As families make strategies to go back to school, either by distance learning or personally, the lessons learned over the past couple of months will play a fundamental part in how we move forward.Second grade teacher
Kathleen Ann Chen has actually learned it takes patience and empathy.”Our kids can prosper and they can soar in any kind of environment. It’s just a matter people and how we deliver things, the attitude we present to them, “Chen stated from her house in Orlando.Chen’s dinning room has been transformed into a momentary office. Notebooks and school supplies are stacked around her. “Oh, they’re currently logged in,”says Chen, looking at her computer. Moments later on, a window pops up on the monitor, a dozen smiling faces stare back. Class is about to begin.It’s resembled this because March when Palm Lake Elementary and every other school in Central Florida returned virtually from spring break.” It was frightening. I cried,” said Chen, recalling the thought of not being able to return to her class that she lovingly decorated with favorable affirmations and superhero characters.Kerry Kearney states her son, Shane, was flourishing in Chen’s class.”You would walk into this space of just delight, “Kearney stated.”She describes all her students as super charming heroes. All the households are super households.”Kearney said the idea of
needing to abandon the comforts of that class was difficult to think of.”It’s heartbreaking to understand the joy, the laughter, the relationships that are fostered within those walls don’t exist today, “Kearney said.But Kearney states Chen was able to turn
her living space classroom into an extremely stand-in. Kearney chose Chen for the News 6 Getting Outcomes Award due to the fact that of her energy and enthusiasm to keep the
class enjoyable, engaging and on schedule.” She simply committed all of her time. There wasn’t a 2nd that she didn’t reply to a text or e-mail. She would get the phone, she was constantly there for parents.”Chen said it wasn’t simple. The school had not yet transitioned to appointed tablets and laptop computers, so not every household was similarly prepared. Chen rapidly used the popular ClassDojo program that everyone was currently comfortable with to produce the structure
for what the remainder of the year would look like.Chen produced handbooks and tutorials to walk parents through the technology and resources they would be utilizing. “All the trainees and parents were connected from the start,”Kearney said.”I believe that was an advantage for her and for us.” “It resembled a substitute strategy,
where everything was detailed for them, “Chen laughed.Chen said she would routinely work from early in the early morning until late
into the night preparing the next day’s tasks.”I believe it speaks volumes about your character that you are so dedicated to the education, growth
and opportunity for these 2nd graders that you put yourself on the back burner,”Kearney said.Kearney informs News 6 that regular one-on-one teacher-student sessions also kept everybody on task.Chen said it worked. Trainees in her class are on grade level and growing. “She’s been so remarkable that I truly desired to sing her praises. It’s the least I could do,”Kearney stated.”I wished to make it special. I didn’t want my kids to seem like they got shorted out on an education and building 2nd grade memories, “Chen said.The knowing has continued into the summer season break. Chen has actually been meeting frequently with
trainees to help them prepare for 3rd grade.”A lot of my friends and family ask
me why I’m still doing it and I say,’This wasn’t a typical year and I wished to make sure my kids walk,
turn on or log into 3rd grade with confidence.'”