“People always ask me why I became a teacher,” said Colleen Verton, a middle school teacher at Guardian Angels Regional School (GARS), Gibbstown/Paulsboro. “My day is never boring. Every time you go to work something is new, something is different. It keeps me on my toes, keeps me smarter, keeps me stronger.”
A self-described “mover” in the classroom, Verton is still on her toes, forcing herself to keep a required distance from her sixth, seventh and eighth grade language arts and reading students. With a significant shift in the use of technology, she is still getting smarter, finding something new and different every day. And she is far from bored.
Verton appreciates the accelerated use of technology that came with remote learning during the last two months of the prior school year. “Sometimes we put things on the back burner because we think we don’t have time to figure them out. And then when you are forced to figure them out you hit the ground running and you go, you do it,” she said.
Experience with Google Classroom helped Verton, and her students, feel better prepared for the new school year. With remote learners in all her classes, she works hard to keep students connected. “Everyone participates in discussion whether they are at home or online. They are getting to hear everybody’s voices, which I think is really important,” she said.
With Google Classroom Verton can set up online opportunities for small group work, which she believes is particularly important for students who don’t like to speak out in front of the whole group. “It helps the reluctant learner to feel more included and more confident. And kids like to work together,” she said.
As much as she has embraced technology, Verton doesn’t want her students to abandon old school methods. “If we’re taking notes for language arts, I’ll say ‘write it in your notebook. Let’s not forget that important skill of taking pen to paper.’”
To minimize movement and keep students in cohorts, middle school teachers at GARS use a cart to move among the classrooms — a big change from students moving to the teachers. Verton admits they had some reservations up front.
“Not knowing, initially, was the hard part, but we were included in what the plans were going to be and how the day was going to look. We were able to work together, and once that process started, a lot of the anxiety went away. From the first day of school I felt completely safe, she said.”
Verton describes the kids at GARS as amazing. “They knew when they walked in here what they had to do, and they did it. They want to be here, and they understand what it means to be in person. Even the kids at home. Every morning they’re coming onto the computer and they’re integrating themselves into the room.”
Verton’s biggest hope for the school year is “that everyone is back. The restrictions are lifted and we’re back to full throttle. Especially for the eighth graders.”
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