A successful day one of Latham’s virtual programming
March 30, 2020
Latham Centers launched its Virtual Education program on Thursday, March 26th. Katrina Fryklund, our Director of National Outreach who participated in this exciting new teaching platform, shared highlights of the first day of online learning:
Utilizing technology, Latham School students who are currently at home are now able to participate in a classroom schedule that includes multiple virtual learning sessions. On Thursday morning, students started the day with 30 minutes of fitness activities with a PE teacher through a Youtube video. Next, Patrice Carroll and I led a group clinical session in which everyone participated in a fun and sensory-driven mindfulness activity. Students were then encouraged to independently participate in reading, helping around the house, lunch, and virtual field trips.
At 1:00 p.m., everyone jumped on Zoom again, where teachers held three sessions for the students. First, Katie taught a class about current events. The students read about “caremongers,” a term to describe people who are driven to help others during the current health crisis. Through screen sharing, the students were able to read along with her and even watch videos! Katie challenged the students with the question, “What random act of kindness can you do to help someone through these difficult times?”
Next, Catherine taught a social/emotional/communication skills course in which she highlighted the concepts of positive self-talk and positive self-esteem, two very closely related ideas. Catherine asked each participant to write a sentence about the meaning of positive self-talk and a few bullet-points about how each student demonstrates positive self-talk throughout the day. Our students gave fantastic examples and listed that they are smart, helpful, and fit.
Brogan closed out the virtual sessions on Thursday with a lesson on writing and word work. She and the students tackled lessons on subject/predicate and informative paragraph writing. One of the students said, “Wow, this is really helpful! I had just started to go over this on campus with [my teacher].”
One parent said, “What a wonderful kick-off!”
It was impressive to see our staff and students come together through the use of Zoom. The students were fully engaged in the lessons, and the teachers loved being able to see their smiling faces. We’re looking forward to continuing to utilize Zoom and other technologies at Latham Centers to keep all of our students engaged in lesson plans… even the ones at home!
Photos of Zoom virtual learning sessions include lessons by Katie, Catherine, and Brogan.