Virtual classroom learning

MADISON  In no time, “virtual classrooms” on video-conferencing platforms for St. Vincent Martyr School here started to resemble real physical classrooms. The teachers and students quickly got acclimated to the dynamics of online classes — like learning how to ask and answer questions in the virtual space — all while continuing to miss the classrooms that they left temporarily seven weeks ago when New Jersey closed schools due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Soon, students learned either to raise their hands on screen or push a button to be called on, after the teacher asked a question,” said Sister of Charity Noreen Holly, St. Vincent’s principal. She praised faculty, students and parents in adapting quickly to the “new reality” of using digital media to meet the challenge of learning — and teaching — while they all shelter in place at home. “Everyone has gotten used to the technology. The partnership between virtual school and virtual home is what is making the effort a success,” she said.

Even before N.J. Gov. Phil Murphy ordered the closing of all schools in the state on March 15, St. Vincent’s and 15 other elementary schools and three high schools in the Diocese started springing into action to put in place plans for “distance learning,” which they had previously formulated under the guidance of the diocesan Schools Office. Since then, their strategies — a mix of various traditional and innovative educational styles and technologies — have helped these schools continue to make students’ studies and Catholic faith come alive without the benefit of daily personal contact in a school building. The schools also have leveraged these various digital platforms — such as Google Classroom for posting assignments, YouTube for positing videos and video conferencing for “virtual classes” and individual tutoring — to help them maintain a sense of community.

At St. Vincent’s, Cillian Collins, a fourth-­grader, found it difficult to get used to the technology at first, especially the daily class schedule — a bit different from an actual school day.

“But now, I like the virtual classes. It’s easy for me to ask the teachers questions,” said Collins, who finishes his schoolwork at his dining room table. He said that he also enjoys his 4 p.m. online meetings with his fellow fourth-graders each day on Google Hangout, “where I get to have fun with my friends and be myself.”

The closing of New Jersey schools due to COVID-19 social restrictions — now mandated until the end of the academic year — put greater pressure on the school’s distance-learning plans, because they were created to meet short-term situations, such as a blizzard — not self-isolation for more than a month. Even so, schools mobilized quickly to use technology to continue giving students the “highest caliber of Catholic formation and an excellent academic education while learning from home,” said Mary Baier, diocesan schools superintendent.

“This pandemic left little time for proper preparation. However, with this prior knowledge and familiarity with these tools, our schools were empowered to embrace challenges with swift action paralleled with professionalism and dedication to student learning. A strong partnership is evidenced among administrations, teachers and parents with an open and accessible communication among all,” Baier told The Beacon.

At St. Vincent’s, middle-school students have their own ChromeBooks, while younger students use their family’s devices. Teachers have been creative in their teaching, making videos of lessons — from story time for the younger students to math word problems for the older students — by using digital white boards or other supplies that they brought from their physical classrooms. Many of them turned a living room, dining room or office in their homes into their “classrooms” away from school, Sister Noreen said.

St. Vincent’s also uses technology to continue forming students in faith. Sister Noreen leads a virtual daily morning prayer and communicates daily messages of faith to the faculty and staff. Clergy of St. Vincent Martyr Parish have celebrated live video-­streamed Masses for the school community with a special children’s Mass on Wednes­days, Sister Noreen said.

Like other schools, faculty of DePaul Catholic High School in Wayne has been using video conferencing, Google Classroom and videos. They also used software to “flip” a class, so students could teach the lesson “to show mastery of the material.” The educators conduct department meetings on video chat, said Russell Petrocelli, DePaul’s principal.

Like many schools, DePaul uses social media, such as Facebook and Instagram, to publicize important announcements, get the school ready for morning prayer and continue to build a sense of community through fun activities. It has posted photos of students and staff in their home “classrooms” and wearing DePaul gear on Spirit Day, Petrocelli said.

“The staff and students pulled together to make distance learning work,” Petrocelli said.

One teacher, Sue Parler, who teaches computer languages, AP computer science and honors engineering, said that educators have found innovative ways to teach their lessons using the technology, like with videos. In one assignment, Parler instructed some of her students to reverse engineer a device and use those parts to build another device.

“At first, it was weird to teach a class with a white board to a video camera with no one else in the room,” Parler said. “I believe that the quality of education at DePaul will provide students with a full day of instruction.”

A DePaul freshman, Michael Orlando, told The Beacon, “It was rough” in class at first, because “we were not person to person” — until classes in video conferencing. He works at a windowsill in his house not too far from his two brothers, also doing schoolwork.

“Now I schedule myself and get all my work done by dinnertime,” said Orlando, who keeps in contact with fellow students via photo- and video-sharing and video-chatting technologies as well as texting. He especially enjoys 45 minutes of gym class each day, such as yoga. “I welcome it. Without it, I would go crazy,” he said.

In Chatham, St. Patrick School keeps students’ schedules “as normal as possible” with an 8 a.m. start, noon lunch and teachers available for conferences and extra help from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Students are encouraged to get dressed for school with the many theme days.

One kindergarten teacher, Maureen Pridham, uses Google for educational games; video for hands-on activities, such as singing aloud; a television to simulate her smart board for her virtual classroom in her living room; and apps for math and reading. She also gives them fun assignments, such as going outside to check the weather, said Pridham, whose daughter, Megan, is an eighth-grader.

Megan Pridham said she enjoys Google Meet classes with her classmates and teachers, “because it’s fun to interact with them.” She admitted that sometimes it is difficult to stay focused on schoolwork with the phone and TV nearby.

“The teachers are helpful but I want to see them in person. It’s easier to learn that way,” Megan Pridham said.

A middle-school algebra teacher, Peggy Tadros, told The Beacon, “The students are getting used to it. It’s almost like being back in the classroom — but I do miss my students.”

“There is a bright spot in this — that students are appreciating teachers in a different way and teachers are appreciating students in a different way,” Tadros said.

St. Patrick’s maintains a sense of community by posting a video message each morning by Christine Ross, principal, livestreaming of teachers and families leading morning prayer and fun activities, such as posting Spirit Day, Superhero Day and more photos on social media. To continue forming students in the faith, the school also holds other opportunities for prayer and school liturgies and held a recent “virtual food drive” to collect donations for Father English Community Center of diocesan Catholic Charities in Paterson, Ross said.

“With distance learning, we are thinking about how to be more effective in the ways we teach our students and teach the values of our religious traditions,” Ross said. “This has been a partnership between the faculty and the parents to make this the best learning experience for students under these circumstances. It’s been a great experience so far but we hope to be together soon,” she said.