ENGLEWOOD, N.J.—The term “virtual reality” usually referred to video games. But, in Bergen County, it has taken on new meaning, as schools are closed and students are being taught online to prevent spread of the Coronavirus.
Last week, Bergen County James Tedesco announced, “With the continuing spread of COVID-19 throughout Bergen County, it is imperative that we take action and do everything in our power to protect our 1 million residents. This includes, our 75 school districts, which have almost 170,000 children, 16,000 teachers and hundreds of administrative, custodial and support staff,” Tedesco said.
Over the last few weeks, Dwight Morrow High School and Academies at Englewood administrators have worked diligently to establish virtual learning spaces.
Principal Ben Suro is optimistic about the success of this new format.
“Since the possibility of virtual learning was first discussed, the administrative team at Dwight Morrow has been actively planning for a comprehensive model to meet all students’ learning needs,” Suro said.
“It is a very busy time here at DMAE as we navigate moving to virtual learning,” he said on Friday, March 13. “This is very new for us, as it is for most schools in the area and maybe the nation. We are working very hard to address meeting students’ educational needs. We were here on campus until after 11 p.m. last night, and I arrived to the building today at a few minutes before 5 a.m.”
According to Suro, “Dwight Morrow High School engages in a rigorous, practical and standards-based academic environment here. Our staff works hard to provide our students with lessons that build content knowledge, classroom environments that promote collaboration, and the development of a working conceptual understanding that can be related to solving novel, project-based learning situations,” Suro said.
“As we prepare to move our students’ educational experiences to virtual learning, we will continue to place value on providing rich and rigorous educational opportunities that meet all of our students’ learning needs in comprehensive ways,” Suro said. “Our virtual learning is a hybrid of a number of different learning approaches and modalities, and our students are provided with a wealth of resources to accommodate great learning at home.”
Suro is confident that his staff is very prepared for establishing a dynamic and personalized virtual learning experience for the students.
DMAE is currently using a variety of online resources, such as the Microsoft Office online suite, Schoology, Google Classroom, Zoom, Khan Academy, TED Talks, AP Central, PhET and other online science simulation programs, online Pearson products, Math Lab, Math XL and Reading Smart, all in conjunction with other digital and traditional supplements.
This week, students, teachers, staff and administration are continuing to follow a typical school day schedule, during which they promote regular collaboration and communication between everyone to foster authentic learning.
Built-in formative assessments will also be used to help gauge students’ progress with material, and many of the programs are adaptive and tailor future lessons to meet the respective student’s learning needs. Assignments will be posted on the DMAE website and emailed out to the students using their school email accounts.
DMAE students are already up to the task of virtual learning, academically as well as emotionally.
Judy Aronson, who has been teaching for 17 years, observed, “When I first started teaching, 9/11 had just happened, so those students knew what it was like to live through a crisis.
“Last week, in my final lesson before this hiatus, I asked my students to read over interviews they had conducted last Sept. 11 of people who had experienced 9/11 firsthand,” Aronson said. “It launched a really interesting conversation about how hopeless and scared people were while 9/11 was going on, but how over time things settled down and life became normal. They found that comforting. It also made them wake up to the fact that they are living through history, which actually made them laugh.”
