English tackles new technology

The transition for English courses at RHS has taken advantage of a slew of digital resources to continue along a similar curriculum pathway to before the transition.

Some resources for English teacher Jamie Handling include Google Classroom for assignments, Zoom for office hours and Flipgrid for class discussions.

“It’s day-to-day, I have to be flexible and say, “ok now I have to change my hours,” because not enough kids are coming or maybe it’s not the right time, so I have to really listen to the needs of the students,” Handling said, “I’m utilizing multiple forms of technology to reach out to the students.”

Though the curriculum in terms of readings and essays has progressed as normal, English teacher Amy Marsh what is really lost in the switch online is the collaborative and interactive learning environment.

“The interaction isn’t there so much – I have to wait for kids to do assignments or check in with me in Hangouts to answer questions or clarify information,” Marsh said “I like to do a lot of activities where students are interacting with one another – getting up, getting into partners and groups, sharing ideas… The push to provide asynchronous lessons and activities makes that a little bit more difficult.”