Friday, April 3, 2020

The Middle Update 4/3/2020

Our first full week of Remote Learning is almost in the books.  As we move past the "newness" factor, and have some time to reflect and analyze how it's going, we can begin the conversations about how to improve to make the most of the learning experience for each student.  We know that we have a diverse population of students when they attend school normally, but think about how much the diversity increases when they have to rely on their Home network so much more in the situation that we find ourselves in now.  Some students may be thriving and looking for more of a challenge and some may find the emails from Google Classroom piling up as a completely overwhelming situation and they don't know where to begin...As we move forward, we'll continue to reach out to kids, offer our support and encouragement, all the while keeping in mind that our connection with each student is the most important during this time.  Being aware of Mental Health during this time is as important as ever, even though it may be more difficult when we can't physically be around the students.  If there is a student that you worry or are concerned about, please reach out and share so we can all work to help in the manner that may fit that particular situation.

I am impressed and appreciative of each of you.  Thank you for your dedication and commitment to making the most out of this situation for our students during this unprecedented time in our world.

 Calendar Update
As we look ahead, there will still be No School on Friday, April 10th.  We originally had a PD Day scheduled for Monday, April 13th, however, this day will now be a normal day of Remote Learning.

Remote Learning Updates (credit to Mr. Hausser for some content here)
We covered some of these nuts and bolts in our Staff Meeting on Wednesday, but wanted to verify and confirm some important pieces that we all need to know very well.

With the recent announcements by our Governor, it appears that the earliest we will be able to come back to school would be April 24th at 8:00am (at the time of this writing).  However, this is a very fluid situation and the date could and probably will change at any time.  Below are a few items of note:

Student Records and Grades - It's important that we give students some flexibility in terms of assessments.  If you ask them to record themselves or submit a picture, there should also be an option for them to write about it, or demonstrate in some other manner that they attained the goal of the assessment.  Please treat everything in Google Classroom as a student record, so please do not delete anything unless it is absolutely necessary.  Please continue to post individual assessment grades into Infinite Campus, however, you do not need to post overall grades in IC.  We'll continue to document student engagement/attendance using our shared spreadsheets and meeting notes.

Loom is a great tool, but please change this one setting 
One of our savvy educators also had this tip to share which will also protect us from anyone downloading videos that we push out.  Here is what she stated:
"One tip to share might be that videos recorded in Loom should be edited to turn off the ability to download the video.  I don't think our viewers are likely downloading them to their own devices, but it might be a possibility and that ensures that our platform is indeed private."
Under 'Edit Your Video' - click 'Settings' - and then turn off 'Viewer can download'

 See how HERE - thanks to Ms. Niemeyer

Professionalism Online Reminder (We are learning lessons from other districts in this area...)
Please remember that online you are still staff members and are still "at work" when working remotely and must adhere to pertinent handbook rules.  In other districts, educators have video conferenced/created content with their students while wearing bathrobes, beer shirts, etc.  Please keep in mind that even though you are at home you are still working when in contact with students.

Also, some staff members in other districts have set- up virtual "happy hours" after or even during the school day with each other.  They have partaken in adult beverages while using the school district's equipment, network, and platform.  I know that our staff is smart and professional and these are personnel issues that no one wants to deal with, but at the same time, it has happened in other districts.

Finally, please remember that you are only to use our approved delivery systems and previously established curricular supports.  We will not allow: Zoom. GoTo Meeting, Open YouTube, Facebook Live, Twitter/Snap/TicTok, etc. for use with our students.  Currently, our virtual platforms are: Google Classroom, Google Meet: with restrictions (students cannot start a meet, record content, meet ends when teacher ends it, etc.) SeeSaw, and Loom (we'll need to review rights for that one).   If it is something that you have used in the classroom already, like Scholastic News, Sumdog, Lucy Books, etc. those are already approved even if they are not on the list that we have started to create.  We just want to make sure that we vet everything as a district before we sign-up for all the free offers that are out there.  If you have any questions, please let me know.

Staff Meeting Wrap-Up
Thank you for the participation in our virtual meeting this past Wednesday.  It is really important to maintain/grow our connections with each other.  Hopefully the partner and small group discussion were opportunities to connect and was positive.  I have learned that I prefer our face to face time together very much over trying to facilitate an online conversation with over 30 people...very difficult to do more than disseminate information.  Nevertheless I'll be asking for some feedback and hope to learn as much as I can from the experience.

Overall Health and Wellness
During our BW Meeting times in the next couple of weeks, I'll be looking for your input on the Remote Learning experience so far, and how each of you are handling our current reality.  Please make sure you are making time to maintain your Health...exercise, family time, etc. are all crucial for everyone during this time.

Homeroom Groups
Our Homeroom groups have an goal of ensuring connections.  Those connections may be even more important during this time period.  Some teachers have set up virtual meetings with their groups just to check in and hear how they are doing, and get some feedback on our learning situation.  It has worked out well so far with these groups, and I'd like each teacher to try to set up a time once a week with your group to check in, see their faces and have them get the chance to see each other as well.


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The Middle Update 4/3/2020

Our first full week of Remote Learning is almost in the books.  As we move past the "newness" factor, and have some time to reflect and analyze how it's going, we can begin the conversations about how to improve to make the most of the learning experience for each student.  We know that we have a diverse population of students when they attend school normally, but think about how much the diversity increases when they have to rely on their Home network so much more in the situation that we find ourselves in now.  Some students may be thriving and looking for more of a challenge and some may find the emails from Google Classroom piling up as a completely overwhelming situation and they don't know where to begin...As we move forward, we'll continue to reach out to kids, offer our support and encouragement, all the while keeping in mind that our connection with each student is the most important during this time.  Being aware of Mental Health during this time is as important as ever, even though it may be more difficult when we can't physically be around the students.  If there is a student that you worry or are concerned about, please reach out and share so we can all work to help in the manner that may fit that particular situation.

I am impressed and appreciative of each of you.  Thank you for your dedication and commitment to making the most out of this situation for our students during this unprecedented time in our world.

 Calendar Update
As we look ahead, there will still be No School on Friday, April 10th.  We originally had a PD Day scheduled for Monday, April 13th, however, this day will now be a normal day of Remote Learning.

Remote Learning Updates (credit to Mr. Hausser for some content here)
We covered some of these nuts and bolts in our Staff Meeting on Wednesday, but wanted to verify and confirm some important pieces that we all need to know very well.

With the recent announcements by our Governor, it appears that the earliest we will be able to come back to school would be April 24th at 8:00am (at the time of this writing).  However, this is a very fluid situation and the date could and probably will change at any time.  Below are a few items of note:

Student Records and Grades - It's important that we give students some flexibility in terms of assessments.  If you ask them to record themselves or submit a picture, there should also be an option for them to write about it, or demonstrate in some other manner that they attained the goal of the assessment.  Please treat everything in Google Classroom as a student record, so please do not delete anything unless it is absolutely necessary.  Please continue to post individual assessment grades into Infinite Campus, however, you do not need to post overall grades in IC.  We'll continue to document student engagement/attendance using our shared spreadsheets and meeting notes.

Loom is a great tool, but please change this one setting 
One of our savvy educators also had this tip to share which will also protect us from anyone downloading videos that we push out.  Here is what she stated:
"One tip to share might be that videos recorded in Loom should be edited to turn off the ability to download the video.  I don't think our viewers are likely downloading them to their own devices, but it might be a possibility and that ensures that our platform is indeed private."
Under 'Edit Your Video' - click 'Settings' - and then turn off 'Viewer can download'

 See how HERE - thanks to Ms. Niemeyer

Professionalism Online Reminder (We are learning lessons from other districts in this area...)
Please remember that online you are still staff members and are still "at work" when working remotely and must adhere to pertinent handbook rules.  In other districts, educators have video conferenced/created content with their students while wearing bathrobes, beer shirts, etc.  Please keep in mind that even though you are at home you are still working when in contact with students.

Also, some staff members in other districts have set- up virtual "happy hours" after or even during the school day with each other.  They have partaken in adult beverages while using the school district's equipment, network, and platform.  I know that our staff is smart and professional and these are personnel issues that no one wants to deal with, but at the same time, it has happened in other districts.

Finally, please remember that you are only to use our approved delivery systems and previously established curricular supports.  We will not allow: Zoom. GoTo Meeting, Open YouTube, Facebook Live, Twitter/Snap/TicTok, etc. for use with our students.  Currently, our virtual platforms are: Google Classroom, Google Meet: with restrictions (students cannot start a meet, record content, meet ends when teacher ends it, etc.) SeeSaw, and Loom (we'll need to review rights for that one).   If it is something that you have used in the classroom already, like Scholastic News, Sumdog, Lucy Books, etc. those are already approved even if they are not on the list that we have started to create.  We just want to make sure that we vet everything as a district before we sign-up for all the free offers that are out there.  If you have any questions, please let me know.

Staff Meeting Wrap-Up
Thank you for the participation in our virtual meeting this past Wednesday.  It is really important to maintain/grow our connections with each other.  Hopefully the partner and small group discussion were opportunities to connect and was positive.  I have learned that I prefer our face to face time together very much over trying to facilitate an online conversation with over 30 people...very difficult to do more than disseminate information.  Nevertheless I'll be asking for some feedback and hope to learn as much as I can from the experience.

Overall Health and Wellness
During our BW Meeting times in the next couple of weeks, I'll be looking for your input on the Remote Learning experience so far, and how each of you are handling our current reality.  Please make sure you are making time to maintain your Health...exercise, family time, etc. are all crucial for everyone during this time.

Homeroom Groups
Our Homeroom groups have an goal of ensuring connections.  Those connections may be even more important during this time period.  Some teachers have set up virtual meetings with their groups just to check in and hear how they are doing, and get some feedback on our learning situation.  It has worked out well so far with these groups, and I'd like each teacher to try to set up a time once a week with your group to check in, see their faces and have them get the chance to see each other as well.