Dear Friends,
A month ago, Roger and I visited friends in Iowa over our Spring Break. We left Tse Bonito with certain expectations, one of them being we’d soon be sharing our classrooms with our Encounter Team friends from Pennsylvania, Arkansas, California, Colorado and other places. A week later, we returned to a completely different place, a twilight zone where one didn’t dare cough to ease an allergic tickle. Businesses and schools were temporarily closing up shop. And our co-workers from all over the United States weren’t coming after all.
On Monday morning, March 16th, the Hilltop teachers and staff met as usual for morning devotions, knowing that no students would be scrambling out of their trucks to hug their teachers and bounce to class. We prayed and determined to charge fearlessly into a new era. Not knowing how long this virus would last, the teachers prepared work packets for the next few school days. We didn’t want to lose any precious time caring for our children’s academic needs.
Parents picked up the packets and transitioned to becoming teachers. It wasn’t easy for many families. And as this disease stretched out, we knew we’d have to leap from a 1970s classroom to a technology-based 2020 classroom. We have old, donated computers in our classrooms, but most of us switched to using our personal laptops. Two teachers borrowed Kindle Fires from a classroom. And off we Zoomed.
Yes, Zoom is now a verb. We all (I’m talking all – from the Millennials to the Octogenarians) climbed the steep learning curve; and if the Lord hadn’t sent our student-teacher (Joy) from Pennsylvania, we would have struggled even more. She was able to help us with technological advice. We now Zoom every morning and afternoon for staff meetings and collaboration. Every one of the classes meets daily in a Zoom meeting. The Preschool is also posting classes biweekly on YouTube. Mr. Naas prepares a chapel and Mrs. Naas has done a Library Reading time for the students.
A month ago, we didn’t even know what an LMS was. Now the whole world knows. We’ve been using Schoology (Learning Management System) and e-mails and an outside mail drop for those with no technology to continue the children’s learning. Miss Rubanenko, second grade teacher, said, “I’m right on pace with the curriculum, and we should be finished at the end of May.” Mrs. Nelson, kindergarten teacher, stated, “They all come to the morning meeting, and I feel that they are making great progress between the lessons I teach them and what they work on at home.”
The teachers struggle to make the lessons creative and relevant. We spend extra time meeting with individuals to tutor them. And though it has been more work than classroom teaching, our hearts are even more burdened by other loads. We worry that our children are safe. We pray about the traditional teachings children are hearing and the garbage they are allowed to watch to fill the long days. People who are fearful and are looking for answers surround us. We know some of our families have lost their jobs and are in desperate straits. The children are lonely, and some call or text our teachers or stay on the Zoom meeting as long as they possibly can. Some parents are still working, but they are now required to teach their own children too. Added to either no Internet or substandard on-line services, this has not been an ideal situation.
What can you do? Continue to do what you have been doing. Pray for the Navajo people and their leaders. We’ve been under quarantine for two weekends and will face two more stay-at-home weekends. Pray for the students and for their safety and health. And pray for the staff and teachers at Hilltop. We strive to serve the Lord using the gifts and weapons He gives us.
Virtual hugs to you all,
Roger and Sara
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| “Navajo Jeans” by Hyatt Moore |
