Communities (COVID-19)
It Takes a (Remote) Village – A Delaware Teacher’s Virtual Teaching Story
6/18/2020
Shortly after the first COVID-19 cases appeared in “The First State,” Delaware Governor John Carney initially closed schools for two weeks on March 13th. The closure was then extended to May 15th before the official shut down of the remaining academic year. Much like millions of teachers in America and around the world, Sarah Betlejewski, a Millsboro Middle School 7th Grade Science Teacher who recently won the 2019 Delaware STEM Educator Award – Middle School, was asked to shoulder the daunting task of replicating the functions of school for three months without in-person interactions.
With only one half-day training session on the chosen EdTech solution by the Indian River School District, Millsboro Middle School teachers had to effectively translate their subjects to online application. Five hours of weekly Science lesson plans were cut in half to 2.5 hours of e-learning in a matter of days.