One week into the soft launch of its distance learning plan, the San Diego Unified School District is ahead of schedule.
Trustee Richard Barrera said as of Monday the district distributed 23,278 of the 40,000 laptops to students who need them since they started last week -- and staff continue preparing more.
Barrera said the district will not have accurate numbers of those students who are engaged online until it sees the percentage of students who picked up laptops. The goal is to fully launch distance learning Monday, April 27.
First graders from Ellen Browning Scripps Elementary School were learning online with their teacher Lindsay Burningham Friday.
Students were getting an online lesson about germs, with an assignment to watch a video on the coronavirus from the internet site BrainPop, and answer two questions: What did you learn? Why is this important?
Before students even watched the video at home, they had questions of their own. One student wanted to know why people are outside when they are not supposed to be outside?
Burningham answered, “Because sometimes people have a hard time following the rules.”
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Burningham said she does not expect her students to sit still.
“I have kids walking around as we’re on the lesson, there are kids rocking back and forth in their chairs playing with something while we’re on the lesson.”
Burningham said she just tries to engage students, changing things up, maybe with a song, to keep them interested …. And learning.
I don't expect them to sit still.... I'm just trying my best to keep them engaged.
Lindsay Burningham First Grade teacher at Ellen Browning Scripps Elementary School
"They’re definitely learning a lot more with technology than I had initially planned to show them,” said Burningham. “I think previously they knew how to log in with their chrome books, and access some of our programs. But they're now doing a lot more, where I have them take pictures of work and upload it, and they’re recording themselves and talking about the work."
Burningham said she is trying to introduce new materials to them and get them prepared for second grade.
