Post by Jalapeñomel on Mar 27, 2020 8:14:22 GMT -5
Just thought teachers may need a check in to see how distance learning is going, and if you need help, we can hopefully brainstorm ideas.
I’ve officially been distance teaching for two weeks now. I’ve really come to master splitting my screen in videos and writing on my iPad and showing slides, as well as Google Meet and Zoom. I’m enjoying enhancing my pedagogy, but I’m not sure how to incorporate it into my regular curriculum.
Still up in the air about the Regents (standardized tests in June for NY state HS) and the AP just seems stupid. Only time will tell, I suppose.
Post by firedancer10288 on Mar 27, 2020 8:22:25 GMT -5
Our district has decided not to do distance learning for now. Teachers are expected to be "on duty" (from home) starting on Monday. Learning resources, ie packets, were developed by the district and are being distributed today online and at food distribution sites. We have no idea what next week will look like and what we are expected to do.
My district has provided enrichment activities for students online but still no word about how they plan to distribute tech to those without it. They did just announce that we will start distance learning in a few weeks. Today is the only time I can get into my classroom since all of this started and we have all sorts of rules and limitations.
I’ve been writing postcards to every student. So far I have 80 done, only sixty something left! I’ve been doing a class a day so some kids are starting to get them. I got my first response via email today and it is motivating me to finish.
As far as distance learning, I’m trying to make it as flexible for my high school students as possible. I’m thinking 3 reoccurring weekly assignments (one reading based, one grammar based, and one writing based) due different days of the week with the ability to check in with me via zoom during office hours. Maybe a quick video from me each day?
Well, we haven't started distance learning yet. This week is our official spring break. We were given the go-ahead to start our dual credit college classes again on Monday. I am pretty much going ahead with planned curriculum, just online.
For the rest of our classes, we aren't starting until the end of next week. And according to the state, the first two weeks have to only be review material, and about 15 minutes or less per class per day (I teach HS, so kids have 5-7 classes total). I am struggling with what review activities to do with my juniors because we literally just wrapped a novel unit. Tested on it, did our final capstone project with it, turned in books. I don't know how else I can prolong this unit for two more weeks lol.
State testing is cancelled, so I don't want to do SAT review activities either (we already did a bunch of that anyway). I think that's my biggest struggle right now is what the hell do I do with them for two weeks before I can begin new content.
Post by morecoffeeplease on Mar 27, 2020 8:46:51 GMT -5
The last two weeks have been packets. But our gov shut down schools for the rest of the year. The VDOE gave districts a choice of 4 plans. 1) a mix of tech based distance learning and paper packets 2) extend this year 3) summer instruction and 4) extend next year. The district next to us decided to do plan 1. They are 1:1 tech though. Our district has a principals meeting today and I guess word will get out then although our principal won’t tell us until Monday.
I’m having a hard time wrapping my brain around my specific position. I teach k-2 self contained sped. I literally won’t be able to provide my students with what I normally provide them. For example, I teach mostly everything through laminated and velcroed items except for mini lessons in reading, writing and math.
I'm just hoping my kids log on and do something at this point. The district is working on getting Chromebooks to all the kids who don't have access at home.
Yesterday I made my first video and it was very bare-bones. It's so hard to plan anything because I have no idea whether or not my kids are going to be working on it.
I'm just hoping my kids log on and do something at this point. The district is working on getting Chromebooks to all the kids who don't have access at home.
Yesterday I made my first video and it was very bare-bones. It's so hard to plan anything because I have no idea whether or not my kids are going to be working on it.
I will say that students who turn in work and participate in class, continue to do so online. Those that don’t, don’t.
I gave an exam last week, and it went fairly seamlessly. I know they used their notes and/or the internet, but nothing to be done about that.
My district wants us to check in with those not doing their work. I emailed one and the parent told me how great online learning was going.🤣🤣🤣 I emailed him back and told him your child isn’t doing anything in google classroom. He emailed me back that she forget to hit the turn in Button, 😳 yeah that’s not how it works. I went on hers and I could see her doing an assignment in real time. 😂🙄😂Another one did only one and quit. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. We were told this week that assignments can count on their grades. Also my email got hacked and I’m locked out of my work email and google classroom. Several coworkers are very jealous of me right now!!! 😂😂😂 I’m just waiting for 8:30 to see if someone in my district can unlock my email since gmail says admin needs to do it. Thank god this week is over!!!!
Post by irishbride2 on Mar 27, 2020 9:26:06 GMT -5
From a PD perspective, it's been great. I feel like I have learned so much. There are many aspects of it I love.
However, we are finding that our kids are overwhelmed with the amount of screen time. As a faculty, we are trying to reduce screen time and how much is synchronous. However, it is hard to teach high school math from a distance without screen time.
My district wants us to check in with those not doing their work. I emailed one and the parent told me how great online learning was going.🤣🤣🤣 I emailed him back and told him your child isn’t doing anything in google classroom. He emailed me back that she forget to hit the turn in Button, 😳 yeah that’s not how it works. I went on hers and I could see her doing an assignment in real time. 😂🙄😂Another one did only one and quit. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. We were told this week that assignments can count on their grades. Also my email got hacked and I’m locked out of my work email and google classroom. Several coworkers are very jealous of me right now!!! 😂😂😂 I’m just waiting for 8:30 to see if someone in my district can unlock my email since gmail says admin needs to do it. Thank god this week is over!!!!
Well for the first student it sounds like your intervention was successful because she's now doing the work. I would continue to check in/ provide support as needed, but you got her on the right track. For the second student, it sounds like he/ she needs more support. Reach out him/her and ask what's going on and what supports you can offer and take it from there. If possible, try to find out what specific roadblocks they're facing and report that back to your administration.
I hope you get back in your e-mail without too much aggravation. How frustrating!!
We're starting Monday (we'e been on spring break) and I'm nervous. On the one hand, I teach history. It really doesn't matter if everyone doesn't really get the French Revolution and I know I can fall back on readings and questions and papers and projects but it's my favorite unit because of the role plays and simulations and I can't do any of that . Plus, I have a class I really love and I'm bummed that I don't get them the whole year (and next year's class is a bit of a nightmare).
I'd love to hear what's worked for everyone. I teach 8th grade.
"Hello babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. On the outside, babies, you've got a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies-"God damn it, you've got to be kind.”
Just wrapping up week 2, here. It's going well enough. I'm not doing any synchronous teaching other than meeting with my advisory because I've got kids at home and it's too much. My boss is cool with that. Otherwise, it's all Google Classroom, Google Chat, and Google Hangouts for me.
My kids are in K and 3rd, same school (small, private), and they are getting about 1-2 hours of work a day. I wish it was more but I know their teachers are working hard enough. I've asked for some enrichment so we'll see. Otherwise we'll do more art classes and science classes online (which have been awesome so far).
I teach 7th and 8th Humanities and I'd say 85% my students are doing well. I really miss my students, though.
Post by UMaineTeach on Mar 27, 2020 10:44:21 GMT -5
We are still on hold with teaching. Regular education teachers had to call all families this week and take a survey of basic needs and technology.
We will not be sending devices home. The only kids who have school devices are 7th/8th kids who happened to have them at home before we closed. There was no advanced notice of closing, so whatever they went home with the Friday is what they have.
Google Meet meetings Monday to learn about Phase 3. Which is called “enhanced enrichment” vs now it’s “enrichment”
We’ll see. I’m letting other people tell me what to do and not asking any questions.
If there is any expectation of live teaching, it’s going to be hard with daycare closed.
Post by killercupcake on Mar 27, 2020 10:57:06 GMT -5
Counselor, but I'm hoping someone has an answer for me.
I'm working in Infinite Campus. I've created filters for each of my caseload grades that show me my students' emails so I can just C&P them into an email. I'm trying to do the same with the parent email. The problem I'm running into is that I'm getting every email associated with the student (siblings, grandparents, etc.). Is there any way to narrow it down to just the parent/guardian contact?
EDIT:
Never mind! Another counselor on a FB page told me how to do it.
My district wants us to check in with those not doing their work. I emailed one and the parent told me how great online learning was going.🤣🤣🤣 I emailed him back and told him your child isn’t doing anything in google classroom. He emailed me back that she forget to hit the turn in Button, 😳 yeah that’s not how it works. I went on hers and I could see her doing an assignment in real time. 😂🙄😂Another one did only one and quit. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. We were told this week that assignments can count on their grades. Also my email got hacked and I’m locked out of my work email and google classroom. Several coworkers are very jealous of me right now!!! 😂😂😂 I’m just waiting for 8:30 to see if someone in my district can unlock my email since gmail says admin needs to do it. Thank god this week is over!!!!
Well for the first student it sounds like your intervention was successful because she's now doing the work. I would continue to check in/ provide support as needed, but you got her on the right track. For the second student, it sounds like he/ she needs more support. Reach out him/her and ask what's going on and what supports you can offer and take it from there. If possible, try to find out what specific roadblocks they're facing and report that back to your administration.
I hope you get back in your e-mail without too much aggravation. How frustrating!!
She did three assignments and no more so I just reached out to dad and told him she has a ton of work missing and we now count it towards grades. The other parents hate me 😬. I don’t take it too personally because they also hate their other child’s teacher and told her their done. I had someone from school teach out because mom said emails are overwhelming. They did one assignment and that was it. It’s sad because I really like this child. Apparently he isn’t motivated which is not what I see at school.
So far we are in a “holding pattern” and as an elementary teacher in my board I’m not expected to do much but be available and work on planning etc and continue to keep communication open. I hope to have more direction early next week.
Post by W.T.Faulkner on Mar 27, 2020 11:22:33 GMT -5
We can only offer optional activities — our large urban district has cited issues of equity in this decision, since not every student has access to technology.
The district has approved $11 mil toward chromebooks for students at home. Even though they haven’t said as much I think they’re preparing not to go back.
As for my tiny charter, I’ve contacted 130 families in the last 2 days and have only not heard from about 10, which is pretty damn good.
Well, we haven't started distance learning yet. This week is our official spring break. We were given the go-ahead to start our dual credit college classes again on Monday. I am pretty much going ahead with planned curriculum, just online.
For the rest of our classes, we aren't starting until the end of next week. And according to the state, the first two weeks have to only be review material, and about 15 minutes or less per class per day (I teach HS, so kids have 5-7 classes total). I am struggling with what review activities to do with my juniors because we literally just wrapped a novel unit. Tested on it, did our final capstone project with it, turned in books. I don't know how else I can prolong this unit for two more weeks lol.
State testing is cancelled, so I don't want to do SAT review activities either (we already did a bunch of that anyway). I think that's my biggest struggle right now is what the hell do I do with them for two weeks before I can begin new content.
We had to start distance learning last week and were only allowed to do review activities as well. Like you, I had just concluded units with all of my classes. I assigned skills activities alongside some short non-fiction pieces. Vocabulary, grammar and style, and writing practice. I chose to read "no new content" as "no new major readings" because otherwise there wouldn't be much of anything for them to base their writing on that we hadn't already done.
For my part, this transition has been exhausting. I'm glad for the opportunity to learn some new technology, but not ten minutes before I'm supposed to roll it out to students, and especially not with zero guidance from my school or district. DIY PD isn't my favorite thing. It probably doesn't help that we've been mostly left flying blind, and my administration has been oddly radio silent about a number of important issues that have arisen.
Well for the first student it sounds like your intervention was successful because she's now doing the work. I would continue to check in/ provide support as needed, but you got her on the right track. For the second student, it sounds like he/ she needs more support. Reach out him/her and ask what's going on and what supports you can offer and take it from there. If possible, try to find out what specific roadblocks they're facing and report that back to your administration.
I hope you get back in your e-mail without too much aggravation. How frustrating!!
She did three assignments and no more so I just reached out to dad and told him she has a ton of work missing and we now count it towards grades. The other parents hate me 😬. I don’t take it too personally because they also hate their other child’s teacher and told her their done. I had someone from school teach out because mom said emails are overwhelming. They did one assignment and that was it. It’s sad because I really like this child. Apparently he isn’t motivated which is not what I see at school.
How frustrating!! If he's a good student at school than I doubt this is a motivation issue. He's stressed and overwhelmed, possibly even depressed, which is a very appropriate response to what's going on right now, and can definitely interfere with functioning. I don't think the other parents hate you. Everyone's overwhelmed and stressed out. I'm sure the administration will quickly realize it;'s not sustainable to treat this like regular school grades. Big hugs! We'll get through this...at least that's what they tell me.
Post by TamiTaylor on Mar 27, 2020 12:03:50 GMT -5
Parents have been pretty great and I have gotten a lot of positive feedback. However the higher ups keep telling us to lighten the load for students and parents but at the same time are adding more to our workload. I got an email this week saying that I need to document and log hours and minutes, down to the minute,I spend working each day. I’m heated about that. It’s insulting. Trust me they do not want to see the hours I really am working because I would need overtime pay if they wanted to pay me by the hour. We are doing a 100x more than most districts in our area or even in the state.
Post by RoxMonster on Mar 27, 2020 14:28:56 GMT -5
Does anyone know if there is a screen/desktop recorder that is free but allows unlimited length videos? Screencastify's free version only allows 5 minutes and Screencast-O-Matic is 15 minutes, which is better, but I personally do not like the interface of it. I like that Screencastify can upload directly to Google Classroom.
I thought I heard that Screencastify is allowing free unlimited accounts through April 30, but I can't figure out how to do that. It is still listing it as being a paid version.
Does anyone know if there is a screen/desktop recorder that is free but allows unlimited length videos? Screencastify's free version only allows 5 minutes and Screencast-O-Matic is 15 minutes, which is better, but I personally do not like the interface of it. I like that Screencastify can upload directly to Google Classroom.
I thought I heard that Screencastify is allowing free unlimited accounts through April 30, but I can't figure out how to do that. It is still listing it as being a paid version.
Have you tried Loom? I've recorded multiple times with it, and all of my videos are at least 10 minutes because I can't STFU. It's a very easy upload to Google Classroom.
Does anyone know if there is a screen/desktop recorder that is free but allows unlimited length videos? Screencastify's free version only allows 5 minutes and Screencast-O-Matic is 15 minutes, which is better, but I personally do not like the interface of it. I like that Screencastify can upload directly to Google Classroom.
I thought I heard that Screencastify is allowing free unlimited accounts through April 30, but I can't figure out how to do that. It is still listing it as being a paid version.
Have you tried Loom? I've recorded multiple times with it, and all of my videos are at least 10 minutes because I can't STFU. It's a very easy upload to Google Classroom.
Does anyone know if there is a screen/desktop recorder that is free but allows unlimited length videos? Screencastify's free version only allows 5 minutes and Screencast-O-Matic is 15 minutes, which is better, but I personally do not like the interface of it. I like that Screencastify can upload directly to Google Classroom.
I thought I heard that Screencastify is allowing free unlimited accounts through April 30, but I can't figure out how to do that. It is still listing it as being a paid version.
Oh I love Screencastomatic! I use that and Quicktime to split screen my videos so I can write and show powerpoints.
Does anyone know how many emails I can send at a time before Gmail flags me for spam? lol
From my experience, 400 gajillion
I managed to send out emails to all of my freshmen and sophomore parents, so a little over 250. So far, so good. I’ll do juniors and seniors on Monday.
I'm not a teacher but big thanks to all of you for all your hard work. Can't imagine the stress you all are feeling right now and kudos to teachers everywhere for trying to adapt so quickly.
Parents have been pretty great and I have gotten a lot of positive feedback. However the higher ups keep telling us to lighten the load for students and parents but at the same time are adding more to our workload. I got an email this week saying that I need to document and log hours and minutes, down to the minute,I spend working each day. I’m heated about that. It’s insulting. Trust me they do not want to see the hours I really am working because I would need overtime pay if they wanted to pay me by the hour. We are doing a 100x more than most districts in our area or even in the state.
We haven’t had to record our hours but I’m definitely am workin gnome now than I do normally. Yesterday I worked until from 8:30- 4:40 and today from 8:00-5:10. School dismisses at 3:30 and I’m normally home by 4:00. I would do anything to go back!!!