In an email sent by Assistant Principal Skyler Draeger, MHS revealed the decision to provide a hybrid learning experience option for freshmen beginning April 2021. In May 2021, in-person learning (IPL) switched to full day classes, four days a week (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday), as stated in another email from Draeger.
On April 23, it was also announced that all students were eligible to sign up for IPL, regardless of grade level or other factors; this would go on until the end of the year, according to Draeger.
In a Zoom interview, science teacher Rita Burmanroy described what a hybrid class period for her subjects normally looks like. This is essentially the first month meeting in person, so she thinks people have been feeling uncomfortable, Burmanroy said.
“Because anatomy and physiology have upperclassmen, I have only one to two students at most in either classroom. With respect to biology, it is mostly freshman, and my largest class has seven students in person, and the minimum would be three students in a classroom,” Burmanroy said. “So a typical class would be about four to five students in person, and then the rest of them on Zoom.”
There have been challenges throughout the process, such as ensuring that in-person students can feel that they are not just essentially watching the students on Zoom being taught, Burmanroy said. Burmanroy also provided some insight into her experience and how the school is implementing COVID-19 safety precautions.
“The typical COVID precautions that we’re doing is that the students have to fill out the health screening form; so for them to come into the classroom, they need to fill out the form every single day at the beginning of the day,” Burmanroy said. “I know that teachers are not expected to do a lot of the cleaning, that’s like the janitorial staff, but at least what I’m doing is cleaning down the desk shields at the end of the periods.”
“I think I’ve seen improvement in work completion,” Burmanroy said. “I would say that students that were turning things in late before we went hybrid, are now turning things in on time, and that is absolutely an improvement,” she said. “I can’t speak, necessarily, to the quality of the work, but I am happy to see that improvement. I tend to get more engagement, even through the Zoom, when there are people in person.”
Burmanroy acknowledged that with being online comes the lack of ability to perform experiments and labs in the classroom. It breaks her heart that students cannot do experiments hands on, she said. It makes all the difference to have experiments, but at the same time she recognizes the restrictions that come with COVID-19, Burmanroy said.
“We have this technology called Labster,” Burmanroy said. “Labster’s great, because it feels a little bit like a game, and I think that it gives you the opportunity to do the same stumbling that you might stumble through in a lab in person. Also, if there’s students that are concerned about sharing materials, you don’t have to worry about that with the virtual labs. Is it the same? I know it’s not. But it is what we can do with what we have, and I’m really grateful that they’ve given us this, because this is not something we’ve ever had.”
Math teacher Kelly King, who is still teaching only online, said he tries to keep his students motivated in his virtual classes. “I try to keep everybody positive, and I would say to really just try to check your understanding of the class,” King said in a Zoom interview. “But I think there’s a point where it does turn back on the student to reach out for help if they’re not understanding it,” he said.
King said students should try to get as much as they can out of their education. Try to learn something everyday, he added. “Especially heading into finals, don’t try to study everything the night before, whether you’re in school or out of school,” he said.
As for Burmanroy, she said that maintaining motivation is difficult for everyone, especially in distance learning. She sees students working on five different things at a time, and she knows that it is mentally draining, Burmanroy said. She wants to give breaks when she can, she added.
Burmanroy also offered a piece of advice, “One thing I would say, for teachers and students, is to give yourself grace.”