Students have two more days to enjoy being inside their classrooms before they are thrust back into the world of distance and online learning. And while this shift comes at the end of the term, those students were happy to be back at school - and for good reason. Many of them have expressed how much easier it is to learn in a classroom environment rather than at home, and teachers have attested to this.
Today, we visited our neighborhood school, Wesley Lower, to hear about their experience after being open for the past two months. Courtney Menzies has the story.
Students at Welsey Lower had enjoyed a small sense of normalcy when their school doors reopened in April for in-class learning. But in two days, that is coming to an end and the kids will be back home for the last week of school - distance style.
Adapting to distance learning, and then to in-class instruction with COVID protocols, hasn't always been easy. But one infant 1 teacher explained that her students adapted quickly since they're never actually been in school before. However, she admits the distance learning has impacted their cognitive growth.
Kimberly Heusner, Teacher, Infant 1
"The face to face has been slightly exciting for me than the distance learning, it's been good because you could see where they really were lacking certain skills, the writing development has really fallen down, you could see that, and with the reading, the children really need to improve their reading skills and the face to face really helped me to provide that for them."
But while the teachers work on their cognitive growth, their social skills will take a bit longer.
Kimberly Heusner, Teacher, Infant 1
"They couldn't really socialize, it's all about the social distance, the most they can do is talk to each other, but they really can't get out of their seats, they're not allowed to touch things, not even for break time, you're gonna eat your little snacks, clean up, we take them to the bathroom, we bring them back so everything is really social distanced. But it was very good for behavior management, the behavior management since we've come back has been excellent, I don't think we've had that much problems since coming back with undesired behaviors."
And for older students, their teacher says it's been a bit more difficult to adapt to the constant change.
Rudolph Neal, Teacher, Standard 3
"Having them back into school and then doing online work has been confusing for the children because they were forced to adapt and I think the biggest thing since we were cleared to reopening April was adapting and we find that some of the students really adapted quickly or fairly well while others struggled and then of course there were some parents that made the decision to keep their children at home for safety reasons and concerns which we understand but by and large for the other that came back, they adapted fairly well."
And just like the younger students, Neal said his standard 3 class had fallen behind during distance learning.
Rudolph Neal, Teacher, Standard 3
"An issue that we did note when the students returned to school, they were all given an assessment and we notice that upon entry some of the assessment were not that good so we immediately noted that some students were performing below their prescribed level but once they got into the actual classroom and we started the interaction and the teaching learning sessions, we saw they started to pick up back and was always said, home based learning cannot substitute for school based so while we were sending these work home constantly, it doesn't really give them the extra work or drive that actually being in the classroom can do for them."
But what are the students saying? Well, we spoke with three of them who all agreed that it was easier to learn inside the classroom.
Leonel Pop, Student, Standard 3
"It feels good but with the COVID spike it's bad because we need to learn everyday that how we need to get more knowledge."
Courtney Menzies:
"Do you like being here rather than doing it from home?"
Leonel Pop, Student, Standard 3
"Yes."
Courtney Menzies:
"Why is that?"
Leonel Pop, Student, Standard 3
"Because at home we have more project to do but at school we have less."
Courtney Menzies:
"Were you happy about seeing your classmates and teachers again?"
Leonel Pop, Student, Standard 3
"Yes."
Patrick Beveans, Students, Standard 3
"At school you learn more things than home. At home you just learn less things from our homework that we get from school and do it at home. At school we learn more things, we have whole of the time to learn at school than home because at school we see our teachers and our friends."
Courtney Menzies:
"Do you feel like it's easier now to talk to your teacher and ask your teacher questions about things you don't understand?"
Patrick Beveans, Students, Standard 3
"Yes ma'am."
Courtney Menzies:
"What's your favorite part of being here?"
Patrick Beveans, Students, Standard 3
"Seeing my teachers and classmates."
Courtney Menzies:
"So do you feel like you're learning more being in class?"
Khyrin Robinson, Student, Standard 3
"Yes ma'am."
Courtney Menzies:
"Why do you say that?"
Khyrin Robinson, Student, Standard 3
"Because at home it's hard because the teacher is not there."
Courtney Menzies:
"So you can ask more questions here?"
Khyrin Robinson, Student, Standard 3
"Yes ma'am."
Courtney Menzies:
"What's the best part about being in school?"
Khyrin Robinson, Student, Standard 3
"The best part about being in school is that I'm doing my work and going to a higher level."
And the teachers also have some adapting to do. Both Heusner and Neal explained what they've learnt during this time of teaching in a pandemic.
Kimberly Heusner, Teacher, Infant 1
"You're trying to figure out how to get your lessons across because we have been taught how to teach children using group activities and using manipulatives and different things and now it is so difficult to go back to chalk and talk teaching."
Rudolph Neal, Teacher, Standard 3
"It required more of us to act fast and think quick and readjust what we perceived that education and teaching really once was. We saw ourselves just being thrusted into this new realm of actually being in the classroom and sending home paper based packages and then still doing videos online so it was a hybrid approach so my biggest lesson this year was being flexible."
Both teachers also agreed that they depend heavily on parents to ensure that students don't fall too far behind while they are at home - but, outcomes vary.
Despite the handful of COVID cases detected in schools, the Ministry of Education is keen on reopening fully later this year.
