<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/7/1594393638452.png" alt="First-graders use iPads during reading lessons at Shawnee Mission School District in 2018.&nbsp; Celia Llopis-Jepsen / Kansas News Service file photo " />
 <figcaption>First-graders use iPads during reading lessons at Shawnee Mission School District in 2018.&nbsp; Celia Llopis-Jepsen / Kansas News Service file photo </figcaption>
 </figure>By STEPHAN BISAHA <a href="https://www.kmuw.org/post/kansas-teachers-will-get-little-required-training-how-run-classrooms-online">Kansas News Service</a>WICHITA, Kansas — Jennifer Mathes kept her expectations for the spring low.A
 sudden, pandemic-driven shift from classrooms to online instruction was
 bound to throw the Blue Valley school district a curve. That would be a
 loss for the quality of teaching she could expect for her daughter.But for the fall?“You’ve
 had some time to prepare,” said Mathes, who’s the CEO of the nonprofit 
Online Learning Consortium. “You’ve got to create a better environment 
so my daughter doesn’t suffer.”Yet at many Kansas schools, 
teachers will only be required to take a few days of training in the art
 of running a classroom online before school starts again in mid-August.Some
 have taken online seminars voluntarily. But union contracts and 
uncertainty about what schools will look like when they restart — 
expected to be some mix of online and in-person teaching — have let the 
summer pass without mandating much preparation for teachers.<h2>Lesson plan</h2>At
 Morris County public schools in east-central Kansas, the school year 
will start seven days earlier for teachers than students. Kansas schools
 usually have about four days to get ready before the kids show up — 
during a normal year. Some schools have shifted their schedules to 
front-end training normally spread across the calendar. But that only 
nets schools a couple of extra days to prepare teachers for an 
unprecedented fall.For many Kansas teachers, it will be their 
first time getting drilled on best online teaching practices since 
school let out in the spring.And schools have much higher 
expectations for their teachers than they did in the spring. Testing was
 lax-to-nonexistent last semester. In the fall, schools will be expected
 to require significantly more rigor from students. Having half a 
classroom disengaged and <a href="https://www.kmuw.org/post/kansas-educators-worry-what-five-months-away-classrooms-will-do-schoolkids" target="_blank">playing hooky won’t be acceptable anymore</a>.And
 schools still must provide annual sessions on topics like sexual 
harassment and suicide prevention. Plus teachers will need to learn how 
to keep their classrooms virus-free.“It will be a lot of work in
 a short amount of time,” said Kelly Gentry, director of instruction and
 curriculum Morris County Public Schools.Some education experts 
are concerned that’s not enough time for preparing teachers for online 
learning. Getting teachers ready could take <a href="https://hechingerreport.org/teachers-need-lots-of-training-to-do-online-learning-well-coronavirus-closures-gave-many-just-days/" target="_blank">weeks or months</a>.“There
 will need to be a recognition that learning how to operate this fall in
 a pandemic is something that will not just come from one week of 
training,” said Lisa Guernsey, senior advisor on early and elementary 
education policy for New America, a left-leaning education think tank.Even
 if schools wanted to mandate teacher training earlier in the summer, 
teacher contracts restrict districts from doing so. Others would need to
 find ways to compensate teachers for the extra time, a concern as 
schools face the possibility of <a href="https://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article242179496.html" target="_blank">losing some state funding</a>.There’s
 also the question of what to prepare teachers for. Schools could return
 to in-person classes, online-only or some mix of the two. Wichita 
Public Schools does not plan on providing any instruction for its 
teachers until after the state releases guidance next week.That 
uncertainty has caused some teachers to hesitate taking up their own 
prep work, fearing it might contradict whatever plans the state comes up
 with.“A lot of teachers really are putting in a lot of time to 
think about the fall and they just don’t know where to start,” said Lori
 Stratton, an English teacher at Gardner Edgerton High School in Johnson
 County.<h2>Learn on your own time</h2>After the
 sudden shift to online classes in March, more training is the last 
thing some Kansas teachers are thinking. Instead, they’ve been using 
their summer vacation time to decompress.“This has been an 
extremely stressful time,” said Teresa Coffman, a professor of education
 at the University of Mary Washington. “Teachers need a little bit of a 
break.”Many Kansas teachers are taking free online lessons, 
despite the sessions being voluntary and with the plans for the fall 
still being a mystery.More than 1,000 Kansas educators have 
completed an average of six hours each of training related to teaching 
outside the classroom provided by Greenbush, the education service 
center in southeast Kansas. Sessions include “Google Classroom Crash 
Course,” “Student Engagement,” and “How Can I Increase My Motivation And
 Focus?”Topeka and Olathe Public Schools also provide their 
teachers with online lessons during the summer. And while teachers might
 not be required to come in until the week before classes, districts 
like Morris County public schools are bringing in their administrators 
early to prepare the training, guidance and rules those teachers will 
get in August.Mandatory training for online learning best practices will also continue at school districts throughout the school year.Jennifer
 Hanni, the director of school improvement services at Greenbush, has 
helped create some of the optional training sessions Kansas teachers 
have been taking. But while she believes more time for professional 
development is always needed, the continually morphing status of the 
coronavirus makes it so teachers can’t fully prepare for the next school
 year until they’re in it.“This is a unique circumstance where 
we can have all the time in the world,” Hanni said. “But if we don’t 
know what something is, then it’s really difficult to plan.”Stephan Bisaha reports on education and young adult life for KMUW and the Kansas News Service. You can follow him on Twitter <a href="http://twitter.com/stevebisaha?lang=en">@stevebisaha</a>.

Kan. teachers will get little required training on virtual classrooms