North Carolina Air National Guardsmen Educate During Pandemic

Photo By Tech. Sgt. Sonia Clark | Emily, a student of U. S. Air Force Tech. Sergeant Bowman’s, completes a math assignment at home that involves coloring matching items located in the middle of the sheet to the corresponding item at the bottom of the sheet. Tech. Sergeant Bowman, a traditional member of the 145th Communications Flight, and a 2nd grade teacher, had five days to compile distance learning packets for her students during the pandemic after Governor Roy Cooper ordered all state schools closed and for education to continue remotely. (Courtesy Photo)  

CHARLOTTE, NC, UNITED STATES

05.13.2020

Story by Staff Sgt. Sonia Clark 

145th Airlift Wing, North Carolina Air National Guard

On March 16, 2020, Governor Roy Cooper ordered a temporary closure of all the Tar Heel state’s schools. Then on April 24, 2020, he announced that North Carolina schools would remain closed for the remainder of the 2020-2021 school year. According to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, the state has roughly 1.5 million students grades K-12, and just over 100,000 educators. Educators, along with staff members, rose to the challenge in preparing to teach students from a distance. Facing an unprecedented task, principals, teachers, staff, and other education officials created and organized lessons plans to be taught remotely and with the help of parents, or guardians.

Two members of the North Carolina Air National Guard, U.S. Air Force Chaplain (Major) Scott Ostrowski, and U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Nicole Bowman, educators within the state’s public school system, share some of their experiences. Chaplain Ostrowski teaches Bible History at Statesville High School, and Tech. Sgt. Nicole Bowman, of the 145th Communications Flight, is a 2nd grade teacher at Bolton Elementary in Forsyth County.

Coincidently, prior to the pandemic, Chaplain Ostrowski went on a pre-planned trip. Before leaving, he set up lessons with Canvas, a teaching software, and left it behind for his substitute. “I was preparing the lessons and putting them up so that my students could learn online. So, for me it (switching to distance learning due to the pandemic), was a super easy transition.” And when he began teaching this year, he started out in an online format.

Preparation for elementary grades were slightly different. According to Tech. Sgt. Bowman, grades three through five at her school all have their own electronic devices. However, kindergarten through second grade may or may not. Hence, there was just five days for lower grade teachers to prepare both physical lesson packets and computer-based plans for students.

Tech. Sgt. Bowman also had a few parents who were concerned about their children not being in school and how distance learning would actually work. “I told my parents, ‘Don’t worry. I’m going to get you through this. The only difference is now your kid is at the house,’” she affirms. Parents are able to communicate their messages, concerns, and questions to Tech. Sgt. Bowman via Class Dojo, a scholastic website and application.

One of the challenges educators faced is that prior to the pandemic, some of the students and their parents, may or may not have been familiar with the different technology now necessary to teach the students at home. Or, some may not have software that is compatible with the educational technology that is being used by the schools. As things change, Tech. Sergeant Bowman surveys her parents to see what types software, applications, and computers they have access to.

Additionally, Tech. Sergeant Bowman was concerned about the cost for subscriptions to use certain products, and that it might be an issue for families. While scholastic software companies generally offer a, “lite,” or abbreviated version of their product for free, those versions usually only have the basics of what the program can do. However, once Coronavirus became a pandemic, and schools around the nation shifted to remote learning, most educational technology that previously required a paid subscription, became available for free.

For Chaplain Ostrowski, who is in his first year of teaching in a formal environment, the challenge has been keeping students’ attention when they are not sitting in front of you. “How do you keep kids engaged in a virtual environment? How do you make sure they will do their lessons? Because if they are not there in front of you, how do you keep them engaged? There you have that face-to-face. Here it requires a lot more discipline.”

To keep students and parents encouraged and engaged, some educators have created videos. In addition to videos, Tech. Sgt. Bowman also calls her students’ parents to check in, especially for those who are celebrating birthdays, something they usually acknowledge in class during the school year.

“We do a lot of music and puppets in our class. We always celebrate their birthdays, but now we can’t do that. But I said, ‘Hey, it’s not over. I’ll send the video with the puppets.’”
Tech Sgt. Bowman says the students’ response is usually, “Ms. Bowman is thinking of me.”

Both Tech. Sgt. Bowman and Chaplain Ostrowski credit military experience for preparing them to handle the affect the pandemic has had on their civilian occupations.
For Tech. Sgt. Bowman the way in which National Guard helps her is simple. “Stay ready,” asserts expeditiously, and without hesitation. She states that immediately following completion of National Guard duties every month, she always re-packs her bags in preparation for the next month’s training. She continues, “We did not know this (pandemic) was going to happen. The military has taught me that things are going to happen, but always be prepared. Be as prepared as you can.”

Chaplain Ostrowski shares, “For us, the adapt and overcome mentality, or a deployment environment, that everything is always high-paced, constantly changing, things like that, keeps us able to be flexible, and accomplish what needs to be accomplished, has helped me so much. We are used to being in an adverse situation. We’ve got that structure, we’ve got that discipline. We can instill that in our students.”

• Date Taken: 05.13.2020
• Date Posted: 06.01.2020 18:21
• Story ID: 371216
• Location: CHARLOTTE, NC, US