Flattening the Curve: Teaching During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Ten weeks, that is how long online remote teaching lasted and the ups and downs of social distancing were a constant pull on my emotions. I never thought in a million years that I would live through and work during a global pandemic.

March 13th, 2020 we received an all staff e-mail, that stated the Governor had closed all schools until March 30th. We all walked out of our building unsure of our next steps, when we would ever see our students again and with no clue how we would teach our students. The college I adjunct at also had decided after the Spring Break, to go online with all courses as well. Between TikTok, Tiger King,  Video Games, Cleaning, and Legos, at first helped me keep my sanity.

March 25th, two weeks later we were informed we would start online distance learning with our students.

The process to start online remote-learning during the social distancing lock down was not easy.  It was bumpy, filled with frustration at a slow approach to disseminate information. The district was deliberate in only giving information when they finalized it and gained our state's backing for the plans. Then after two weeks of the administration planning, it was our turn. We were given training on how to use our school's selected means of educating students. Then we were asked to create modules for our common courses and share them with staff who teach the same courses. Students began logging in a week later, and we were on week four of lock down when all students were instructed to login. Our district worked with teachers and the Local Intermediate Unit (a state-affiliated education specialist facility in PA) to use Odyesseyware and run courses for our senior students.

I was allowed into my classroom March 28th to pick-up any supplies I needed to help with online teaching. It was very surreal walking in and only having a few moments to gather the things I thought I would need.

@a4jsk Missing my students!! ##gibsongeometry ##teachersbelike ##teachersoftiktok ##fyp ##foryoupage
♬ Robin Williams Edit - twelveshade

The following week we would start to go live in our online platform for students. I made sure all students were enrolled in one of my Google Classroom Courses. A great positive, all but 2 students responded to my course enrollment requests! I then used my Google Classroom Streams as a way to push out announcements, I sent memes to help add a little humor to the days. 

April 1st students saw an important link that said, "Urgent Update" which led to this YouTube Video: News Alert - Breaking News, yes I Rick Rolled my classes.

At home when classes started, my wife, a 1st-grade teacher in a neighboring district, was already working on online instruction and with her students. My daughter, a 1st-grade student, was also working with her teacher daily online. I was left with the toddler, to keep her entertained and out of the way while my wife taught her students and guided our daughter in the asynchronous work she was assigned. This was very difficult at times when I had morning faculty and PLC Zoom meetings myself. We made it work while working from home we navigated our way through teaching students.

My Best Covid-19 Looks & Memes!

The rest of the days became a blur. One morning I found dirt tossed into my coffee, the start of a really bad day. There were terrible meetings, information that was ineffective, and the thought of not seeing students ever again. Then another day a squirrel busted in through the unused chimney flue that is in a room we have dubbed the "Sun Room". Causing a full ruckus to our morning routine, he came back a few weeks later as well, disrupting the new normal. 

All students did not work, and the AP Classes that I teach had all of the seniors removed to the LIU course, and then halfway through the Marking Period given back to me to hurriedly prepare for an exam that they had missed too much content for. All of my AP Computer Science A students took their exams with no problems, but my AP Computer Science Principles only had 9 of the 24 students prepare all of their AP CSP Performance Task Projects. This was a major let down, and one that had me questioning how to feel. Do I go with the school's mantra of "Grace over Grades" or make sure to uphold the expectations and rigor of an AP course. I felt very torn over this issue... It did not help that the students were not added into my own AP Course until part way through the marking period. 

Teaching in a college course online was not as difficult. I only had issues with attendance while trying to have open Zoom Meetings for my 5 freshmen and 1 Junior. Usually it was just me and my Junior, chatting about the weeks events and then leaving to check out the newly arriving finished assignments. Our Distributed Leadership Team began meeting virtually and had several meetings with themes to lighten the mood as well!

DL Zoom Hat Day

DL Zoom Dress to Impress

While there was a feeling of having so many drawbacks, there were also many great moments as well! My wife while working with her students was able to reach and help one of her most in-need students. My daughter increased her reading fluency, and our toddler has been progressing with her vocabulary as well as her ability to interact with the family in very positive and mannerly ways. I had a zoom paint night with students in the YCCOSP Program, a very fun evening! Students who were very successful finished my online courses early, and some who did not fare as well on the unit pretest, that wanted to do better, actually reached out for help. I did so by giving new assignments and additional options for finishing out the year with a stronger grade.

The most exciting thing to happen in all of this was for my proposal to have a Game Design Academy was picked up by our curriculum director. I am now starting to create my own 1 credit Game Design Course, a part of the full 3 credit idea I promoted, but one that I am super excited to fully develop to help students learn in exciting new ways. At the college I adjunct for, I used my love of technology to facilitate a discussion on Social Media and Wellness. I also kept up with my online learning and started to do learn more about Distance Learning from educational companies like Nearpod, Flocabulary, and Flipgrid. I tried to incorporate a little bit of each in my teaching. I tried to push myself and build my own abilities in technology while at home teaching. 

May 29th all grades were due. In the end it was very anti-climactic. There were no hugs good-bye or great hilarious moments in the classroom that I usually have my final days of the school year. My students did not get a Prom, they did not have a formal Graduation. We missed out on a lot of time together, and great projects that I have developed over the years. All because of a microscopic threat, one that cannot be fully understood yet. 

June 4th I watched The William Penn Class of 2020 Graduation from the online streaming video produced for our students, parents, staff, and community. It was a surreal event, full of real emotions, highs, and lows, and the events that occurred can never be forgotten!

Constant Change

As I started my 13th year, I was naive and hopeful.  Yet again I was starting with a mostly new group of students, and adding another course to my repertoire, AP Computer Science A.  I also finished up my second master's, a MsEd in Instructional Technology Specialist, which added to my PA State Certification.  I have always wanted to teach students about computers, it was originally my reason to go into teaching, now I am living that dream.

2nd Master's Degree

IT Specialist Certification

Having added the AP CSP course in the 2018-2019 school year, helped our school achieve the 10th Annual AP District Honor Roll, which also shocked our surrounding community.  (See the Article here: Surprising Results for York County AP Honor Roll)  But I did not want to just stop with computer science.  I grew up playing video games, and as an avid gamer, a lot of my graduate work incorporated gaming to learn, gamification and video games in the classroom.  Through this research and willingness to learn, I found help from some amazing places.

AP CSP Added last year to increase
our student AP experiences

My co-worker, Nicholas, and I decided it was time to do more, and we became Class Advisers for the incoming freshmen, the Bearcat Class of 2023.  We also are still co-advising the Video Game Club.  Over the summer we attended the CS For All PA Summitt, which helped us discover the great program, NASEF, which started the process to become a part of a sanctioned High School eSports League.   Though we have some hiccups in setting up our online games, there has been a lot of interest in the club and eSports team.  Check out the William Penn Cybercat's Facebook Page for more info on what the students are doing.

The new Cybercat Student Leaders.

My PIC, Nicholas Naugle and I
on Twin Day.

Some other projects I am excited about working on include partnerships in my community and abroad have brought on new opportunities. The biggest one involves helping build a former student's student-driven eSports and Video Game community, the BEAST Initiative Push.  Through this partnership, students will have more opportunities to build and be a voice in the eSports community in York. 

Cybercats playing on the Occulus!

I also have a good idea of what to do next with students who are not going to compete in the eSports competitions, and just want to game with friends at school.  Finding the organization VGC USA and it's founders right in South Central PA have opened up the possibility for more gaming learning, volunteer experiences, and career exploration for the Cybercats. 

Cybercats Gaming Together.

Finally, I would like to share where I have been finding more inspiration in gamification, and gaming to learn in everyday life from the Podcast, Professor Game.  I have ideas galore and studies to back-up my desire to game and play games in the classroom.  I am thinking to start by creating a new card game for my students to play when we learn about congruent triangles.

My Gaming Information Folder.

All of these great resources have just fallen into my lap and I wanted to make sure I shared them with others who are looking for similar information.  This blog started as a way for me to share mathematical experiences, but now is morphing into my entire educational experience including my push of educational boundaries to include video games.

ESL Blog #6 - #CSForAllPA

For the 2019-2020 school year, I am planning on teaching the AP Computer Science Principles and AP Computer Science-A courses.  The courses are not only a recommendation from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and the Department of Education, but also another step in the direction of equity for students in our diverse population.  With computer science coming into its second year at William Penn SHS, I am committed to making sure all students are represented from all backgrounds.  That being said, I also have to be very strategic in how I am making these curriculum's available to students in our district.

CS Programs for EL Students

At the University of Texas in El Paso, Tech-E classes, seminars, and summer programs have been created to increase migrant student exploration in computer science.  The article I found in my Google Alerts talked about the start of this program in 2015, where it was just a small summer week-long camp, and that it has grown to full-semester courses offered yearly to undergraduates at UTEP.  The program is very strategic in offering experiences to students who are in transient worker families and exposes them to computer science and engineering.  This program is something that I think could be modeled at the high school level, and be used to get students interested in CS at the elementary and middle school levels.

CS Tools that could be used to inspire the next generation.
Raspberry Pi, Micro Bits & Video Games!

A pair of professors at Northwestern are also trying to make computer science more inclusive.  Sara Hood and Ian Horswill are looking to expand computer science offered to EL students, women and African Americans.  They are working to make sure all student have a safe space to practice computer science and realize that failure is just a stepping stone when creating computer programming.  The two are also making sure that students in the CS111 introductory course are coding for a purpose, to make something personal and worthwhile.  Giving students personal connections to a course make it more meaningful, and something that I can do with my CS students and the projects they are going to be creating.

The Push for CS in PA

Some very alarming statistics came out of Pennsylvania in the 2017-2018 data for students.  Out of 4,010 students that took the AP CS exams, only 309 were from minorities including EL Students.  Many students do not take the opportunity to try CS and luckily Governor Tom Wolf has already spent $40 Million on computer science grants for students and apprenticeships.  All of these initiatives are starting to be pushed in PA for the 2019-2020 school year, and I feel so glad to be a part of the Computer Science For All drive.  I am more proud that I began the program at our school a year before the state push.  Now I need to challenge more of our EL students to try Computer Science.

PA CS Statistics from the #CSForAllPA Summit

CS Education

I started my Undergraduate work, at Saint Vincent College, in Computer Science and Business to teach high school students about computers.  After a round with C+ Programming, I decided that it was not for me, I did, however, enjoy my Calculus class immensely and decided to change to Mathematics Education as my Major.  Upon college graduation, I started teaching at an urban high school in 2007 and taught all Algebra 1 courses during my first three years, then Geometry, then Algebra again, Algebra 2, and now Geometry for the past 4 years.  While creating course material that I felt was relevant for my students I came upon some teaching material involving Scratch Coding.  From there I have found a love for computers and computer education again.

Saint Vincent College,
Latrobe, PA

I recently just finished coursework to complete my Plus 30 to advance the tier placement in my career, I had my Masters in 21st Century Teaching and Learning, through Wilkes University, completed in 2011, and did not realize the potential to having more credits under my belt.  I have been working hard to update my learning, and personal style to teaching, through courses in multiple ways, first through Learner's Edge where I completed a set of courses that gave me a certification (from their own personal certifications, not a PA State Cert.) in the area of Information Technology Specialist.  Through this set of courses, I decided it would be wise to get the state certification work on my Plus 30 and my eventual Plus 60 while adding more weight to my own personal learning with a second Masters in Informational Technology Specialist.

Bearcat in College

I am currently re-enrolled and going through Wilkes University where I have found the professors and learning modules very inspirational in my own teaching.  I have taken lesson plans and re-created them through use of more online and computer-based learning.   I have used Desmos, Geogebra and even Google Apps to enhance the learning in my classroom.  Through my journey, I have figured out that Computer Science is definitely going to take my own teaching and my students farther than I could have imagined.

Bearcat Teacher

I am starting this school year teaching AP Computer Science Principles and went through a training to learn how to process through the new course.  This will be a big step for me to take towards my goal of implementing more computer science in my school and will make for a huge learning opportunity for not only my students but myself.  In our building, we also created another new course using the text, Where Will I Ever Use This? Volume 1: Algebraic Modeling, using Excel to teach Algebraic Concepts.  The overall goal for our high school is to start creating learning academies within our building.  We have a Freshmen Academy, Performing Arts Academy and a Safety (First Responders) Academy, the academy I would like to start, you guessed it, Computer Science.

I would like to incorporate more courses in gaming, video game development, (since I am one of the Video Game Club advisors for my school) coding language, and possibly the AP Computer Science A one day.  I never thought that switching majors in 2004, would afford me the opportunity to still end up teaching and learning more about the passions I have in my life, computers and technology.

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