Virtual Learning for Elementary School-Description by Our Principal

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This was a sample schedule for upper grades released by our principal, with a total listed as 4 hours of synchronous instruction.

10:00-11:15: Morning Meeting/LA
11:15-12:00 Science/Social Studies
LUNCH
12:30-1:30 Math instruction
BREAK
1:45-2:45 or 2:50-3:50 Specials

The assumption was that kids would do assignments after their synchronous time had completed as well.

OP, sounds like your school is choosing to do less than they could.

This is what I thought the schedule would be similar to for grades 3-6. How can OP's school plan to do so much less than the minimum requirements?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't like how little time there is in the schedule for kids to interact with each other. Among other issues.

Agree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This actually sounds about right. People who thinks it is a straight 2.5 or 3.5 hours don't know how the kids are learning in school. Most of the time is spent doing independent/center work while the teacher works with different groups on different things. HS will look different because of their schedules and kids are already split based on specific classes. But ES has always been like this in regular times when kids were in school. Independent work is considered instruction time in the school, regardless of how you feel about it. Yeah, teachers could give feedback in the "small group" days that your child gets, but that also takes time. I mean, your kid is not the only kid in the class. The teacher can go over the activities in the small group and give all student feedback, but all this does is ensure that your particular small group will be seen maybe once a week, possibly once every 2 weeks depending on how many kids are in the class.

Except the material put out by FCPS stated there would be 3.5 hours of direct instruction from a teacher for upper grades. If this was their plan, they should have not promised 2.5-3.5 hours of *direct virtual instruction*.

Agree, and agree that "direct virtual instruction" simply is not "working independently offline on google classrooms slides". It just isn't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This was a sample schedule for upper grades released by our principal, with a total listed as 4 hours of synchronous instruction.

10:00-11:15: Morning Meeting/LA
11:15-12:00 Science/Social Studies
LUNCH
12:30-1:30 Math instruction
BREAK
1:45-2:45 or 2:50-3:50 Specials

The assumption was that kids would do assignments after their synchronous time had completed as well.

OP, sounds like your school is choosing to do less than they could.

I thought one of FCPS's "lessons learned" from the spring was there had to be clear standards regarding the amount and quality of the distance learning since there were SO many complaints in the spring about schools not doing the required amount of time. Now they are just going to let the principals do their own thing again? OMG.

I listened to the school board meetings and Braband said this multiple times--that there needed to be consistentcy in time and content for virtual.

[Anonymous]

I hope the teachers hoping to teach virtually are disappointed with this schedule. Weak sauce like this is driving more families who would have chosen virtual back to hybrid.

[Anonymous]

Teachers should be advocating for wonderful, innovative virtual plans to try get more families on board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hope the teachers hoping to teach virtually are disappointed with this schedule. Weak sauce like this is driving more families who would have chosen virtual back to hybrid.

Yes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teachers should be advocating for wonderful, innovative virtual plans to try get more families on board.

Why would this matter or help when teachers don’t know who is teaching virtually? And WHY do you think teachers have any kind of say in what is going on?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the main issue with this schedule is the principal was trying to duplicate virtually what happens in an ES classroom during the day, instead of re-imagine what a virtual classroom could and should look like. Kids in the ES classroom are working in groups, moving around, doing stations, conferring with the teacher, socializing, etc. This schedule keeps the bare-bones nature of the direct instruction in the modern classroom, but just deletes all the other stuff without trying to do something new and different to replace it.

It's online school what do you expect? They just cut all the fluff out and leave what is necessary in. There's no replacing the human component for kids this young.

I expected 100% virtual school experience with 2.5 hours of direct instructional time with a teacher. Why do you think a completely bare-bones education is OK? Why not just fire all the teachers and give kids logins for ELA and math I-ready programs?

I am telling you that the schedule basically mirrors what happens in a school day with the fluff taken out. Anyone who thinks they're gonna get all these extra virtual learning hours where the teacher is lecturing for the entire time in DL is misguided. It could possibly happen at the HS level because the classes are leveled. In a GENERAL education ES classroom, there are kids of varying levels of abilities. That's why there is an emphasis on "small groups." Small groups instruction is the reason why the ES schedule looks the way it does.

So your opinion is that virtual learning should look exactly like in-classroom learning, only with all the social interaction deleted?

My opinion is that this schedule is realistic and sounds spot on. What social interaction do you want? They have morning meetings to talk about stuff. Your kid can show up to office hours and see if other kids are there to talk to them. You want them to work in groups? How is the teacher going to monitor that online when they're working with other kids?

Don't even mention break out groups because no teacher will have kids just go to a different "chat room" where they have no clue what these kids are doing or what they are talking about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers should be advocating for wonderful, innovative virtual plans to try get more families on board.

Why would this matter or help when teachers don’t know who is teaching virtually? And WHY do you think teachers have any kind of say in what is going on?

if the DL alternative was more attractive, more parents would choose it creating my need for teachers to teach it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the main issue with this schedule is the principal was trying to duplicate virtually what happens in an ES classroom during the day, instead of re-imagine what a virtual classroom could and should look like. Kids in the ES classroom are working in groups, moving around, doing stations, conferring with the teacher, socializing, etc. This schedule keeps the bare-bones nature of the direct instruction in the modern classroom, but just deletes all the other stuff without trying to do something new and different to replace it.

It's online school what do you expect? They just cut all the fluff out and leave what is necessary in. There's no replacing the human component for kids this young.

I expected 100% virtual school experience with 2.5 hours of direct instructional time with a teacher. Why do you think a completely bare-bones education is OK? Why not just fire all the teachers and give kids logins for ELA and math I-ready programs?

I am telling you that the schedule basically mirrors what happens in a school day with the fluff taken out. Anyone who thinks they're gonna get all these extra virtual learning hours where the teacher is lecturing for the entire time in DL is misguided. It could possibly happen at the HS level because the classes are leveled. In a GENERAL education ES classroom, there are kids of varying levels of abilities. That's why there is an emphasis on "small groups." Small groups instruction is the reason why the ES schedule looks the way it does.

So your opinion is that virtual learning should look exactly like in-classroom learning, only with all the social interaction deleted?

My opinion is that this schedule is realistic and sounds spot on. What social interaction do you want? They have morning meetings to talk about stuff. Your kid can show up to office hours and see if other kids are there to talk to them. You want them to work in groups? How is the teacher going to monitor that online when they're working with other kids?

Don't even mention break out groups because no teacher will have kids just go to a different "chat room" where they have no clue what these kids are doing or what they are talking about.

that's the socialization argument for hybrid in a nutshell

[Anonymous]

Office hours are for chit chat? Our teacher in the spring said the time had to be scheduled in advance in ten minute increments and to include the topic the child needed help with in our email requesting a slot. (We never did).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Office hours are for chit chat? Our teacher in the spring said the time had to be scheduled in advance in ten minute increments and to include the topic the child needed help with in our email requesting a slot. (We never did).

Same. I thought this was standard across FCPS??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Office hours are for chit chat? Our teacher in the spring said the time had to be scheduled in advance in ten minute increments and to include the topic the child needed help with in our email requesting a slot. (We never did).

Same. I thought this was standard across FCPS??

No. Our teacher used office hours to meet with reading groups.

[Anonymous]

nothing is standard across FCPS. that's why so many people are unhappy.