Pimp Your Virtual Command Center

Looking back a year ago, we never could have imagined virtual learning or the ways we managed to work through this year. Teachers have heroically risen to the occasion amid these difficult and scary times at a great personal financial cost and sacrifice. Transitioning to a virtual learning environment and setting up their classrooms to be functional, warm, engaging, and inclusive is no easy task. A quick search and you see workspaces on kitchen counters, coffee tables, even ironing boards as people attempted to adapt to their new environment. This doesn’t even include additional associated costs for the technology, lighting, sound, or hardware needed to “produce” virtual school that is largely an out of pocket expense for most teachers.

Especially for teachers leaving their classrooms, this involved completely reworking their own personal spaces, navigating this loss of space and new rules with their own families struggling with some of the same needs and bearing the burden of extensive purchases to set up their “command center” for teaching. Teachers brought things from their classroom, reworked spaces in their house, and had the added challenge of keeping students engaged while learning virtually for the first time.

Teachers have never had to work harder to keep their students engaged in their learning and education. They are trying everything they can to keep building relationships and connections with the students in their class. This has included seeing a glimpse into home lives, meeting pets and family members, and one-on-one time with students on Zoom.

Erin Chambers of Shelby Junior High said, “I have been learning with the students. I feel creative and inspired to learn new things. I have self-taught myself things about technology that I never even knew existed. I am really enjoying this ‘challenge’. I feel that this has been a valuable experience and the students have been great.”

How did UEA teachers prepare for virtual learning? We ran a social media and email contest to find out just that to get a front-row seat to where all the magic happens. Teachers had a few weeks to submit photos of their command center as well as their favorite parts and challenges of virtual teaching. We are appreciative of all our teachers have had to do to adapt and overcome this year and chose four winners at random to win gift cards to pimp out their space!

Our first winner is Kellie Papadelis of Messmore Elementary. She is a 5th and 6th grade teacher and this is her first year teaching! She said, “I had help from my team teacher-Jen Masinick-who basically held my hand through technology and curriculum since this is my first year of teaching!” She maintains consistency in her virtual classroom. She keeps up a schedule so there are no surprises and the kids know what to do from day to day.

Michelle Thompson teaches 6-7th grade health and PE at Davis Junior High. She has created a fun space for her virtual classes with lights, plants, and her children’s artwork. She also has a Yoga mat ready for demonstrations and doing PE alongside the students!

Our third winner is Dawn Nacker, a Title I Literacy Consultant at Plumbrook. She set up her virtual classroom in her basement and keeps students engaged with daily activities. She explained, “ I change my background PowerPoint slides daily. We have a meme check-in, a would you rather question for oral language, and a joke of the day.”

Our last winner is Dana Gress who teaches Kindergarten - 6th-grade music at Monfort Elementary. She welcomes her students to her class with music every day. Gress said, “I run a digital piano and microphone through a mixing board than through a Scarlett 2i2 interface to my laptop. The mic is on a boom stand so I can sing with the kids while accompanying. African drums and classroom percussion are to my left. Even my TEAMS background is a jazz club!”

Besides our 4 winners, we got over 70 submissions from all our amazing teachers! We love the problem-solving, creative solutions, and adaptability of our teachers this year.

“I like to move from room to room, depending on what I am doing that day,” says Karen Forsyth of Bemis Junior High, “I created a document camera using toilet paper rolls to hold it up. My husband built a computer stand for me so that I don't have to sit all day. We retrieved a TV/monitor from the basement to use as a second screen. It's all about adjusting to the situation. There is always a solution!”

Amy Booth-Kemmerling, a first-grade teacher at Roberts Elementary, said, “I cleaned my office and unearthed my own kids’ artwork. Since they are now 17 and 20, these artifacts have been in a trunk for years. Seeing my boys’ colorful artwork every day brings me joy, and I need joy!” The kids love seeing the colorful artwork behind her as well!

Sarah Chisholm teaches First Grade at Plumbrook Elementary. She told us, “My house is tiny so I created a learning area using the space between my staircase and our furnace. It’s just big enough that we can still do dancing/movement breaks. I put in a small table, table cloth, lava lamp/other fun decor, and brought in many learning manipulatives from the classroom so that instruction mirrored face to face teaching methods/practices. It’s small, but working out well!” The kids love to see when the dogs pop in for a visit!

Julia Holt is a high school Choir teacher at Eisenhower High School. “At home, I have taken over the music room in my house and added a webcam so that the students can see more than just my face - posture and body movement are really important to singing. I also added a professional microphone so that the sound will not distort when I am singing in a high range or loud volume!”

We want to say thank you to all of our teachers who have gone above and beyond this year. Keep watch on our social media this month as we feature even more virtual command centers and teachers!