What it's like to be a distance learning teacher: Heilicher
Here’s to the educators—on a moment’s notice, they completely transformed how they do their jobs to make sure our students’ Jewish education didn’t miss a beat. We wanted to know: How are they handling this? What are they learning? How can we help them?
Jodi Danovsky, a kindergarten teacher at Heilicher Jewish Day school, is proud of the work Heilicher did to make distance learning a success—but says nothing replaces getting to be in the classroom with her students
How did the transition to distance learning go for you?
We realized it was possible that we could be out for a few weeks. We wondered, what are these five- and six-year-olds going to do?? We quickly grabbed envelopes and filled them with page protectors and writing paper and a dry erase marker. We put in enough for them to work with for two weeks.
But, as we now know, two weeks was a hopeful estimate!
It worked out in that it gave us enough time to become a little more tech savvy from home. It was kind of nice to have them pause and review [while we transitioned to teaching remotely.]
Heilicher quickly came up with a system that worked really well. We had two distance learning documents that went out each week; one for Monday and Tuesday, and one for Wednesday and Thursday. Friday was a catch-up day.
What surprised you about teaching kindergarteners virtually?
They became pretty impressive with their Zoom skills! They figured out how to raise their hands, and who is muted.
It was also a neat experience to teach kindergarten with parents. We're all raising these students together, but the academic piece has usually mainly been on me. Last spring, we were all sharing that.
I imagine teaching small children over Zoom can be adorable. Has that been the case?
Yes! We had a kindergarten pajama party. We sang a Hebrew goodnight song, read bedtime stories, and did the sh’ma. We called on every single one of them and they each had to unmute themselves and say “goodnight friends.”
It was so fun—normally, we never would have thought to do this. Of course, it would have been better for me if I had known I would get to see them again at school. It was emotionally challenging for me to get through. The students were very happy and I was trying not to cry.
It must have been really hard for you to not see them again in person!
It was really hard. It was very emotional. There are things you can’t get on Zoom; moments in the classroom when I can see that they’re about to grasp a concept and I can capitalize on it. It's a little harder on the computer.
How do you feel about the uncertainty of teaching in this new reality?
I would be more nervous about the future if I didn’t see how quickly we pulled it together. If we could do this, I think we can do any hybrid model of school.
Heilicher Day School received a grant from the Minneapolis Jewish Federation’s COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund to conduct education and engagement virtually.