New Hampshire was singled out for praise this week by Vice President Mike Pence, who pointed out at a White House press briefing the Granite State's work implementing remote learning.
“The states of Florida and New Hampshire are really setting the pace on distance learning for K-12,” Pence said Monday.
Parents and students in New Hampshire just finished up day three of distance learning Wednesday and according to the Alley family in Manchester, so far, so good.
“It’s a lot easier, and fun,” said fourth-grader Caroline Alley.
Not so to her brother Tim, a junior in high school. “It’s a lot more difficult,” he said.
Their mom, Andrea, admits there are challenges, but she is impressed with the amount of interaction between her kids and their teachers.
On Wednesday, Caroline was learning the ropes on a video conference with her fourth-grade teacher.
“I call myself a teacher’s aide, because they really are providing all of the instruction and the assignments,” Andrea Alley said.
In Manchester, teachers personally connected with every one of their students last week to prepare them to start remote learning Monday. They even delivered computers and set up WiFi hotspots if needed.
On a normal day, attendance is around 92 percent across the district. On day three of remote learning, about 85 percent of students checked in to their classes.
“Teachers have really stepped up to the plate with that, they’re working an unbelievable amount of hours to make sure to connect with our kids every day,” said Tina Proulx, who teaches at Parkside Middle School.
It’s uncharted territory, but it does have its perks.
“Being able to sleep in,” Tim noted.
“I get to, like, snack while I do my work,” added Jojo, another of his sisters, who is in sixth grade.
Plus, these days there’s a lot more family time, just when it seemed like families were always running out of time.
“I think this is not necessarily a bad thing, maybe we come out of this knowing we don’t need to be as overscheduled,” Andrea Alley said.
Instead of being too stressed about sticking to a schedule, the Alleys and so many other families are just trying to cherish the extra time they’re spending together.
Below you can find additional resources to help remote learning go smoothly:
- Resource page for educators, parents, and students
- Twitter hashtag where schools and students are being encouraged to share their remote learning stories
