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Teachers always stress the importance of lifelong learning, and this summer La Conner faculty members modeled that key tenet as they began preparing for the transition from traditional in-person instruction to presenting lessons on-line due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many of those teachers took on a heavy load of technology homework over the summer, La Conner Elementary School Principal Heather Fakkema told the Weekly News last week.

“They spent a great deal of their own time this summer,” Fakkema said, “learning about best practices for remote learning and becoming familiar with Seesaw, our learning management system.”

There was no rest for the weary once the calendar turned to September.

More technology training awaited La Conner Schools staff when they reported via Zoom teleconference for in-service sessions two weeks prior to the Sept. 14 launch of on-line classes.

“By moving all of our teacher professional development days to the beginning of the year, which [instead] would have been offered throughout the year, we’ve been able to spend a significant amount of time as a staff preparing for this new way of teaching,” Fakkema explained.

That preparation time has covered a wide range of topics.

“We’re talking a lot,” said Fakkema, “about balancing screen time and off-line practice, providing predictable yet flexible routines for families and students and the fact that we’ll need to spend a significant amount of time at the start of this year building a sense of community and teaching students how to be on-line learners.”

On the flipside, teachers are learning to become on-line instructors, she said.

“As educators,” Fakkema said, “we find ourselves in the position of having to relearn how to teach, which is no small task.”

She likens the process to “eating the elephant one bite at a time.”

“We are preparing to teach,” said Fakkema, “while we are learning ourselves, which means we have to be patient with ourselves and with each other, and we have to be realistic about the fact that we’re going to make mistakes, learn from them, and keep improving – all the things we ask our students to do.”

She said La Conner teachers are using a team concept in their approach to on-line instruction, sharing questions and insights to help one another learn the process.

“We all know that we have a lot of work ahead of us,” Fakkema said, “but I really believe that we are up to the task. I think it’s going to be a good year.”

In one sense, the start of this school year is not much different than those that have come before. There is still excitement in the air.

“Regardless of the unknowns ahead,” Fakkema said, “teachers love the start of a new year, getting to know their students, building relationships, and a sense of classroom community.”

Remote learning, designed to help curb spread of COVID-19, will, however, present its own unique challenges, said Fakkema.

Even so, La Conner teachers are undaunted.

“What we know,” she said, “is that wrestling with and working through challenges is how we learn best. So, while it’s uncomfortable for all of us to be faced with the unfamiliar, we also recognize that we’re going to grow in ways that will benefit our students for years to come.”