South San Antonio Independent School District issued the following announcement.
While South San Antonio Independent School District children are staying home during this extended COVID 19 break, every school has staff hard at work to keep learning flowing until classes resume on campus.
For Five Palms Elementary School Principal Greg Martinez and his staff, they’re tackling the workload with teamwork.
“My group is still working,” said Martinez. “They don’t feel like its time off; they know what they’ve got to do and we’re blessed because the district is going to pay us.”
Martinez goes to the campus daily, along with a handful of staff to make sure each child’s needs are met. His school is also one of the sites where breakfast and lunch are offered to the district’s students, so the kitchen is busy preparing healthy meals to distribute. He adds teachers working from home have all stepped up to do whatever is needed.
“We created that atmosphere here and they want to help” Martinez said. “They know that I’m here and they want to help me out and we’re doing the best we can.”
Martinez says he knows many parents are concerned about a variety of things ranging from homework assignments, Chromebook access and meals, so he talks with them to assure them everything will work out.
“We’re the only constant,” Martinez said. “We are the ones that give the [students] the hugs and reassure them…and now they don’t have that—I don’t want them to think that we’ve forgotten about them.”
As Martinez juggles many challenges in the air daily, his staff does its part to keep students engaged. Five Palms music teacher Michael Tudyk records instructional videos from home and posts them on his YouTube channel.
“Part of my energy in my teaching is live interaction that you get when you’re in the classroom with kids that are excited about learning and they want to sing songs with you and they want to play your instruments—I feed off of that,” said Tudyk. “I’m trying to teach to a screen and I try to imagine their little faces,” adding he uses his own children at home as he records his lessons.
Without his classroom, Tudyk is doing his best to be a good teacher in these challenging times.
“It takes a special energy that you find from your students to keep you going to work everyday,” Tudyk said. “When you don’t have that feedback from them, it makes it a little difficult, but we’re just making the best of it.”
As each teacher finds their way during this new normal, Martinez is doing his part to keep their stress and his own to a minimum.
“I’m trying to keep my staff calm,” said Martinez. “When they come to me, I tell them we’re going to be okay and not to worry.”
This extended stay has Martinez thinking about the future of education both in the classroom and online. He’s asking himself how he can better prepare himself and his teachers for what’s rapidly approaching so everyone can be successful.
“We need to keep evolving,” Martinez said.
Original source can be found here.
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