Metro North ABE Links Newsletter, Spring 2020 | Page 2

Rising to the challenge
The State of Minnesota asked school districts to
implement Distance Learning for all students from
March 30 until the end of the school year, June
9, due to the COVID-19 pandemic as a means to
help further limit the spread of the virus. Since
the announcement, ABE teachers and other staff
have been working hard to find creative ways to
transition their regular classes to online classes.
We’re successfully helping our students work
towards meeting their learning goals during this
challenging time. Teachers are finding innovative
ways to convey materials at a distance through
methods based on the needs of each student,
including self-directed online instruction, live video
of teachers providing class instruction, online
learning management systems, hard copy packets,
and ongoing one-on-one phone and video
interactions.
In the first weeks of instruction, teachers have found
new technologies that make their instruction more
effective: web-based video software that records a
lesson, new ways to collect student comprehension
through surveys, and more efficient engagement
in coursework. Teachers feel the new greater use
of technology is better preparing students for a
work environment that will be different, where
communication skills will involve expressing
knowledge through technology and where the
“soft skills” of teamwork will be through a keypad
and mouse.
Metro North ABE manager Theresa Zingery said,
“I am confident that our innovations will benefit
students both now and into the future, in a wide
variety of ways.”
While reaching out to students to inform them of
these changes, check their contact information,
and determine which instructional methods work
for them, staff are also making sure that students
are aware of guidelines regarding COVID-19 and of
resources to support them during this challenging
time.
ABE teacher, Amber Delliger, acknowledged,
“We are doing our best to help them move
forward in their academic and career goals while
still maintaining their health and their sanity.
Right now, our students have so much on their
plates: caregiving, working (or being suddenly
out of work), helping their children continue
learning—all while trying to keep going to school.
This is uncharted territory, and I am proud of my
students.”
2
What ESL looks like now!
While school may be changing at Metro North ABE
with the move to distance learning, the level two ESL
class at Brooklyn Center Adult Education has started
having much more fun while learning English online!
The instructor, MaryBeth Habel, had students go
on scavenger hunts in their homes, which is a great
listening and speaking activity that includes movement.
The picture on the cover of this issue of Links is of
grammar bingo, in which students participate with their
homemade bingo whiteboards. The above photos are
from an alphabet scavenger hunt the class did recently.