RUMSON – In a matter of days last month, teachers and students had to adjust to a remote learning environment. Holy Cross Academy third-grade teacher Kat Eagles was one of the first at the school to have her virtual classroom up and running.
“Taking our third-grade class virtual has been an experience that I will never forget,” said Eagles. “In these past weeks, I have watched the students adapt and work on taking more ownership of their own education. That is a difficult expectation to be put on ones so young. We have been lucky to have parents who are juggling other kids, jobs and the stresses of this situation jump in and begin to learn these online platforms with them.”
The Holy Cross faculty has utilized many of the free applications available for communicating with students, including Zoom, pictured above, FaceTime and good, old-fashioned e-mail. “We have all made mistakes, but we all recognize that we are in this together and are learning and growing together as a community. I would much rather be face to face, but am grateful that I at least get to see them and check in with them to make sure they are hitting targets and knowing that I am always there for them.”
In addition to academics, other classes continue as well, including gym, music, art, technology and life skills. Music teacher Lynn Williams, receives videos of her students practicing their keyboard learning at home. Guidance counselor Diane Boccella focuses on the mental and emotional health of her students and recently taught a class via Loom on how to make play dough and glitter bottles at home to use as calming tools if students are feeling stressed about the current situation.
This article originally appeared in the April 23rd, 2020 print edition of The Two River Times.
