SPECIAL EDITION: CORONAVIRUS: What Parents Need to Know about At-Home Learning with Educator Mary Brant

resources and some much needed inspiration. Today, I'm joined by Mary Brandt. Mary is a kindergarten teacher at Rising Star Elementary School in the Seattle Public Schools, one of the communities to be hit the hardest and earliest. Welcome to the show. Thank you, I'm happy to be here. Thanks for having me. So, Mary, tell us a little bit

about what you do. So, Um, I'm a kindergarten teacher right and Star and Seattle, as you mentioned, and I'm a general education teacher, so I'm responsible for a class of fifteen, five and six year olds And um, you know, we've been having such a shift in how we've had to teach and think about school over the last few weeks. But I'm just amazed by my students and families and our school community for really coming together. So it's been

difficult but also inspiring. A lot of parents, um, of course, for good reason, are worried about academic interruption. Our educators also afraid that this might set back their students and any concerns about losing common core skills. Yeah, obviously this is such a challenging time for our students and our families, and it's it is really so important for kids to

continue practicing and learning at home. So as an educator, I'm definitely concerned and though it's not ideal, but at the same time, I'm also confident that we've done a great job of collaborating with families and communities in order to make sure kids get the content they need to stay on truck. We're hearing parents are very uh maybe anxious and trying to keep up with very ambitious schedules that their children used to have, but you know, very

hard to do. Um, what are the expectations for parents right now? And should parents be trying to fill the

shoes of teachers. That's such a great question. I feel like, you know, parents have such already incredibly challenging jobs and replacing a school environment at home while you're also trying to juggle so many responsibilities and work is a huge task and a huge ask, um And I know, we know that there's so much comfort and security in children seeing their teachers and having routine of lessons that they're

familiar with. So what we're really just asking families to focus on is what's the most important and what's within reason at this time for their families. And this is going to look different for every family, um And we certainly want to support an academic progress, but also first

and foremost the social and emotional needs of students. So if parents are able to just support students with making a schedule and getting them reading and writing and conversing as much as possible, but we also understand that families won't be able to step into the shoes of teachers, and our responsibility as educators is still to engage and communicate with families to get them the resources they need to be able to keep their kids engaged in on track. Yeah,

I mean it's incredibly stressful time. You know a lot of parents are full time working at the same time, is trying to manage this new environment for their children. Um, of course screen time. UM, it's becoming more prominent in some ways. Is it? Is it okay really for children to be um engaged in screen time? And how much time would you recommend for parents? Another great question and one I'm sure so many families are thin seen about

right now. I think the most important thing is just giving yourself grace as parents and family ways, and knowing that every family and situation will be different and your routines will of course have changed dramatically. And I can't really put a specific number on how much screen time I would recommend or is okay, But I do know that keeping kids engaged even when screen time is happening

is a great way to go about it. So if your child is watching a movie or a TV show, asking them to write or draw about their favorite part afterwards, or retell what they just saw in their own words, practicing those cognitive skills along with the screen time. And then I would also say building it into a schedule for families so children know when to expect that they will get screen time and what's coming after it, and

how they can engage with that time as well. So I would say definitely for families to give themselves grace and um be flexible with the changing schedule, and also know that it's okay to balance screen time with other activities. Again, it's such a stressful time for parents and to come up with great ideas. I'm sure everyone's feeling they want to do great things for their kids, but I think parents are quite overwhelmed right now. Are there other activities

that you have seen be effective in this moment? Absolutely. One of the things, especially with little kindergarteners, that's been so fun to see is we know kids can't sit and have a lesson just like they would in class at home, even if teachers are getting online content. The one thing that's been so fun to see is UM having students write letters to their teachers, to grandma or grandpa or aunt, nunks or uncle, someone in their family.

So getting that practice of writing letters, drawing pictures and actually nailing it. UM seeing students have engineering challenges at home, building things out of recycling, or UM practicing counting how many pastas there are in the jar, UM taking little nature walks, getting a chance to get outside the way from other people and collect rocks or leaves and compare and support them. And for older students, you know, cooking UM, having a family interview, interviewing a parent and asking them

about their family history, and writing a little report. Basically finding something students are excited about doing and going with that, because we know when students are excited and motivated, they're going to be successful learners, even if it's a little bit non traditional at those times. I love all of those ideas. They all sound great. We'll be back after this break. Obviously very very difficult time. Is there a way you're recommending parents speak to their children about what's

going on. Yeah, that's something we've been thinking about a lot again, especially with the little five and six year old. UM. We're recommending that families really do just be honest with their kids and ask them how they're feeling, and also share some of their um own and needs, you know,

acknowledging this is a difficult time. It's different. But that's I think where the seeing their teachers these come in and it's so important even I it's just a brief recorded morning meeting, more message to have that sense of regularity and familiarity even in such a stressful time. But I definitely think acknowledging for kids this is different and

scary for us too. But creating a new normal within this of the schedule of the day at home, which might include more screen time and might include different different things, but knowing what to expect for children, I think it's going to be really important. So obviously this is a hard time, as you just mentioned for everybody. Uh, scary and and and difficult. Um, But what makes you optimistic in this moment? Yeah, I think that's a great question.

And when I've been trying to think about every day as well, I think, UM, in the letters and photos and text messages I get from my family, is showing the pictures of their kids, UM watching my lessons or UM face timing with a relative or reading a book for fun on their own, I'm really inspired and remember how much our students can do and how capable they are, and how children at this difficult time are more than for a good example of our future and what we

can look forward to. And seeing students be creative in how they're approaching their time at home as well has been really inspiring. And then also watching um Wool communities come together and working with my colleagues to get content out to students and UM the greater community as well. Coming together to be there for each other has been very positive and inspiring. Is there anything that our listeners

can do to support you? Um? Yeah, I think if you have questions, absolutely reach out to your child's teachers, because I can speak as an educator right now, it's so wonderful to share from families with any questions or concerned because all we want right now is to make sure that we're we're there for you and able to UM be there and know that we're also unsure and going through this together. So we're all doing our very

best to be there for our students. UM. But yeah, just most importantly giving yourself that grace and being flexible and knowing that UM, whatever schedule changes occur nowive, they're really resilient and talking with them will be so important during this ten Well, Mary, it's wonderful to talk with you. Seattle is very lucky to have you there, UM, and we really appreciate you joining us. Thanks so m pleasure.

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