Finding experts on campus
To strategize ways to help the teachers in Hong Kong, Reinhart called on Christine Bywater, a professional development associate with CSET, whose background includes a focus on the use of technology in coaching both teachers and students.
“When we started talking, COVID hadn’t really hit the United States yet, so we weren’t in that mindset,” Bywater said. “But I knew there had to be people out there who were already running classes online and doing it really well. I thought, Let’s find them before we try to create something that probably exists.”
She found experts close to home—at Stanford Online High School (OHS), a private independent school based on the Stanford campus. About 800 U.S. and international students in grades 7-12 are currently enrolled, attending online seminars with an average class size of 11 students.
“Our classes have always been about creating an intimate experience with a big focus on community,” said Meg Lamont, an assistant head of school and English instructor at Stanford OHS.
A newfound appreciation
Together CSET and Stanford OHS organized an online seminar for the teachers in Hong Kong on March 19, at which point schools across the United States had just begun to close.
“The first thing we said to them was, ‘We have such a newfound appreciation and understanding of how hard this has been for you,’ ” Reinhart recalled. “They were so gracious: ‘Yeah, it’s been hard!’ ”
As the forerunners, Hong Kong teachers had devised many of their own systems for bringing their classes online. “Now, because it’s a worldwide pandemic, internationals and universities have started releasing resources for teachers to use,” said Carmen Wong, assistant program director of education at the Bei Shan Tang Foundation.
The Stanford instructors focused their guidance on practices for sustaining a virtual classroom community, including ways to encourage discussion, motivate students to stay on track and ensure that quieter kids bring their thoughts into the conversation.
“We talked a lot about the importance of making students feel seen in the online space, that their presence matters and changes what happens there,” said Lamont.
For the Stanford instructors, the experience of working with the teachers in Hong Kong offered a powerful and humanizing reminder that the stress, anxieties and uncertainties educators are feeling during this time are universal, transcending place and culture.
“Teachers—here and there—all have the same underlying fears: Are my students OK? And how am I going to keep doing this?” said Bywater. “It’s not just a scramble for devices and tools and technology. There are humans and heart in this work, and this global perspective has been very grounding.”
You can find more professional learning opportunities and resources for educators at the Graduate School of Education’s COVID-19 response page.