At the first Rotary Club of Ann Arbor North Lunch Meeting for the year the speaker was John Huber the Principle of the Emerson School in Ann Arbor. John talked about the issues with reopening the schools in the fall with COVID-19 pandemic.
John said, "Emerson School, 300 students for academically talented and gifted, young 5’s to 8th grade."
Emerson is an independent school, which allows for more flexibility than public schools. One of the first things they recognized is the need for technology expertise to help staff and parents. Parents aren’t always comfortable with experimentation.
John, presented the 5 Realities of Teaching and School:
- Children learn best in small groups with face-to-face instruction.
- Instruction needs to be broken into units and segments, not in long stretches.
- Children are also learning socialization skills, difficult to do virtually.
- Experienced teachers have a large “toolbox” on ways to work with children and respond to challenges; 5) school serves as child care so parents can work.
Emerson’s plan was to create daily lessons that require 2-way communication and interaction.
- Mondays are Community Day for socialization, enrichments, physical/social/emotional/mental health. This is good for students and faculty. It also allows for planning and scheduling time for teachers.
- Tuesday-Friday are Instructional Days. To feel normal, the routine for distance learning mirrored what they would be doing in school.
During the 3 month of COVID-19, John and the teachers learned a lot, the following are what they learned:
- Technology needs to be simplified for student independence.
- Content time is king.
- Focus in the morning best, can’t be on Zoom all day.
- Advisories and homeroom check-ins very important.
- There’s never enough communication.
There are many unknowns on reopening schools. John and the leaders of Emerson are working on different scenarios to open in the fall. He feels all kid's will be able to come back and still be safe because Emerson School is so large and can social distance.
John, recognized Emerson has advantages that give them more resources to respond to students’ needs and is unsure how public schools will be adapting.
At the end of the meeting John took question on Emerson's School opening in the fall with COVID-19.
