Ontario students start ‘Phase 2’ of online learning with digital assignments to be graded

For the past couple of weeks, Tavoie Hamilton has been sleeping until about noon each day.

But on Monday, he woke up at 10:30 a.m.

"I switched around my sleeping schedule because I knew school was starting," said the Grade 8 student at Dixon Grove middle school, who has spent the last two weeks reading and catching up on overdue assignments.

The 13-year-old said he is keen to restart school work - even if he still doesn't get to see his friends because of the shutdown amid the COVID-19 pandemic. He's also missing football, playing the viola and singing.

On Monday, he began working on a project featuring notable work by Canadians - he's profiling Frederick Banting and Charles Best's insulin discovery - and getting into a schedule with the help of his teacher Kimberly Liang.

"She posted an introduction to a survey and making a to-do list for yourself - 'you are going to do this at what time,'" he said.

"It was pretty helpful," he admitted. "I'm a less-organized person, so it's better if a person shows me how to be organized."

The province's two million students began a more formal learning schedule Monday, with elementary students expected to do five hours a week, older students 10 hours, and high school students three hours a week per course.

The quick transition to an online forum is a huge task for boards and teachers, and Premier Doug Ford on Monday lauded them for it.

"I want to take a moment to say thank you to our teachers," Ford said at his daily press conference at Queen's Park. "I want to thank you for your hard work in keeping our children on track during this challenging time. I know many parents are adjusting to these changes, and it is critical that during this time, kids keep learning. Education must continue."

Schools are closed until at least May 4.

Education Minister Stephen Lecce said the province "will do whatever it takes to ensure we get through this, including a one-time, $200 per-child payment up to age 12, and $250 for children with special needs, up to age 21.

"With this one-time funding, we're trying to relieve some of the financial burden Ontario families are facing at this time," Lecce said.

Across the province, teachers spent last week reaching out to students, determining who needs computers or internet access - the Toronto District School Board has already started distributing about 28,000 devices, some with built-in Wi-Fi - and are now posting lessons and videos and answering questions virtually.

Liang said she and her Grade 8 teaching partner are going to use different tactics to engage their students and joked, "It's mostly trial and error - and mostly error" at this point.

"It's the first day, and kids are hungry to work," she said. "But we didn't want to completely overwhelm them. (Monday) was about community building - how to organize my Google calendar." And she created a shared slide show for everyone to contribute to," showing what they've been up to since schools were shut down or posting words of encouragement.

She said so far all 50 of the students in the two Grade 8 classes she works with have signed on, and a few already finished their slide show.

A few of her students may not yet have access to laptops and must use their phones, "which worries me - not everything can be done on their phone."

She's also trying to relate things to current issues families may be facing - for math, she will have the students look at grocery ads and talk about costs. She might assign them to figure out how much toilet paper they use and turn it into a math problem.

One Scarborough high school teacher used coronavirus charts on numbers in China to teach her Grade 10 students about quadratic and exponential equations.

While work is to be marked, "there will be some flexibility around when they can finish things," Liang said, "especially if they are sharing a computer with siblings."

After she posted work for Monday morning, "my phone was pinging with kids submitting questions" until the lunch hour, she said.

"I'll turn off my phone around 11 p.m. to get a little peace," she added.

Some teachers have expressed concerns about privacy with the online forums. At one North York middle school, the Google hangout for one language class was invaded by older students who swore and yelled.

Kristin Rushowy is a Toronto-based reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow her on Twitter: @krushowy