New teacher prepares for year at Cottonwood North

Cottonwood North School has a new teacher from Browning returning after student teaching there last year.

"I am looking forward to getting back into the classroom," Lona Gibbs said. "So last year, was an official first year of teaching for me and it just kind of ended abruptly in March, so I'm looking forward to getting back into the classroom and seeing some of my students from last year and getting to know a couple new ones."

Gibbs student taught at Cottonwood last year, and was hired as the teacher for this school year.

She is teaching second through eighth grade with a total of 10 students, she said.

She was born in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, and lived there till she was 12, she said, then moved to Browning.

"I've spent my summers in Browning with my grandparents, so Montana has always been my home to me," Gibbs said.

She attended school at Montana State University in Bozeman for a year, then transferred to Montana State University-Northern, where she received her bachelor's degree in elementary education K-8 with a minor in reading specialist K-12, she added.

Cottonwood Schools is doing a full re-opening plan, she said.

When the schools closed down in March  due to COVID-19, she and the Cottonwood teacher put packets together for the students for the first two weeks, she said.

"After those first two weeks, we had Zoom meetings set up and we decided that we would continue co-teaching, so she still (did) science and reading, and I did math and social studies, and we decided math and reading would be a daily Zoom meeting and social studies and science would be as needed," she said, "so we started teaching over Zoom and meeting with our kids live every day."

She said they tried to help their students work through what was going on and still trying to maintain some kind of normal in their lives.

"I definitely think if Cottonwood has to go back to the online format I have experience in Zoom," she said. "We also used Google Classroom to help us and that kept things organized for the parents. Our parents are very involved and they were logging on it daily just to make sure that their kids were finishing their assignments."

She added that she feels prepared to use Google Classroom and Zoom again.

With only 10 students, she said, it is easier to social distance them and masks will be optional. It is up to the parents if they want their children to wear them.

"I love that I have the ability to connect with my students and their families in a deeper way," Gibbs said. "The parents have been a huge support since I started at Cottonwood."

First day at Cottonwood School is Monday, Aug. 17.