Elementary teacher makes the most of distance learning
Brooke Gottschalk wishes she could teach fifth-grade in person but still searches for creative ways to make class engaging.
By Pete Collova | Reporter
Elementary teacher Brooke Gottschalk threw a tennis ball to her miniature Aussie, Juno, who backflipped before catching it in his mouth. Her talent for the virtual talent show Dec. 4 wasn’t exactly her own, but it didn’t matter because all of her fifth-graders were smiling and laughing the whole time. The acts of dancing, singing and puppeteering allowed the scholars to show their personalites and be excited about something through distance learning.
“The whole entire thing was so frickin’ cute,” Gottschalk said.
Gottschalk is in her second year of teaching at Maxfield Elementary, her first teaching job out of college. She was hired the week before school started.
“I’m a baby in the adult world,” Gottschalk said.
She has the same students she had last year because Maxfield uses a system called looping. One teacher will get a class and then follow the same students through multiple grades. This streategy made distance learning much easier as Gottschalk already had a personal connection to most of her fifth-graders from last year, when they were fourth-graders.
“I love teaching but I hate distance learning. I wish it was in person.” — Brooke Gottschalk, fifth-grade teacher at Maxfield Elementary
She spends most of her time prepping for class even though she splits the work with her mentor and colleague Elizabeth Earnest as they each teach two classes to the same grade. The rigor of finding new and innovative ways to teach virtual class demands mouthfuls of online meeting time, even for two teachers.
“I love teaching but I hate distance learning,” Gottschalk said. “I wish it was in person.”
Even during these challenging circumstances, she still finds moments that make all the extra work worth it. During the talent show one of four students she didn’t have last year, Dipika, opened up to the class for the first time by singing a song.
“It was a touching moment to see her open up and be vulnerable in front of the whole entire fifth-grade class,” Gottschalk said.
Brooke’s favorites
- Subject: writing
- Singer: Billie Eilish
- Food: tacos
- Movie: Jurassic Park
- Place: Winona, Minnesota
- Board Game: Catan
