Justine Larsen’s pets — including Wink, pictured with Larsen above — have helped keep her young students engaged in their online lessons.

Photo courtesy Justine Larsen

At the Larsens’ house, the teacher’s pet is literally a brown-noser.

Olive the big brown dog — not to be confused with Clifford the Big Red Dog — is helping Justine Larsen keep her students engaged during virtual lessons.

“... Delivering a digital education requires pulling from a big bag of tricks, theatrical experience, and a lot of on-the-fly ingenuity,” Larsen said.

Enlisting the assistance of her family’s household pets — mainly Olive and Wink, the one-eyed cat — has helped the elementary school para educator keep her students on camera, she said.

When a student successfully completes a task they’re working on, Larsen said they get to give Wink or Olive a “virtual treat.”

“All I have to do is shake the treat container and an animal MAGICALLY arrives for their treat,” Larsen said. “The student tells me how many treats Wink or Olive should get and that’s the number they receive.”

Olive often sits next to Larsen at her computer in the kitchen and, during her Zoom-based lessons, the canine is part of the small group for shared reading.

Larsen also dresses up Olive every day, and shares the photos with her students.

The kids are interested in how the animals behave, she said.

“If there is a pet at the student’s house, we will take breaks from our lesson to give our pets some affection, since I can’t give the students a high-five or fist-bump in person,” Larsen said.

Delivering curriculum remotely brings a lot of challenges, she said.

“It really has been an exhausting experience some days,” Larsen said. “I plan it out as though I am doing a live television broadcast.”

But she gauges the sessions based on how students are responding, and always tries to end on a positive note, reassuring kids that she’ll see them again soon.

“I always ask the student to pass a hello on from me to the next teacher they see in their rotation, to front-load the information to them that more school is coming in their day,” Larsen said.

She is following a curriculum tailored to students’ needs, and “hopefully providing them a way to communicate their feelings through a program called Zones of Regulation.” She utilizes appropriate social stories and videos with songs that pertain to the curriculum.

Up until last week, Larsen had very few mishaps while Zooming. But on May 7, she was almost done with a session when she heard a terrible noise: Wink the cat was trotting up the driveway with “a wriggling, screaming squirrel.”

It was so loud that the student and his caregiver also heard it. Without muting her camera, Larsen started yelling and rushed to stop Wink from bringing the shrieking rodent inside.

Her daughter, Augusta, jumped in to help. She eventually managed to grab the cat without being clawed by the feline or the flailing squirrel, Larsen said.

“I went back to my student, who was sitting so patiently and I explained to his caregiver what happened, apologizing profusely,” she said.

The squirrel went under Larsen’s car, and she later watched it wobble out to a big cottonwood tree.

“It slowly climbed and I didn’t see any blood,” Larsen said. “I’m assuming it’s up in the tree now, telling its squirrel family ‘We have to MOVE!’”

Olive has also been more insistent when she wants Larsen’s attention — walking over and shoving her nose into Larsen’s side or “going to sit by the door as though she’s about to wet her pants.”

“I’ve fallen for it a few times,” Larsen said, “but the reality has been she wants out TO CHASE SQUIRRELS!”