Kids teacher visits overwhelmed student
A teacher at HIS Kids Christian School in Butler came to the assistance of a second-grade student who was feeling overwhelmed trying to do her school work at home during the COVID-19 closure.
“My daughter was so sick of not being in school, not seeing her teachers, her friends. It's hard for kids. They don't understand what's going on,” Courtney Baehr said of her 8-year-old daughter, Claire. “Mrs. (Holly) Collins uses this app to communicate with parents. I sent her a message saying I need help because Claire was refusing to do anything. Crying. Just sitting at her table crying.
“She just wanted her teacher.”
Collins quickly replied and then went to the Baehr's home, where she sat in the front yard socially distanced from Claire and helped her with her assignments.
“Within one minute, Mrs. Collins replied, saying 'Send me your address, if it's OK I'm coming over.'
Collins spent two hours with Claire.
“They finished her school work and just talked to her about not being in school and not seeing her friends,” Baehr said. “She has a baby at home. She left her new baby at home with her husband.”
She said she believes in face-to-face education, but realizes that schools are doing the best they can for students during the pandemic.
Logan, her son in first grade at the school, talks to his teacher online when he needs help with an assignment, Baehr said.
Under normal circumstances, Claire is a “very on-task student” who always completes her work, her teacher said.
“Once I talked to Claire, we calmed down. We were able to work on stuff together. I think she thought I would be upset because she didn't do her work,” Collins said. “I think she was feeling emotionally overwhelmed, so we sat there for about two hours. Thankfully, it didn't rain.”The little girl felt so much better afterward that she wanted to play and showed her latest Lego creation to Collins, she said.“It just made me feel better to do that. I just don't want her to feel overwhelmed and sad,” Collins said.She said that visit in late April was the only one she has made to a student's home during the pandemic, but she and other teachers use the internet to talk to students when they need assistance.Collins said teachers record curriculum instructions and send them to their students. Packets of school work for all classes, including Bible class, are left in bins outside of the school biweekly for each student and parents to pick them up.The recorded instruction guides the students through the assignments and tells them when to hit the pause button to solve a math problem, answer a question or take a break. Breaks are also provided in school, Collins said.They are instructed to restart the recording after coming up with an answer and having their parents check their work, she said.Small class sizes at the school allow Collins and other teachers to pay individual attention to students when needed, she said.“Some just need to talk,” Collins said.
