The WJBD-WSIQ Teacher of the Week is Sandoval 2nd Grade Teacher Michelle Landreth.
During COVID-19 learning, Landreth has gone beyond the normal teaching day to communicate and not only help her students but parents as well.
“Whenever they have problems, whether it’s a weekend or an evening. They will text message me and we will kind of walk through the steps to find the program they are looking for.”
Landreth feels communication with parents is key and remote learning goes much easier with their support.
“It’s a challenge every day because you don’t know whose going to be quarantined or whose not going to be present. They might be online, they might be doing remote learning, and so it’s just trying to get the information to them the best we can.”
But Landreth says her young 2nd graders have been impressive and this very different COVID-19 school year could benefit them in the long run.
“They’re amazing. They have picked up on everything we have put out there. They pick it up faster than I do to be honest with you. They’ve done very well with it. I think it will help them in the long run, as they get older and they have to use the computer more and more, starting this young, I think it’s a valuable lesson to them.”
This is Landreth’s 19th year of teaching and she admits this is the most challenging, but also in some ways more fun. She feels the additional communication with parents has been a plus. This isn’t Landreth’s first time teaching her second graders, as they were her last pre-k students before moving to the second grade position.
Sandoval Grade School Principal Scott Bunting says they heavily focused on students learning remote learning in the first two weeks of class before they were forced to go to full remote for two weeks.
“Making sure the kids have a consistent educational experience was important and how we structured the school. It is important they have that structure in their day to day lives. We have worked with computers, we have worked in person, and we’ve done everything we can to concentrate on the student experience.”
Bunting congratulated Landreth on winning the teacher of the week award.
