BY JEANA DURST
The COVID-19
outbreak and resulting
shutdown have given us a
crash course in adapting.
Nowhere has this been
more evident than in the
shift to schooling at home
that kicked off on April
short time, everything was
upended, most of it out of our control. Hoover
Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Kathy Murphy,
addressed Hoover children in a letter, saying: “I
know we can do this together. We can adapt.”
successful adapting looks. Here are the important
take-aways:
ASK QUESTIONS: Schools have launched multiple
ways to communicate—email, text, and apps.
Find your mode and plug in. Trussville City
Schools even established a phone hotline for
those without Internet access as well as live chat
during daytime hours.
STAY IN CONTACT WITH TEACHERS: Jason Gaston,
point of contact when it comes to learning.”
When possible, encourage children to ask their
own questions directly as well.
CONSIDER THE DELIVERY MODEL THAT YOUR
CHILD NEEDS: Don’t assume everything
has to be done online; schools are making
accommodations. “For some students who might
need a packet, we’ve delivered paper kits to their
home,” says Dr. Pattie Neill, Superintendent of
Trussville City Schools.
CREATE A SCHEDULE AND DEFINE “BOOKENDS”:
Essentially, bookends are activities that your child
does every day before and after their instruction
time, such as a walk or a snack. This simulates a
physical school environment. “The feeling in a
school is you walk into a classroom and you walk
out—their bookend is walking in and out of a
building,” Dr. Neill says.
DESIGNATE A WORKSPACE: “Students need
to build their nest and decide where they want
their learning to take place, and it shouldn’t
28 Bham Family May 2020
be right next to their
sibling; households with
more than one child can
stagger schedules and
workspaces,” Dr. Neill
says.
BE FLEXIBLE AND TAKE
BREAKS: Determine
the pace that works well
for your child. “Some
children don’t do well to
work for six consecutive hours, and remember in
the classroom, there are collaboration and social
things that happen during the school day,” Gaston
says. His advice is to respect your child’s ability to
get out and move, have some breaks, but keep an
eye on the assignments that are coming in.
FIND BALANCE: Find ways to nurture the mental
well-being of the children with activities that start
a dialogue. “Our counselors have been doing
a week by week focus called the Shelby Cares
Counselor Challenge,” says Cindy Warner, public
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Chris Williams at (205) 663-
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