The 4th annual Washington State Teacher Advisory Council (WATAC) Spring Conference was held virtually on May 3, 2020. In this conference, educators learned from their colleagues, got to network, and shared with one another. WATAC provided a full day of sessions starting with opening speaker Amy Campbell, Washington State Teacher of the Year. Lynne Olmos, CSTP blogger’s article, “This Is Heavy: The WATAC Conference and Finding Meaning,” focuses on the presentations from the session speakers.

One of the few great things that have come from this pandemic is the shattering of distance boundaries with professional development. As an eastern Washingtonian, WATAC meant at least 20 hours of road travel, costly hotel stays, and an entire weekend away from my family. I want to say THANK YOU WATAC for doing the impossible and providing a virtual conference in such a short period of time. I hope the option to join conferences virtually continues post-COVID.

The WATAC break-out sessions offered a depth of perspective from multiple stakeholder panels. The student panel interested me the most. It was broken up into three student panel sessions, K-5th grade, 6th-8th grade, and 9th-12th grade. I attended the 6-8th grade student panel because I wanted to better understand the student perspective during this unique period of time. Students discussed what is and isn’t working during distance learning.

What Is Working
Students enjoy the control of waking up when they feel like it. Having the flexibility in allowing their bodies to receive adequate sleep without the pressure of needing to be at school by a certain time. This makes it easier for students to concentrate when they begin their school work.

Students appreciate when teachers respond quickly to emails. We have to remember, as adults, we have become accustomed to giving colleagues a 24-hour window to respond to our emails. However, we must not forget that students haven’t experienced frequent communication via email.

Suggested schedules were also requested by students. Many students feel somewhat lost since distance learning began. Students felt it would be helpful if a simple schedule were created by their teachers recommending when to work on lessons throughout the day or week. A recommended schedule would provide structure, limit student stress, and help them organize their ideas without having to scroll through assignments or emails.

What Isn’t Working
Too many technology platforms are being used. Students are frustrated in learning various ways to submit work, communicate with their teacher, and/or demonstrate their understanding. It has become a juggling act to remember which platforms to use for each teacher. They wish all their teachers would collaborate and decide to use the same platforms.

Students don’t feel they are getting enough work. Some students expressed that they are only receiving review work and haven’t learned anything new. Other students said they aren’t given enough work to do. This has been very irritating to them. Their big question was, “Why aren’t my teachers assigning new work?” Students want to be challenged.

Overwhelmingly, the student panel also let us know that they have friends with limited internet capability. Their friends aren’t able to receive the same level of education as students with no internet complications. Yes, students see the inequity in distance learning.

There are many workgroups forming that are focusing on the 2020-2021 school reopening. Remember it is vital to have representation from students and parents. This reminds me of what an 8th-grade student panelist said, “If teachers just understood us.” Moving forward, all educators need to make a concentrated effort in listening to the needs of students and parents.

The first step in understanding them is to talk with them and ask for feedback on what is and isn’t working. This knowledge will help educators tailor their teaching to better fit students’ needs. Their stories and feedback should be what we, as educators, listen to in order to determine the next steps in creating their best future.

Like Doc Brown said in Back to the Future: Part III, “Your future hasn’t been written yet. No one’s has! Your future is whatever you make it. So make it a good one!”

I remember the days when class was still held in a building, and my biggest concern was figuring out how to differentiate my math lesson to meet the needs of my students.  However, in our new reality of distance learning, I am learning to differentiate for parents.  In order to equitably reach all students educationally, I needed to understand each student’s situation in accessing the material I was creating for distance learning.  

My first obstacle was communication.  How do I communicate with students who are not responding to emails?  I realized very quickly that my only option was to establish a firm communicative relationship with the student’s lead parent/guardian. Like all teachers, I log into my student information system, Power School for my school, and find contact information. I figured the quickest way to reach out to parents would be by phone number.  

Originally, I called the parents/guardians of my students.  I was able to reach a few but found myself leaving a lot of messages.  I still had at least 30% of students whom I couldn’t reach.  Next, I emailed every parent that I couldn’t reach by phone.  I received a few more with this method but still fell short of reaching everyone.

My third option was using an app like Remind to email parents.  I know some educators use other apps like Class Dojo or Class Policy.  Essentially, these offer similar features where you send the parent a code that instructs them on how to download the app and communicate with you via that platform.  Luckily, I had already set this form of communication before the quarantine.  

This form of differentiation helped me contact a few more. These parents were very happy that I had reached out in this manner.  They were very apologetic and expressed that they don’t often check their email.  Others felt bad for not answering my *67-caller ID blocked phone number.  

However, I was still missing quite a few parent contacts.  I equate it to classroom attendance.  If I haven’t seen nine students out of 30 from my second-period class, for several days, I would do anything possible to get a hold of parents/guardians. During a conversation with a colleague, they had heard of other teachers finding success using TalkingPoints.  Initially, I was skeptical.  I figured this was another app, and I was already using Remind.

But how would I reach these last few?  Reluctantly, I began to research this form of communication.  I discovered that this platform has a web-based version.  TalkingPoints allows a teacher to send a message in the form of a text that will appear in the preferred spoken language of the parent/guardian from the web.  Finally, I had reached the majority of my students.  

I keep relentlessly trying to find a way to reach the last 2%, but sadly they are the ones who have no contact number or email on record that is currently useful.  My next thought is reaching out via the United States Postal Service.  Fingers crossed!

In finding the preferred manner of reaching parents/guardians I was able to determine strengths and limitations for each of my students. Through this communication, I identified obstacles and collaboratively created an educational plan of action for each student as well as the best method to communicate on a weekly basis with parents/guardians and students.  

The silver lining during this unprecedented time in education is learning many ways to communicate with families and the importance of being flexible with more than just a phone number or email.  I’m starting to get excited for the 2020-2021 school year when I get to offer parents/guardians their preferred option of communication.