WHEELING - West Virginia School Superintendent Clayton Burch came to Wheeling last week to observe how Ohio County Schools is operating during the COVID-19 crisis.
Burch visited Elm Grove Elementary and had a tour of Wheeling Park High School, Ohio County Schools Superintendent Kim Miller told board of education members Monday night.
He came to observe methods for synchronous and asynchronous learning online, and also how the school district is continuing to provide food to and feed their students as they learn at home.
“He was very impressed with what he saw,” Miller said after the meeting.
She said Ohio County Schools will be doing a “Keeping ConnectEd” video for the State Department of Education, which will be made available on their website to other school districts and the general public.
It will be released in January, and will highlight the remote opportunities in Ohio County for both synchronous and asynchronous education, she said.
“We are very fortunate that we can provide both synchronous and asynchronous education, but we look forward to getting back in our classrooms as soon as possible,” she said.
One challenge faced by teachers teaching online is how to best motivate students learning at home, and encourage participation.
“When we went fully remote, and we added that synchronous piece, we were having a decrease in the amount of submitted assignments,” Miller said. “Some of the schools have had to get very creative.
Bridge Street Middle School have based lesson plans around a “Stranger Things” television show theme, placing assignments in an “underworld” known to viewers. This resulted in many more assignments being submitted, according to Miller.
The school district recently hosted an online professional development tricks seminar for teachers with fewer than three years of teaching experience, and about 30 participated, according to MIller.
Bridge Street Middle School health and physical education Rick Thomas last week was among teachers from across the state asked to speak on the issue of remote learning during an online conference organized by ShapeWV.
Board president David Croft commended the efforts of Thomas and others in the district going above and beyond their duties for the school district.
“While there is frustration that this isn’t a great learning environment for anybody, we do have some really creative minds trying to make the best of a bad situation,” he said.”That shouldn’t be lost in the frustration.”
The board next meets at 6 p.m. on Jan. 11 at the board office, 2203 National Road, Elm Grove.