Remote Learning Update: A Visit to Miss Bishop’s Classes (Grades 5 & 6)

Schools were shut down by the state, so remote education is not a unique scenario across schools right now. The adorable pictures of students on laptops, countless “tired parent” memes, and selfies with face masks have flooded social media as the collective of school-age parents became homeschool teachers overnight. But are we all having the same experience? Is all remote learning created equal?

World Academy teachers have been diligently adapting their curricula to suit this new delivery system of empty classrooms and teaching to glowing blue-light faces of students who are all miles apart. Over the next couple of weeks, we will be sharing what our students are experiencing while World Academy works to bridge the distance and ensure there are no gaps for students between this global crisis and the beginning of the 20-21 school year.

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Here’s a peek into Miss Bishop’s morning of fun and games with her Grades 5 and 6 students. For anyone who knows the very theatrical Miss Bishop, her classroom is always full of laughter, students sitting under tables to read, and the occasional visiting chickens to help illustrate that the color of an egg matches the hen who laid it (and the egg is the same inside!)

The shift to an empty classroom didn’t dull the sparkle of Miss Bishop’s teaching; it merely increased the need for her to find more innovative ways to make her subjects come alive for her students across her different classes. This morning, all of Miss Bishop’s ELA students played Kahoot, on an online game show platform to help students review for their vocabulary assessments tomorrow. 

While studying ancient Rome, her Grade 6 Social Studies class wrote persuasive letters in character to the Roman Senate as either Patricians or Plebeians to argue for or against their counterparts’ ability to obtain more rights, which were presented via their daily Google Meet session to their classmates.

Her students all have scheduled meetings with her multiple times daily, as well as optional drop-in sessions for extra help, questions, or to just say hi. The projects, assignments, and assessments have continued, and so have the connections she has with her students. 

For today’s reflection for #ThinkAboutItThursday, she asked her students to reflect on kind words that we often forget to say to each other. Students posted their responses in the session’s chat log to each other rather than raising their hands to say them as they would have in their classroom. Miss Bishop also asked the students to write down one of their affirmations and keep it in their workspace to reflect back on to brighten their days. These are the norms for her classes, wherever those classes take place.

The fabulous four walls of World Academy don’t make World Academy, our teachers do. Miss Bishop will continue to be the same Miss Bishop, whether her students are here or home, and World Academy is dedicated to that consistency at all levels for our families. For questions on any of our programs, please contact our Director of Admissions, Samantha Wingate, at swingate@worldacademynh.com.