WYOMING COUNTY, WV (WOAY) – The Wyoming County School Board was given an update on how the schools have done with remote learning.
Wyoming County Schools started the semester off with a blend of in person and virtual classes, but as COVID cases climbed in the county the schools were forced to go remote full time. Teachers had to adapt their in person lessons to be taught virtually which for some teachers was outside of their comfort zone.
“They have really stepped outside of those comfort zones and embraced technology in ways they never had to before,” said Administrator of Curriculum and Instruction Kara Mitchell. “They have literally shifted their brick and mortar class room to an online virtual class room to provide that remote instruction.”
In addition to learning the virtual meeting software and making virtual lessons, teachers also had to deal with Wi-Fi issues. However, through the planning of the schools and the curriculum coach department; these issues were handled quickly without disruption to learning.
“The schools again, they work through that,” said Mitchell. “They might have to stagger their schedules as to when their teachers are going live with their students. Another thing that Wyoming County Schools is very fortunate to have is a very strong curriculum coach department where our coaches work to support the classroom teachers.”
Aside from the difficulties, Wyoming County Schools has also been able to become a one to one student to device ratio school system where every students has a device they can use for learning. The schools look to continue to implement technology into their lessons even once in person learning is resumed.
“I think that Wyoming County Schools will continue to grow in their implementation of technology,” said Mitchell. “We’ve had to make that pivot very quickly, but I think that we will continue to grow in our practices and it will only improve our instruction as a result of these challenges we faced because of COVID.”
Superintendent Deirdre Cline also praised the teachers and staff for their work during the pandemic.