October 1, 2020
By Paul McMullen/Catholic Review
Photos: Kevin J. Parks/CR Staff
Karin Abbott’s creativity, passion and resourcefulness come in handy as she faces a series of educational challenges unique to our time.
She teaches religion to eighth-graders and music to every child at Monsignor Slade Catholic School in Glen Burnie. Her students range from middle-schoolers preparing to select a high school based on its performing bands, to 4-year-olds learning the basics of “body” percussion.
The precautions in place because of the coronavirus pandemic mean that Abbott is never in the classroom with any of those children.
“Everything is remote for me,” Abbott said. “I can’t risk going from age group to age group.”
As does Dorothy D’Anna, the Slade art teacher, Abbott remains in the same otherwise empty room over the course of the day, using an AMX Acendo Vibe camera/sound bar to connect with individual grades she views on two screens, one with most of the children in a classroom on campus, the other showing remote learners at home.
Their classroom audiences change, requiring Abbott to segue from explaining music theory to young teenagers to amplifying her facial expressions for the Sesame Street crowd as they learn how to snap their fingers and clap or tap to the beat.
The September adjustments at Slade included two classes in which students tested positive for COVID-19, leading each of those classes to be quarantined for two weeks, during which they switched to remote learning.
Full story at CatholicReview.org
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