A webinar hosted last week by the McDowell Foundation, a Saskatoon-based organization established by the Saskatchewan Teachers Federation in 1991, put a spotlight on what it鈥檚 been like for teachers during the pandemic.
Held on Wednesday, November 18 through an online Zoom meeting, the webinar was entitled, 鈥楽alon Series: Teaching in a Pandemic - Why Promising Practices of Parent Engagement Matter鈥� and featured three teachers from the Sun West School Division whose findings touched on how both teachers and families can build and maintain relationships during these unprecedented times.
The trio, comprised of Amber Thompson (Grade 4 teacher at Outlook Elementary School), Carly Robson Gilchrist (Grade 2 teacher at Walter Aseltine School in Rosetown), and Pam Sawatzky (Grade 3 teacher at Westberry Elementary School in Kindersley) highlighted their findings from their research report entitled, 鈥淧romising Practices in Meaningful Family Engagement.鈥澛� The report looks at ways for educators to engage with families and make it a consistent practice to keep a connection between home and the classroom.聽 The input of more than 40 parents helped the report take shape, and a grant from the McDowell Foundation allowed the trio to move forward on their research.
Through their research, the teachers wanted to identify which engagement practices were most meaningful to parents, and they set out to find what were the critical elements of those practices and which practices were less meaningful and why.
The Outlook previously spotlighted the research done by the three teachers with an article this past March, speaking with Amber at Outlook Elementary School.聽 Thompson told this reporter back then that the research and reports had sort of reshaped how she approached the classroom.
鈥淚t definitely has changed my teaching practices over the last few years,鈥� she had said.聽 鈥淛ust being more mindful of telling parents how things are going and not just waiting for report card time.聽 Really making an effort to send positive messages home and having more conversations.聽 When there are more conversations happening, we all feel better and we know what鈥檚 going on, and that in turn builds the relationship.聽 If we don鈥檛 build those relationships with people like our parents, then we don鈥檛 have anything.聽 The whole purpose of doing this is seeing when parents are engaged with their child鈥檚 learning, they do better in school, they鈥檙e more likely to graduate, and they鈥檙e more likely to repeat that as they get older and have their own kids.鈥�
During the online webinar and with Amber joined by her two fellow researchers, as well as Ellen Whiteman of the McDowell Foundation and expert teaching panelists Derek Barss and Debbie Pushor, discussion sprouted into how teachers have been approaching their professions during the COVID-19 pandemic.聽 Perhaps the most consistent perspective from the three educators is that the pandemic forced teachers to reach out more than ever to parents at home to keep a connection.
鈥淭hese are challenging times,鈥� said Pam, touching on how COVID has shifted things and impacted her teaching.聽 鈥淚 decided to pick up the phone and talk to each family, and we鈥檙e talking maybe 15 minutes spent with each family.聽 Parents are really in-tune with their children鈥檚 learning.聽 The relationship is already established, but there are bigger gaps.鈥�
鈥淐OVID has baked parent engagement into the learning process,鈥� added Carly.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know if there was much change, but parents gladly gave their children back to us,鈥� said Amber.聽 鈥淭his engagement is so much more embedded in our practice.聽 Even though it鈥檚 more work, it鈥檚 so worth it because parents needed that.鈥�
Pushor added some context during the online conversation that showed that the pandemic hasn鈥檛 exactly been all negative from a teaching perspective.
鈥淐OVID has taken away, but it鈥檚 given us some things too,鈥� she said.聽 鈥淲e鈥檝e seen so many teachers witness how kids are learning at home.聽 When parents entered the teachers鈥� world and teachers entered the parents鈥� world, we鈥檝e begun to understand each other more and show what it takes to help form these human beings.鈥�
鈥淓ven though meeting more with parents is not really a requirement, we have some 13,000 teachers in the province and many who are doing so and engaging more because they know it benefits everyone,鈥� added Barss.
During a viral pandemic when parents trust teachers with their most precious commodity, the researchers know that sometimes it鈥檚 the little things that can make all the difference in the world and put a parent鈥檚 mind at ease.
鈥淣ever underestimate the power of a quick message or email,鈥� said Amber.聽 鈥淚 beam when I get a message because they鈥檝e taken the time to reach out.聽 Parents can鈥檛 see what鈥檚 going on here, so a quick message is great, and we need to make that learning visible.鈥�
The three teachers agreed that technology has been perhaps the biggest benefit of teaching during the pandemic, and they were also asked what the most challenging aspects of it were to them.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the uncertainty and not knowing what we鈥檙e expected to do next,鈥� said Pam.聽 鈥淭here are a lot of kids who fell 鈥榰nder the radar鈥� when this hit, and that scared me.鈥�
鈥淭he fear of the virus overshadowing the education experience,鈥� added Carly.
鈥淚 echo what Pam said, especially with home learning,鈥� said Amber.聽 鈥淣ow the biggest challenge is teachers have such ownership over the learning that navigating all the asks of us to meet the needs is difficult.鈥�
