After three weeks of of our new learning environment there has proven to be many successes and challenges. Some of the technology pieces, which we anticipated working smoothly in our planning, have been frustrating at times. I am really impressed with our staff and the fact that despite the challenges and frustrations this "atypical" school year has provided, our dedication and focus on the well-being of our students has risen to the top and has helped us push through these challenges. I, along with our students and families, so appreciate each of you and those extra efforts.
The global pandemic has been a traumatic experience in many ways for all of us, and we have seen much evidence of the effects of this trauma on our students as the start of the school year has unfolded. Please keep a special eye out for signs that a student may be struggling with this or other trauma. The efforts each of you make during the school day to connect and build positive, trusting relationships with your students make a huge difference...not only for the kids, but you can feel it in the overall culture of our school. Our student services team is also equipped and ready to help any students in need.
Resources of the Week
Our resource this week is targeted at our middle level learners...as we get to know them early in the year, it is oftentimes surprising to learn about the skills we need to teach them that we assume they would already know how to do...knowing how to send an simple email is one skill that came up this year for our 6th graders. The article this week shares some of these key skills we need to focus on, especially while we have them in front of us.
"How to Help Middle School Students Develop Crucial Skills This Year" - Sarah Gonser
More information about effective online instruction continues to become available. Good tips for all of us to know and understand in our environment in the article below.
"5 Research-Backed Tips to Improve Your Online Teaching Presence" - Youki Terada
COVID and Close Contact
Just like in a typical school year, a sense of comfort and routine has started to set in for all of us. It's so important that we don't let our attention and focus on the guidelines designed to keep us all safe become lax. If there is a confirmed case of COVID in our school, the contact tracers will ask questions about who has had "close contact" with the individual. "Close contact" is defined as being within 6 feet of the individual for longer than 15 minutes (masked or unmasked...behind a barrier or not behind a barrier). Also included is if anyone touched the individual or was in contact with respiratory droplets.
In our typical work, it is very difficult to keep distance when working with our students...however, this is not a typical year or situation, so we, as adults, need to do everything we can to protect ourselves, understanding that keeping that distance may not be comfortable or as effective in working with students, but it will make a huge difference in terms of minimizing the chance of spread. When there have been positive cases with people I know personally, it always seems like a surprise, so we have to think about anyone we come around as potential carriers of the virus.
We also need to continue to hold our students to the same standards and be insistent on doing our best with the close contact guidelines. Thank you all so much for your efforts in this area, as I believe we have been doing well...just want to make sure we continue those important efforts.
Posting Grades
We are three weeks into the first quarter and that is the time we typically have enough evidence to post overall progress grades for each standard. Many teachers have done this already. If you have not, please take a look at the evidence you have collected for your class in each standard and post an overall standard grade. I will send a Infinite Campus Message out to parents on Wednesday indicating that grades are posted and can be viewed in IC.
In a discussion with the 6th grade team, they thought it would be best for each cohort teacher to assign an overall "Follows Classroom Expectations" score for their group, rather than the subject teacher. We added the option to assign a score for "Follows Classroom Expectations" in the Homeroom section. The other Puma Pride standards that subject teachers should assign are one or both of the following: "Completes and Returns Work in a Timely Manner" and "Puts Forth Effort to Produce High Quality Work". Applied teachers that actually meet with their students can also provide "Follows Classroom Expectations" feedback using the Puma Pride grades.
Virtual Wednesdays
As we are getting to know our students and their levels, many of you have really tried to use this time to meet with our virtual students. This is a great use of time, and our morning times should really be spent working to set up either individual or group meetings with virtual students or students from other sections that we don't get the chance to see or work with. We have utilized "office hours" and some students take advantage of these times, but setting up times to meet with students, while copying their parents on an email invitation, would help enhance the likelihood that students will attend those critical sessions. Homeroom teachers can assist by reminders their students about meeting times with other teachers.
Some teachers have also began to explore the possibility of meeting virtually with students from other cohorts during class time. Getting to know all of the students that aren't in our cohort group has proven to be challenging, so being creative and utilizing each other to provide the all important feedback to students is what we'll need to continue to work on.
Donuts
What a great turnout for our class color day. It appeared that a huge percentage participated in this unifying effort. It turns out that I'll need to bring donuts in for each cohort based on the fact that nearly every student participated. My plan is to spread out this effort over the course of this week. The plan will be to bring in enough donuts for each grade level on each day...Monday - 5th, Tuesday, 6th, etc. If I have extras I'll try to cover as many Homerooms as possible. Kwik Trip is going to enjoy this challenge :)
No comments:
Post a Comment