In Portsmouth: Teaching in a time of crisis

PORTSMOUTH — Growing up, Ashley Adamson can remember a chunk of time when she would play in her parents’ basement, pretending to be a teacher. 

Fast forward to today, and the Hathaway Elementary School third-grade educator is sitting at a desk, laptop propped in front of her, recording a video of herself reading aloud to her students. 

“Here I am, 14 years into my career and I’m playing school again, in my basement,” Ms. Adamson joked.

It will continue to be hers and the rest of the Portsmouth school district’s new reality for the next few weeks, after Gov. Gina Raimondo ordered all public schools in Rhode Island to remain closed through the end of April in response to the ongoing COVID-19 (coronavirus) crisis. Though it hasn’t always been easy and the hours put in are long, teachers, staff and administrators are dedicated to making sure that the transition to distance learning is as smooth as possible for teachers and their families. 

“We have to recognize we are teaching in a crisis,” said Lisa Goodwin, the assistant principal for teaching and learning at Portsmouth Middle School. “We aren’t just teaching from home.”

Technology transition 

At the middle school, technology integration coach Sarah DelSanto has been working tirelessly to provide teachers the resources and expertise to roll out distance learning in their own classrooms, no matter their skill level. Though a 1:1 initiative was fully implemented at the beginning of this school year, there was still some anxiety amongst staff using online instruction full time. 

“It’s hard to know what is being expected, because it’s so unprecedented,” Ms. DelSanto said.

As she has continued to assist with their professional development — offering instruction on anything from imbedding videos into lessons to monitoring students’ screens — Ms. DelSanto has been impressed with how the PMS staff has risen to the occasion. 

“They are going above and beyond what is being asked of them, looking for new and innovative ways to make their curriculum awesome,” she said. 

While Portsmouth is not 1:1 at the elementary level, Ms. Adamson said she felt “supported” in making the distance learning transition for her co-called classroom. Colleagues helped her and her co-teacher, special educator Victoria Travis, learn the ropes of Google Classroom, and Ms. Adamson said her principal, Lisa Little, was always making herself available — even “answering calls during dinner.” 

“It was really a whole effort by our entire village,” Ms. Adamson said. 

For her, the “slow and steady” approach helped her prepare for this next phase as she introduces pre-recorded videos and small group discussions, while Ms. Travis continues to modify assignments and hold live sessions with her specific students. Yet for others in the district, there were still some significant kinks that needed to be worked out during that initial phase. 

After it took her three hours to provide comments to only eight of her students, Peggy Prior, who teaches Honors Algebra II, Financial Algebra and Pre-AP Calculus at Portsmouth High School, was finally able, with the help of library media specialist Sarah Hunicke and technology integration coach Tim Marum, to acquire an iPad and easily write comments on a student’s PDF. With her document camera now working at home, too, Ms. Prior has now been able to abandon the wobbling white board and easel she’d bought and write her notes on paper as her students simultaneously worked on the problems at home. 

“I don’t think I even realized how involved it would be to try and get it figured out,” Ms. Prior said. 

Setting and shifting expectations 

As the weeks have gone by, many teachers have had to shift what their expectations are, from what they can accomplish in a day to what they can conquer in a year. 

With marathon video chats throughout the day and e-mails still coming in at all hours of the night, Ms. DelSanto has been trying to find ways to take time out for just herself — turning her phone off while taking a lunch break, or going outside and gardening. 

“If you asked 90 percent of the teachers at our school, they would all probably say work-life balance has been the most difficult thing for them,” Ms. DelSanto said. 

Though Ms. Prior had her Pre-AP Calculus students still meeting live during those initial two weeks before PHS shifted to more of a regular schedule, she still felt a great responsibility that they may not be as prepared for AP Calculus BC next year, given the circumstances. Though she said the teacher of that course has only been encouraging and supportive that they’ll make it work in the long run, it was still challenging for Ms. Prior to cope with that reality. 

“It took a while to let that go,” she said.

In her first year teaching the course, PMS coding instructor Monica Taft had to change her entire curriculum when school shut down earlier in March, having not even even met any of her fifth-, sixth- or seventh-grade classes before that happened. 

“That was my biggest fear … I was like, ‘Oh my God, how am I going to do this that they actually learn something, that they walk away from this having learned a little code?’” she said. 

After turning to code.org for much of those first two weeks, Ms. Taft is looking forward to providing some introductory videos and class Zoom or Google meetups during this new phase of instruction. Not only does she expect the added structure and routine will help in the classroom, but Ms. Taft said she also hopes it helps keep her students at ease during such uncertain times. 

“We’re trying to keep some semblance of normalcy in these kids’ life,” she said. 

Staying connected

Right from the beginning, a major point of concern for Ms. Adamson and Ms. Travis was remaining connected to students. In addition to running their morning meetings as usual, the pair have sent out handwritten cards to the children, as well as made an iMovie from all the photos they have already taken throughout the year.  

“All teachers were making that a priority,” Ms. Adamson said.

Though Ms. Taft does not have a homeroom of her own to check in with each morning, she has made a game out of virtually crashing that of others in order to say “hi” to students each day — “Where’s Mrs. Taft?” as she likes to call it. 

“I don’t tell them where I’m coming,” she said with a laugh. “I’ll just show up.” 

In the coming weeks, Ms. Goodwin said the district will continue monitoring how distance learning is going, for both teachers and families. But while they have received plenty of positive feedback from parents so far, several district staff members had to give shoutouts to their students as well. 

Though it has felt a little like the beginning of the school year again at times, Ms. Adamson is impressed by the level of effort her students have displayed to date. 

“They really rose to the occasion,” she said. 

To Ms. Prior, it has been “remarkable” the level of kindness and patience she has seen from students as well:

“They are trying to make the best of it, too.”

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