Catholic schools prepared for something serious

By Susan Bailey | CFP correspondent

Teachers and administrators at two Worcester Catholic schools sensed early on that something serious was unfolding that would drastically change how their students would receive their instruction. By the time the governor ordered schools to close, Notre Dame Academy and St. Stephen Elementary School were among those that had their teaching plans in place.
 “Two weeks ago when the world was starting to turn upside down, we were starting to feel like things were going to happen that would limit our students being in the brick-and-mortar part of our school,” said Susan Butler, director of the St Julie division for seventh- and eighth-grade at Notre Dame Academy; she also teaches language arts and 12th-grade psychology.
“We met as a leadership team and started to make some plans, pretty proactively,” Ms. Butler said.
 Paula Isakson, who teaches seventh- and eighth-grade religion and seventh-grade social studies at St. Stephen’s, said Principal Joanne Mallozzi started making plans three weeks before the school closed. She required the teachers to have 10 days worth of lesson plans ready.
“I don’t think any of us really envisioned that we would be closing for three weeks,” Mrs. Isakson said. “We really did work hard once we found out this was going to become a reality.”
Both institutions are G Suite for Education schools, utilizing Google Classroom as their online platform.
Mrs. Isakson said that Sarah Cousins, a fifth-grade teacher at St. Stephen’s, proved to be a tremendous resource when it came to bringing the faculty up to speed with the technology. The IT director, Chris Caldwell (also a parent) made sure everything was up, running, and secure for the students to use. Catherine Mangaudis, executive administrative assistant, handled all phone calls and emails, keeping parents informed. And Principal Mallozzi continues to keep in touch with teachers daily.
“Everyone has worked so well together,” Mrs. Isakson said. “It’s been a crazy time, but it has been nice, in the sense, that we realize how much we appreciate each other and work together as a
 
GOOGLE CLASSROOM

Students from both schools use their home computers to access Google Classroom.
“It’s a platform for communicating with students,” said Ms. Butler. “You can assign work, grade through it, and students turn in work through it. You can also create tests and quizzes in it. Every teacher is utilizing it differently; it’s unbelievable how creative our teachers have been.”
For her language arts class, Ms. Butler posts her class work each day and includes a video of herself going over the information.
“We’re looking at the same page together in the book and reading a poem together out loud. I am pointing with a cursor on my computer screen at what they might want to be looking at and thinking about,” she said.
Ms. Butler posts her daily lessons at 8 a.m., giving the students until 8 p.m. to turn in their work.
Students are responsible for organizing their own time.
“There are some who are finding the time-management a challenge more than others,” Ms. Butler said. “But I can tell you that I am getting all of my assignments turned in,” adding that, “some are at 7:59 p.m.”
At times, the class needs to be online together to take timed tests, she said. They use conference tools such as Zoom or Google Meet.
“Students are asked to do it during the time when the class would have met,” Ms. Butler said. To assure that they will be on their computers at the proper time, notifications are sent out.
Mrs. Isakson described how St. Stephen’s is conducting their day-to-day activities.
“With the online learning, pre-k through grade two are working on hard copies that were sent home to parents,” she said. “Grades three through eight are mainly online; some have intermixed hard copies along with online. Grades seven and eight are online and taught by teams who have to coordinate when they will meet with their students and have online chats with them. If kids are not online when they’re supposed to be, then the teacher will call them. The students have to make their documents public so the teacher can correct them.”
How have students been responding?
“The kids have been extremely responsive to this; they are excited,” Mrs. Isakson said. “We’re continuing the curriculum but we are able to add some things we may not have been able to add in the classroom because of sharing tablets and computers. They have access to so much.”

KEEPING IN TOUCH

Communication is key in helping students to make the adjustment. “We are really keeping in touch with our students,” Ms. Butler said. “We are cognizant of their stress – they are going through a huge transition right now and it is hard on them. We are all feeling it,” she said.
Ms. Butler reflected on the sacrifices students are making.
“My heart just breaks for the seniors – it’s a lot of their senior experience and events and proms and graduation we’re looking at: Are these things going to happen? It is heartbreaking for them.”
The spirit of the school prevails even as faculty and students are physically separated.
“I am so thrilled that we still feel like a community,” Ms. Butler said. “We’re looking not only to do the classes but to continue school-wide events. Because we still need to be a school.”
As a religion teacher, Mrs. Isakson brings the Catholic faith to the forefront.
“I specifically put things up for religion to really make them think about where God is in our lives right now,” she said. When a student asked why God would cause these things to happen, she assured the class that God does not work in that way. “It’s human nature, human frailty; life happens and God is there to direct us. That’s where faith comes in. He is there to pick up the pieces, to say that this too shall pass and you’re going to be OK. I ask them, ‘What are you going to gain through this? How are you going to become a better person through this?’”

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