Every Rhode Island educator is swimming in the deep end of the pool these days, learning how to teach children from their kitchens while students are home in their bedrooms, all of them surrounded by pets, children, video games and countless distractions. Tara McAuliffe is not directly teaching the students, but she’s coaching, motivating and managing the team of teachers and specialists at Rockwell Elementary School.

Ms. McAuliffe feels the frustrations of parents and staff, but she said this bold experiment in education has been overwhelmingly positive so far. No, it’s nothing like the real thing and could never replicate a teacher making connections with her students in a classroom setting — certainly not at the elementary school level — but the Rockwell principal has seen positive feedback from students, teachers and parents, and she’s encouraged by what they’ve accomplished in a short amount of time.

She sat down for an interview via the Zoom video conferencing platform to talk about Rockwell and distance learning.

The Rockwell program

At Grades 3 to 5, Rockwell conducts much of its distance learning on a Google platform, with Google Classroom and Google Meet (also called Google Hangouts) as their primary software. Students meet with their teachers in morning meetings at 9 a.m. every school day, when the teacher will check on how they’re doing, review materials from the day before and talk about assignments for that day.

Those meetings last 15 minutes or so, and then the students head off to read through slide decks, watch recorded video lessons or complete classroom assignments.

Students in the youngest grades, K to 2, are mostly using the software Seesaw, because it’s something they were already familiar with in their classrooms before Covid-19 took over the world. Seesaw is not a live platform, but it allows students and teachers to both record and write to each other throughout the day.

Though the school day runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. — those are the hours when teachers are available for one-on-one support and lessons — the real “school day” is vastly different in this online environment.

“Not all parents are home working with their child from 9 to 2, so we want to flexible with that,” Ms. McAuliffe said. “Some of them have contacted us and said, ‘I’m not going to start my home schooling with my child until 1 or 2 p.m.’ We want to be very flexible with that time.”

In those cases, the students watch the videos or read the materials on their own time, turning in their work on Google Classroom at whatever time of day.

In a similar spirit, physical education, art and music teachers are posting a menu of challenges or assignments for students that they can choose from at any time of day. Sometimes it’s to fill an empty block in the day; other times, it’s to take a break from staring at a screen.

“Teachers are actually putting exercise breaks into their screens … There are Youtube channels with good exercise breaks for kids. Or if parents just want to tell their kids to get outside and run around, that’s okay, too,” Ms. McAuliffe said.

Staff morale

Ms. McAuliffe is very impressed with what teachers have accomplished in such a short time.

“My staff is amazing. They always have been,” she said.

When Gov. Gina Raimondo closed all school buildings in the state in March, she announced the following week would be the official April vacation week. After the break, everyone district would resume with a distance learning program.

“That first week, when we technically called it a vacation week, they weren’t on vacation. They were brushing up on the technology, downloading materials, sharing ideas with each other … They worked a pretty intensive week trying to get it up and running,” Ms. McAuliffe said.

Since then, they’ve learned and adapted. Last Friday, the district held a professional development day. There were about a dozen topics for small breakout sessions, and most were taught by teachers in the district.

“In just four weeks, we’re at a point where teachers can teach others about this whole new world of distance learning,” she said. “The fact that it got up and running in one week is amazing to me. Is it perfect? It’s probably not perfect. But it’s pretty darned good. The kids are engaged. They’re at home doing projects. They’re working with other kids. They’re improving their writing … I’m amazed. I really am.”

Long days

In many ways, teaching in this environment is more difficult than teaching in the classroom. The technology creates its own challenges, but so does revamping a curriculum into a totally new environment. Many people throughout Rhode Island have said teachers are working harder than ever before.

“I realize the tremendous number of hours they’re putting in,” Ms. McAuliffe said. “I see them still on their computers, texting me at 10 o’clock, 11 o’clock at night. I don’t want to not be there for them. As much as I stare at this computer all day long — sometimes I look at the clock, and I can’t believe how much time has gone by! — I see the teachers working so hard.”

Keeping it fun

Whenever possible, they try to find fun distractions. A kindergarten teacher recently taught a lesson that involved playing “detective.” Parents submitted photos of young students wearing trench coats and top hats, searching for clues. “It was adorable. It helps to keep up that sense of community, of school spirit,” Ms. McAuliffe said.

A real education

Rockwell and other schools are trying to do more than just babysit kids all day. They’re still trying to teach them and advance them academically.

“We want to keep things meaningful, and keep kids moving along, without overwhelming anyone, the families or the teachers. We don’t want this time to be a blank hole in children’s education, and I don’t think that’s happening. Our kids are moving along,” Ms. McAuliffe said.

“When I see what the teachers are creating, I really believe we’re working to advance children’s educations. We’re not doing it at the same rate, or the same level … but we think that for most kids, we’re advancing. And at the very least, we’re holding the line so we don’t have any regression.”

Eye-opening for parents

Asked about how parents have responded, Ms. McAuliffe said feedback has been “overwhelmingly positive.” She also believes some are getting insights into the school they could have never seen in the traditional format. “For a lot of parents, this has been a really in-depth look at the curriculum,” she said. “The’ve seen some of it come home, but I think it’s been eye-opening to see the level of curriculum their child is engaging in … In some cases, they think, ‘Oh, I don’t think my child can do that,’ but then they see that they can.”

What it can’t do

Successful as it’s been, the principal recognizes the shortcomings of distance learning. “I want to stress that the relationship teachers have with their students can’t be replaced with all-day online learning. They have great relationships with their kids, and that means a lot at our school level,” she said.

“I would never say elementary school should ever go totally online, but we have a learned a lot about technology, about how to engage kids with technology.”

Changes in education

Ms. McAuliffe thinks this period will lead to experimentation in education.

“I think it’s profoundly changed some of our ideas about education,” she said.

“We’ve always dabbled in technology … but I think this crisis really pushed us into this deeper. As much as we don’t want anybody sitting all day in front of a computer, there are some efficiencies. I think people across the country are going to start re-thinking how they do education, especially at the high school level … I think there’s going to be a lot of exploration after this period of time.”

Missing the kids

After more than a month away from them, everyone in education says they miss the students. Ms. McAuliffe sees them regularly through a computer screen, but she recognizes the limitations: “I love to go class to class, to pop in. I can do that somewhat online. I can go to their morning meetings and see them. But it’s really not the same. We desperately miss our kids.”