Online Classes Lessen Damage of Snowmageddon
Sarah Torre /
With over a week of in-class instruction lost to two blizzards and many Washington, D.C., Virginia, and Maryland schools forced to contemplate longer school years, a few Maryland teachers found an effective, online alternative to letting snow drifts reduce student achievement. Even as record snowfalls threatened most lesson plans, online learning proved to be an efficient tool for academic instruction for the few students and teachers fortunate enough to participate.
As The Washington Post reports, the accessibility of virtual chat rooms, whiteboards, and quizzes allowed some students to keep up with class readings and assignments despite prolonged classroom absence. Patricia Lynch Carballo, a history teacher at Maryland’s Albert Einstein High School, utilized online learning to help her students stay on track for the standardized International Baccalaureate exam. She remarked on the experience:
‘In some cases, the quality [of the responses] is even better’ online, Carballo said. ‘They have a little more time to think about it.. It’s not unlike what we’d do in class. We’re just doing it online.’