Grandma, guinea pigs, patience: Models of distance learning for an Elk Grove teacher
It’s all hands on deck in this household, where the challenges of teaching amid the COVID-19 era are endless.
Amy Jacobsen leads the charge here. She is a career educator, 25 years in, with the last five in the Elk Grove Unified School District at John Reith Elementary. She teaches because she cares. She is in this for the “kiddos,” as she gleefully calls them.
If Jacobsen has learned one thing in this distance-learning era that has been equal parts chaotic and encouraging, it’s this: seek help. Make it a team effort to combat the hurdles in education.
Jacobsen said she is fortunate. She has help. She has a home base that is spacious and united that allows her to teach and parent. She has two screens to teach her students in a home study and a cell phone ready to call teaching peers for insight.
Down the hall, grandma is loading up laundry or loading up her two grandchildren for errands. Next to Jacobsen’s feet, two guinea pigs are ready for carrot snacks or more show and tell to students who appreciate critters of all shapes and sizes. Also, there are two helpful high school students around the corner doing their part, including the technical wizard in 14-year old Ryan.
Still, Jacobsen is short handed. Husband John is deployed with the Army Corps, building infrastructure half a world away in Afghanistan. He won’t come home until spring. The theme: Find a way and make it a collaborative effort to get through the day, the week, the fall quarter.
”Distance learning is not ideal and it can suck, and it can overwhelm, but get help if you can,” Jacobsen said in speaking for her teacher peers. “There’s no shame in asking for help. An aunt, uncle, brother, sister, grandma, anyone — get help.”
On the first day of instruction this month, the spirited Jacobsen offered a “bring a pet to school” theme. That meant showcasing in front of the screen a cat, a dog, a pony, a chicken or any sort of furry, scaled or feathered friend.
”You want to engage, to get the kids started, to let them know it’ll be OK, and who doesn’t love animals, right?” Jacobsen said.
Jacobsen offered up the guinea pigs, Cinnamon and Rudy. One bit her, a live shot via Zoom that included a yelp from the teacher and cries of, “Are you OK, Mrs. Jacobsen?” from her students as blood trickled down her thumb.
Which one bit her?
“One of the rodents!” Jacobsen said with a laugh.
Jacobsen said she speaks regularly with teachers and parents about their concerns, challenges and optimism.
“I don’t know anyone in this profession who isn’t working as hard as they can,” Jacobsen said. “ I feel for those who are struggling, teachers who don’t have enough help, or students who don’t have help at home,” she said. “I look at these faces, our students, and they are our future. We owe it to them to do what we can. They’re going to take the baton and go from here, and they can learn from this: how to overcome things, how to communicate, to work together, to problem solve.”
And this, “We as teachers are already exhausted. This is not normal teaching. It’s a different sort of exhaustion. We know the curriculum. We’ve done our research. It’s just the platform and how to present the information and ensure that the students understand it.
“And it’s missed relationships. You can read a kid in class. You can’t do that through a screen. Distance learning is not ideal. It’s not sustainable. We have to figure out what we’re going to do in education in California.”
How grandma and other family members provide help
Jacobsen said her mother, Jeanine Anderson, “is the real star here.” Anderson is grandma in this operation, who reminds that she has to pull her daughter off the screen for dinner as the workload never ends.
Anderson worked in elementary school education for 36 years in Rancho Cordova. Her annual highlight was when her first graders ended the school year by reading.
And say hello to Ryan down the hall in Club Jacobsen. He’s a freshman at Elk Grove High School. His senior-grade sister, Abigale, set up shop at the kitchen table. The siblings are mature beyond their years, excellent students willing to help mom pry away guinea pigs gnawing on thumbs or to troubleshoot the laptops.
”Ryan is our IT expert,” Jacobsen said. “He got me started online today. Just clicks away. I call him ‘Clicker.’”
Ryan said distance learning is what people want to make of it. His sister agrees. They prefer to use it to their advantage, though they do miss their friends. Ryan spends up to five hours a day doing gymnastics.
”Doing this from home actually fits with my schedule,” he said. “I’m OK with it.”
Jacobsen looks forward to a return to campus, but does not know when that will happen. Some regional schools have resumed on-campus instruction. Jacobsen looks forward to meeing her 28 pupils in person.
Anderson said she would not resume her duties as a substitute until “we have a vaccine. I won’t go back into a classroom otherwise.” She drives across town in Elk Grove to assist her daughter and grandkids because she feels an obligation to help.
“Parents who are clamoring for kids to get back to school, that’s where I get upset,” she said. “Let’s be smart about this. There are health risks, especially for older people like me. Kids are handling this pandemic better than the adults.”
Jacobsen said she is moved by the effort of her young students, a credit to her ability to connect. She worries about at-risk students who don’t have a support system, saying, “My heart hurts for them everywhere.”
She added, “I’m passionate about teaching. All of us are. There’s a lot of negative stuff surrounding education right now with this virus. None of it is easy. But we have to keep doing this for these kiddos, our future.”
This story was originally published September 17, 2020 at 5:00 AM.