Educator Sees Positives in Distance Learning

Though she certainly prefers the traditional style of classroom learning, Denise Wadsworth, one the San Marino Unified School District’s four speech-language pathologists, has found a silver lining among a seemingly endless line of dark clouds.
Wadsworth, a 21-year veteran at the SMUSD, has continued to interact with the scores of students she teaches since distance learning was implemented on March 13 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Many of the students are actually more comfortable in the online setting,” said Wadsworth, who uses an application called Google Meet.
Wadsworth hosts 17 sessions per week (each lasting 40-50 minutes) that are attended by one to four participants. The meetings address approved goals that appear in each student’s IEP, or Individualized Education Plan. Her workload has increased recently as Wadsworth is currently attending online transition IEP meetings to welcome 6th graders with language and speech services, saying farewell to rising freshmen, and scheduling the extended school year. The rest of her time includes planning services, reviewing cases, writing goals, and attending more meetings, including weekly special education department meetings, HMS planning meetings and speech-language pathology meetings.
Wadsworth has also been able to keep her Rotary Interact service club alive during the shutdown after being initially informed that meetings would have to be suspended.
“That worried me, and I was vocal about it because I believe so strongly in social thinking and social-emotional learning,” Wadsworth explained. “I kept saying to my kids those first weeks, ‘You are capable. You are responsible. You are loved.’ Since meeting again, we have created an online FreeRice.org group account where we are answering questions through the website as a community service project.” (Free rice is a Food Program app that benefits from the activity of its participants, meaning that Wadsworth’s students are helping to fill the stomachs of children worldwide during their downtime while staying educated and entertained.)
Wadsworth also believes that distance learning has offered another level to education. “All of us, from teachers to aides to administration, are technologically more savvy than we were on Friday, March 13,” Wadsworth said. “As for my students, if the only thing they learned during this first round of distance learning was to consistently read and act on school email, I am beyond thrilled. Emailing is an essential vocational skill, no matter whether our students head to jobs or college following high school graduation. The sooner they learn to use technology to plan and manage their time, the better.”
Wadsworth said that the district’s technical support team has been “amazing” during the transition to off-campus learning. She also said that students report to her they are getting more sleep with the later class time starts.
Some studies estimate that as many as 10% of middle schoolers have speech, language and literacy challenges sufficient enough to warrant assessment. She said she “elbowed” her way into her profession, literally, when she was diagnosed with lateral epicondylitis or “tennis elbow” and could no longer physically do repetitive motion tasks necessary in lab work. During her rehabilitation stint, Wadsworth was encouraged to earn her English as a second language certificate while earning her masters degree in communication disorders from Indiana University-Bloomington.
Wadsworth famously married “her better half,” husband Richie Blair, at her third meeting of the Rotary Club of San Marino on July 20, 2017, during her one-year term as the club’s president in 2017-18. She radiates the love of her chosen profession.
“I feel like God put me on earth to do this job,” said Wadsworth. “Middle schoolers are so misunderstood. They are unique human beings who need and deserve to be reminded daily that they are capable, responsible and loved. I am surrounded by teachers on the Huntington Middle School campus who share that passion.”