ComMentor - Spring 2021 - Flipbook - Page 6
A Cooperative Effort
for Online Learning
Teachers showcase their dedication to making Mentor Schools Online a success
WHEN THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
shuttered schools more than a year ago,
Mentor Public Schools (MPS) immediately moved into planning mode and found
creative ways to continue delivering meaningful lessons to the community’s children
while they were learning from home.
The work that was done during that
time became a springboard to what the
2020-2021 school year would be: a year of
choice for the community’s families. With
the school closure order from the governor lifted and very careful planning, Mentor Schools was able to offer in-person
or fully online options for all students.
Nearly 30% of the district’s students are
enrolled in the fully online programing,
Mentor Schools Online (MSO).
“The addition of technology resources
and professional learning across the district over the years prepared us for the
flexibility needed for this school year, including the quick development of MSO,”
says Mentor Public Schools Director of
Innovation and Instructional Technology
Mike Lynch. Students in grades K-2 and
6-8 have iPads, 3-5 have Chromebooks
and 9-12 have Macbooks. “Mentor’s
teachers had training and experience in
operating devices and online classroom
management systems, which made the
launch of MSO more successful.”
MSO took two forms, and there have
been successes and challenges with each. At the K-5
grade levels, children are assigned to a Mentor Schools
teacher and they Zoom into
the teacher’s virtual classroom each day. In the 6-12
grade levels, MSO students
Zoom in to live classrooms
at their respective schools
at the same time as their
in-person peers.
“The overall message we
hear from parents, kids and
our teachers is that MSO
has been a huge success.
Our teachers have knocked it out of the
park. The energy these teachers have is just
amazing,” Lynch says.
Offering the fully online option has
been a perfect solution for many families
who were not feeling comfortable sending their children to school during the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Niki Muenz has two daughters in the
district, one is a junior at Mentor High
School and the other a third grader at
Ridge Elementary. She appreciates the
teacher enthusiasm and is thankful for the
choice.
“In the beginning, we chose MSO just
for the safety aspect and because we didn’t
know how everything was going to go,
“Our teachers have knocked it out
of the park. The energy these
teachers have is just amazing.”
– Mike Lynch, Mentor Public Schools Director of
Innovation and Instructional Technology
6
Mentor Public Schools / Spring 2021
plus our kids did well online last year,” she
says of her third grader, adding her older daughter really liked the online setup.
“This year has been even better because my
third grader is able to ask her teacher for
help through Zoom.
“Last year, a parent needed to be there
to help more. It was like, here’s the assignments, now do them. It involved quite a
bit of parent time,” Muenz recalls. “This