens. The teachers and therapists worked extremely hard to make remote learning and social activities fun and engaging, and these learning and social activities made Lucas feel self-fulfilled and helped him keep a peaceful mind in this extremely challenging time. He became even more techy and independent because he had to manage a lot of logistics on his own. This skill set he got from Parkside has prepared him well for using online systems to manage his learning now at Browning.”

Grace Wang

Parent, Class of 2020

“Since this adventure began last spring, parents, siblings of our students, teaching colleagues within and outside of Parkside, and many other professionals with whom I have spoken have remarked on how different the Parkside remote learning experience is from other schools’ models. We all know how we scrambled at first to find ways to maintain learned skills; then to teach new skills and content. But what was it that made Parkside’s approach unique? I didn’t realize that baked into the construct of our digital day, was the essence of what makes Parkside unique at any time. Relationships. Relationships take on a whole new meaning in this tumultuous new world. As a teacher, my relationships with parents, students, and Parkside colleagues became closely linked in such a different way with the digital move. We were after all in each other’s kitchens, on our porches, in our living rooms, home offices, even bedrooms with home life buzzing all around us. So even though we were “distanced”, there was a new channel on the digital screen that brought with it a new kind of intimacy. Our leadership, by insisting on creating as much of the Parkside in-school experience online as we possibly could, established the opportunity to create a truly interactive, interpersonal learning experience. So as a teacher, I believed that it was my job to deepen my connection with students and parents, to re-establish and continually build on these relationships so that learning would take place. How to do that within this flat, 2-dimensional, faulty technologyriddled environment? How to make learning truly dynamic on screen? It became my mission to ensure that every time we met online, each child in class had an opportunity to engage, to interact with each other and with us. I learned to trust that our children are problem solvers. I watched them grasp what was expected of them; take on new responsibilities for managing their time and materials in ways they never had before. Parents expressed how pleased they were that their child became more independent over time, especially as it pertained to using the technology or keeping themselves organized. Parents assumed responsibility for so many things therapists and teachers had managed at school. Teachers came up with new ways to deliver instruction, assess learning, and modify student deliverables to accommodate this new paradigm. But most of all, we got to know one another, for bet-

ter or worse, in new ways. This is community! We were a community before the pandemic, we maintained that community while we transitioned to distance learning, and we live that community each and every day. Are our children learning? It is a question I work on answering every day for each child in class. I believe they are. I see them growing as learners, as individuals, and as members of the Parkside community. In all honesty, some students seem to have thrived as remote learners, while for some it just doesn’t seem to work. What I love about Parkside, is that we don’t give up. We keep trying to improve what we can while enduring in this extraordinary new paradigm. At the center of it all, are the children.”

Marie Rice

Group Teacher