Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1349911
Student learning loss. It's a topic that's become almost synonymous with the school building closures and disruption to nearly every facet of day- to-day life caused by COVID-19. Now a year into the pandemic, national attention is turning toward mitigating student learning loss. But, Wyoming has looked very different from much of the nation in one key respect: most of our schools have been open to in-person learning since the beginning of this school year. "I understand that the pandemic has been a life- altering event for everyone, and we may continue to discover consequences of this experience on students' learning, progress, and development," WEA President Grady Hutcherson told WEA News. "But I do want to make sure that as an organization, WEA is helping to elevate public awareness about the great lengths to which educators have gone to mitigate student learning loss and normalize life— both in and out of the classroom." President of the Lander Education Association Lannette Lahey teaches braille and Special Education Math Inclusion at Lander Valley High School. With classes comprised primarily of seniors, Lannette's priority was ensuring her students could still graduate, despite the challenges brought on by COVID-19. "My students are not just my students; they are my kids," says Lannette. "My students started the year with a learning loss," she said, "but teachers have taken the time to slow down and re- teach where there were deficits. They have made huge gains and love that they are back in school." When schools closed to in-person instruction in March of last year, Lahey hand-delivered Easter baskets, May Day baskets, and graduation gifts to each of her students. She dedicated time on weekends and evenings to phone calls with students and opened her home to parents and students for conferences and extra help. "The struggle hurt my students mentally, educationally, and spiritually," Lahey remembered. "I saw them struggling and emotionally defeated." Her students didn't know that in March of last year, Mrs. Lahey was also struggling. "I had recently lost my father, and I was trying to find a new normal for myself," she said. "They helped me as much as I helped them." In recognition of her willingness to go above and beyond for her students, Lahey recently won the American Queen Steamboat Company's Unsung Heroes contest. All of her high school seniors in the Class of 2020 successfully graduated on time. Douglas Education Association President Nikki Lally teaches 8th-grade science. She came down with COVID-19 in November. Using her spare bedroom door as a whiteboard, Nikki relied heavily on dedicated paraeducators to assist her in leading her class via Zoom during her quarantine. "Many educators have and will be facing the same situation I did then – sick at home, trying to decide how to meet the needs of their students and take care of their health and the health of their loved ones," said Lally. "I want people to understand what we are asking from our educators this year. It is more than a lot." Co-President of the Powell Education Association, Wendy Smith, teaches Environmental Science at Powell High School. She, too, taught through COVID-19. She is the only teacher of her subject in her school building, and her curriculum is hands- on, without much in the way of support for substitutes from a textbook. Wendy continued to plan lessons and labs through what she deemed a mild case of COVID-19. "I think we're so passionate about what we do," Smith said, "and we care about the kids. We want them to keep going and excelling themselves, so we just try to help in any way that we can." Nikki Lally points to a common theme in student success during the pandemic: collaboration. "Every educator I know is putting in long hours and going above and beyond—trying to come up with ways to engage virtual students and reinvent lessons to make them accessible to students learning from home, and, at the same time, keep on track with the students that show up in person every day, too," she said. "We all support each other so that the schools can support students." Top of page: Nikki Lally teaches via Zoom through COVID-19 quarantine. November 2020. Above: Lannette Lahey displays tassels made as gifts for graduating seniors. May 2020. Above & Beyond: How Educators are Staving off Student Learning Loss 7