ATLANTA — Cobb and DeKalb counties are just two of many metro Atlanta area school systems that are going fully virtual this upcoming fall semester - but how will it work in practice for teachers?
And how will it be different from the mad scramble of the spring when schools suddenly shut at the outset of the pandemic?
Educators in both districts spoke with 11Alive's Maura Sirianni about the challenges of digital learning and what it will look like.
The choral director at Campbell High School in Cobb County, Chantae Pittman, said this is not her first rodeo with digital learning.
"We're not doing anything like what was in the spring," she said. "Trust me, that was not real digital learning. That was triage teaching, that was teaching in crisis."
Studies show singers can be COVID-19 super spreaders, given the high projection of aerosol droplets that comes with singing. Pittman says it's been especially difficult for those in her profession.
"Choral teachers all across United States and internationally were like, 'Oh my God, oh my Godm what are we gonna do?'" she said.
She's been brainstorm ways to keep kids singing at home, while also getting instruments to them.
"I have to distribute music, so we're planning on trying to figure out how to do like a drive-by pickup," she said.
DeKalb also made the decision to go 100 percent virtual. Justin Johnson teaches business education at the middle school level there, and said adapting to new technology is now becoming the norm.
"Now everybody's creating bitmoji classrooms or changing their content form the traditional method," he said.
Johnson said in a virtual setting, he plans to get to know his new students just as he would in a regular classroom setting.
"I'll definitely start out the school year just as I do face-to-face, which is giving them some activities, maybe some questionnaires, just to understand a little bit more about the student," he said. "And then we'll go forward through the content."
Pittman said in order for digital learning to work, everyone has to be on the same page.
"All stakeholders involved - that's teachers, parents, students - we have to be positive and we have to commit to making this work," she said.
Both teachers said they felt their districts actually have really easy digital learning platforms that are very simple to use, and feel encouraged about how it will foster a learning environment.
Both Cobb and DeKalb begin their all-virtual school years on Aug. 17.
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