How “Team Rogue” is Making School Work for Everyone
By R.M. Carkhuff
“It fell out of the sky at a moment when our family thought I was going to have to step away from teaching after sixteen years,” said Ms. Rachel Bright, 2nd-and-3rd grade teacher at Patrick Copeland Elementary, about the virtual classes she teaches in the evening to her students.
“I got the email from Dr. McClain that basically said ‘Hey, is there anybody interested in [evening classes]?’ He opened it up with ‘We just want to try everything new. If we’re going to re-do, and re-think, and re-imagine, now’s the time.’ And I said, ‘Where do I sign up?’”
This was the beginning of “Team Rogue,” a small, 3-person team that is headed by Dr. McClain and composed of Mrs. Rachel Bright, and Ms. Alicia Nelson, alternately known as “Rogue 1” and “Rogue 2,” respectively. Just like the team in the Star Wars prequel film, they’re embarking on a never-been-done endeavor that’s having huge ripple effects -- though, significantly fewer casualties, thankfully.
For Mrs. Bright, this is the Evening Virtual Learning Academy. She teaches 2nd-and-3rd graders from all three Hopewell City elementary schools, running her classes in the late afternoon and evening. For Ms. Nelson, this was the split of her 5th-grade class into two different sessions during the morning and mid-afternoon. Both educators have found these changes to be “life-changing.”
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Evening class times make virtual school much more accessible for families who want to be there with their student(s) while they’re learning but just can’t do it during the day. Common threads include families with multiple children to attend to, families with grownups whose work schedules don’t allow them to be home during the day, and families whose less-than-tech-savvy grandparents are main caregivers during day-time hours.
Mrs. Bright’s own family would fall into this category. She’s not only a teacher but a parent to three kiddos herself and their childcare options became slim-to-none thanks to COVID, which is why the option for evening classes has been so game-changing for her.
Students meet live with Mrs. Bright in the late afternoon and evening. Outside of that time, students complete their work, and conference one-on-one with Mrs. Bright for assistance and support. This new model has been helpful for the teacher and students alike.
Evening classes have also helped Mrs. Bright, her students, and their families connect in a way that would not have happened if classes were still running the way they were pre-pandemic. This, perhaps, comes from the spaces which students are occupying when they call into class.
“One student meets consistently [during] her family’s dinner time. So she’s there eating off to the side, and the family is around the dinner table listening to us and interacting with us, while they’re having dinner, while the child is learning.” Another student regularly calls in from the backseat of her mom’s car before dance class, while another has called in from the front seat of his mom’s car after being picked up from his time with his dad.
“It has changed my relationship with parents. We have shared empathy. It’s a whole different sense of community in this little group that meets in the evening,” said Mrs. Bright.
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Ms. Nelson’s split class has similar origins and success to Ms. Bright’s evening classes.
Ms. Nelson’s class of 17 students is now split between two different sessions. 12 students participate in the morning session, and five participate in the afternoon session. Students work for two hours as a collective and the last hour of the session is for one-on-one meetings between the students and Ms. Nelson.
“I went from having 17 students in one Zoom -- some vying for attention, some hoping I never call their name, and feeling like I was losing the ones in the middle -- to now ‘being able to put my thumb on everyone.’” By that, Ms. Nelson means that in the split Zoom sessions, she is able to see each one of her students’ faces. No one goes unseen, and therefore no one is left without attention or assistance. The split not only helps with making sure all students are getting attention and assistance, but it also helps with the facilitation of discussion and learning together.
Like Mrs. Bright, Ms. Nelson’s observations of her student’s home life and background helped support the decision to split her class into two smaller groups. “A couple of my students have been my inspiration for even asking to do the split schedule because they were always coming to class tired. One of them was coming to class tired because a parent works late and they like to stay up to see their parent when they come home. Another one is taking care of his sibling. Like, there were reasons [they were tired or disengaged] -- they weren’t just trying to not come to class, or be disrespectful by any means.”
Having this opportunity to be flexible with student schedules, Ms. Nelson says, has allowed her to get to know her students and their families in ways she hadn’t previously. “I’ve found out things about these students that I didn’t know, and I’ve been working with them since September. I feel like I know them better now because we’re able to interact, not only in a smaller group but also at a time that’s better for them.”
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Team Rogue is changing the way virtual learning looks and operates, to great success. As we continue to move forward in what education looks like during and after a global pandemic, both Ms. Bright and Ms. Nelson think that things we’ve learned through and from virtual learning should continue to have the opportunity to grow.
Both educators pointed to how out-of-the-box virtual learning opportunities begin to break down the “one-size-fits-all” education myth. Making virtual learning not only a consistent option, but a flexible, accessible option opens doors for many students who might otherwise be left behind in a classroom setting. They are also in agreement that keeping these options open, and exploring what they can look like, helps make educators more effective in the ways they’re able to reach and teach students, as well as helps educators break free of constraining, compliance-driven structures and rethink and reimagine the way they can teach.
“I'm so proud of Rachel and Alicia for taking this risk this year and innovating to reinvent education and the way we partner with families,” Dr. McClain said of Team Rogue. “The work of these two great teachers is so much more than just offering different hours. It is about a mindset of figuring out how we wrap our teaching and support around the needs of our families, rather than forcing families to meet a set schedule. It's also about how to re-envision what teaching and learning looks like altogether, in the future.”
The path of innovation isn’t always straightforward. Sometimes it’s the old cliche of “two steps forward, one step back.” But that won’t stop Team Rogue from foraging on! As Dr. McClain stated, “Our team is continuing to make mistakes and learn every day, and our plan is to make some recommendations for what learning options we may provide next year -- virtual, in-person, or both.”