How 3 high school teachers are reaching students during the pandemic

P.E.I. students have not been in the classroom since March 13, and their teachers have had to adapt quickly to find ways to teach them from home.

School buildings on the Island were shut down within days of the COVID-19 pandemic being declared by the World Health Organization.

Ian Toms, a math teacher at Charlottetown Rural High School, turned to a tool he had already been using for years: YouTube.

Toms had created videos with a smart board and a voiceover, mostly for review. But with students at home, his YouTube channel became more of a primary tool for delivering lessons. He also felt he needed to step in front of the camera to maintain his personal relationship with students.

That included writing a song to make one lesson stick.

"This is a little ditty that helps me and hopefully my students remember how to differentiate logarithmic functions," said Toms.

"I'm not going to make the case that it is the best song that you're ever going to hear, but it seems to have stuck in people's heads."

'Adapting very well'

Matt Kelly, who teaches Global Studies, History, and English at Montague Regional High School, also finds himself relying on a technology that had previously been just one of a number of useful tools.

Google Classroom allows Kelly to post lessons, slide shows and videos online. Students can also submit their assignments through Google. It's a one-stop shop for many of things Kelly wants to do to reach his students, but he said still a far cry from in-person teaching.

"There's no comparison, but it's the next best thing," said Kelly.

"They definitely miss being back in the classroom and being back with their friends and listening to my bad jokes every day. But you know they're adapting very well."

In-school classes will not resume in P.E.I. until September at the earliest

Finding a balance

Marcel Caissie, a math and science teacher at Ecole Evangeline, is also using a number of Google tools to reach his students.

It has been a difficult balance, he said, trying to determine just how much material to put online, and what formats to use.

"Most students have good internet connection at home," said Caissie.

"The ones that don't are, in my opinion, quite few and far between nowadays. But there are still some, so we can't do this in a way that some students are going to have the advantage over others."

All three teachers say they will be able to cover the essential parts of the curriculum this year. They estimate 60 to 75 per cent of their students are still taking part in their classes weekly.

More from CBC P.E.I.