Coping with COVID
College and Career Readiness through Blended Learning
Home - Authored by: Eileen Wedegartner
If It’s Magic… Promising online strategies for the virtual academy
by Eileen Wedegartner
Effective online engagement practices
Skills for the post-pandemic economy
by Eileen Wedegartner, JFYNet Learning Specialist
Is college still necessary?
The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed many people to decide to take a year off from higher education. The ballooning price of college tuition combined with the uncertain job outlook for recent college graduates make this decision understandable. But a longer view of the value of a college degree, beyond the immediate crisis, might lead to a different calculation.
Keeping Students Engaged with Direct Student Support. Connected Learning.
by Eileen Wedegartner, JFYNet Learning Specialist
Responding to student needs. Engagement is the key to improving academic performance.
JFYNet Team Reflects on COVID-19 Shutdown, Students, Teachers & New Normal
JFYNet Remote Learning Specialists mull over the New Normal
by Greg, Eileen, Cathie and Joan
Specialists’ messages to the 2020 graduates
Hats off to the Class of 2020
from Cathie, Eileen, Joan and Greg
Cathie
When I graduated from high school, our class motto was “At this peak we begin climbing.” My message to this year’s graduates is, You have climbed the peak! Congratulations! As you stand there, you look back to your high school days and ahead to all that is before you. This is not the only peak you will climb in your life. You will pass through some valleys, and you will ascend other peaks. Cherish your time in the valleys. It is there that you grow, learn things about yourself, and gain strength to conquer the next peak. As you prepare for that next climb, I wish you a smooth ascent and a beautiful view from the top!
JFYNet Staff Report On the New Normal
Hero Educators Abound
by JFYNet’s Blended Learning Specialists: Eileen Wedegartner, Greg Cunningham and Cathie Maglio
Stress and Pressure: Helping Students Navigate
We need to help them manage expectations effectively.
by Eileen Wedegartner, Blended Learning Specialist
Growing up, I remember there were high school students around me who had either attempted to take their own life or had done so. As a teen, it shook me to think that anyone felt that alone. It was sad, but it was also an anomaly.
In the last few years, a community near mine experienced a spike in suicides among high school students. It was enough of a crisis that the Boston Globe wrote about it in the article “After suicides in Acton and Boxborough, A Communion of Sorrow.”
The Power of Reading. Become Empowered.
Get Inspired
by Eileen Wedegartner, Blended Learning Specialist
I can remember the moment in childhood when I was first able to read independently. We were on our annual drive to the Berkshires, a family tradition. As we got onto Route 2 I began to read the signs excitedly to my father. I read each exit number and the names of the towns. “Mohawk Trail” was easy but “Leominster” and “Winchendon” were more challenging. I distinctly remember being in the back seat of the big blue Ford LTD with my dad in the front, feeling his pride as I nailed sign after sign all by myself.
Another New Beginning – the start of school
It is exciting. It is exhausting. It is a time of transition for everyone.
by Eileen Wedegartner, Blended Learning Specialist
It’s that bittersweet time of year again, the start of school. We pack away our summer gear, bags loaded with suntan lotion, flip-flips, towels and sand, and trade them in for book bags stuffed with new notebooks. Schools have been freshly cleaned and waxed and everything has a glimmer of hope. It’s that glorious time when every desk is shining, every pencil is sharp, and every Expo marker works.
