AUSL Schools Adapting to E-Learning

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Since school reopened in September, AUSL Network Schools, along with all Chicago Public Schools, are providing remote instruction to their students. Many teachers have successfully modified their classroom techniques to the e-learning environment. Solorio Academy High School gives us an example of how a Choir Director, Gym Coach, and Science teacher have adapted their classrooms to an online learning environment.[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”9473″ img_size=”medium” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]As a Choir Director, Andrew Sons’ students can no longer gather together so he has had to come up with some unique and creative ways to increase his student’s musical abilities.” We are doing a lot of ear training assignments and a lot of sight reading music and a lot of music theory. Getting the students proficient in reading music and hearing specific musical elements,” said Mr. Sons. Occasionally teaching from his old classroom, Mr. Sons has set up a digital piano that is piped into his virtual classroom. He says that being at school a few days a week has “provided me with a little bit of normalcy and a little bit of a routine. I would much rather be in the room with all of my students here together, but I can wait until it is safe to do that.” While teaching remotely has changed the way Mr. Sons’ classrooms operate, he is confident that when his students return, they will be stronger musicians than before.[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”9475″ img_size=”medium” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]The shift to virtual classrooms means longer days sitting in front of computers for students. The staff at Solorio are proactively addressing the long hours in front of a screen. “As a staff, we are  trying to have more movement and brain breaks in the middle of class because we are sitting behind a computer all day. The workshop time is a great way for them to get up and move in my classes” said Robert Dron, a Gym Teacher at Solorio. Teaching a gym class virtually looks very different this year, as Mr. Dron previously relied on immediate feedback and the student’s movement. This year they are exploring a new method of teaching gym: “One of the things that we’re doing is a new learning project where the onus is on the student to investigate some area of fitness or a sport, particularly a skill in order to improve that area,” said Mr. Dron. “PE is always important. One thing that Solorio has been doing well is emphasizing the social-emotional learning component,” taking breaks to move and reset during classes.[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”9474″ img_size=”medium” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]Greta Kringle, a science teacher at Solorio, an AUSL Chicago Teacher Residency graduate, and Golden Apple Scholar, has adapted her classroom with pre-recorded labs, simulations, and new teaching software. “Being a science classroom, group work and collaboration where the students can check their own understanding is so much more difficult in this format of remote learning,” said Ms. Kringle. Other tools that have helped Ms. Kringle’s transition to an online classroom are Peardeck and programs that can simulate lab experiments where they can change variables.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]