Story From Wicked Local Acton Online Newspaper
Acton-Boxborough High School students-turned-teachers inspire minds and hearts during pandemic
Back in March, when the Acton-Boxborough Regional School District closed its schools due to the coronavirus pandemic, high school senior Simona Zilberberg looked to her younger sister, whose private school in Waltham also closed - but unlike A-B, had no remote learning in place - and decided to do something about it.
Zilberberg’s 16-year-old sister Sophia is on the Autism spectrum and keeping to a routine is important. Initially, Sophia’s school wasn’t offering online classes or enrichment materials for students to do at home, so Zilberberg and her father Konstantin, decided to step in.
“Me and my dad care about her education, so instead of having her sit around doing nothing we wanted to build a routine for Sophia to continue school and help stabilize life in this difficult time,” said Zilberberg.
So together they set up a virtual day school program for Sophia. At the time Zilberberg herself had minimal school work to complete and could sit down and work with her sister .
She and her father soon realized they wanted to do more than just help Sophia - they wanted to help her classmates as well, so Konstantin reached out to families and asked if they’d be interested in participating in their online educational program.
This is not the first time father and daughter have worked together on an educational platform. The two founded a non-profit organization called WeCanTest! where they would teach kids who were on the Autism spectrum about computer science.
“From that program, we gained a lot of experience on how to create programs and work with those who have disabilities which was extremely helpful as we created our online course,” said Zilberberg.
Parents of Sophia’s classmates responded favorably to the idea and seven students are currently enrolled in the free online program.
Initially, Zilberberg taught every class which included Math, English Language Arts, and Science which gave her a newfound respect for her own teachers at Acton-Boxborough High School. But being the sole instructor proved challenging and she reached out to her peers for help.
She now teaches Math and her friends Elizabeth Driscoll (ELA), Priyanka Nanda (History), and Charles Wang (Computer Science) use online educational resources, YouTube, and their own prior knowledge to put together engaging classes for their students.
Parents have also served as guest lecturers during their Zoom classes
“One of our student’s fathers works in aerospace technology and he came in for a lecture about building airplanes, it was great,” she said.
These high school students turned teachers are unpaid and volunteer their time because they feel they’re making a difference.
“We just really care that they are getting the education they deserve,” said Simona.Each Zoom class is 45 minutes with a 15-minute break in between. If students are ever felling frustrated or inattentive, teachers might call for impromptu jumping jacks or squats to get them feeling re-energized.
Sophia’s private school has since initiated online learning, and the A-B students have since had their own school schedules become a bit heavier. But they decided to continue with the online program, and move it to later in the day to meet everyone’s needs.
“So when we’re done with our classes our students are done with their classes as well so we can still continue our programs,” she said.
A favorite class of Sophia’s is English where they just finished studying the play “Julius Cesar”.
“Elizabeth conducted the course and she had a movie playing and spent the class watching parts of the movie and then discussing it and they also read excerpts from the play and everyone was really intrigued,” she said.
Encouraging the students to discuss what they are learning and to interact with each other during class is an important aspect to keeping them challenged and engaged.
“It’s not just about sitting around learning, it’s about fun. It gives them an opportunity to still talk to their friends.”
For Zilberberg, starting this online program with her father has helped her find a purpose during the COVID-19 crisis - something she said she struggled with when this all started four weeks ago.
“I don’t have fabric so I can’t make masks, I’m not allowed to leave my house to go to the grocery store to buy people food so what else can I do? I can use my computer and my phone to run classes and encourage people.”
For more information on WeCanTest! visit http://wecantest.com/