MCPS middle school teacher puts nothing on canvas?

[Anonymous]

My son's 7th grade foreign language teacher has posted literally nothing on Canvas. No notes, modules, schedules, or homework assignments. Only a link to a translator app. And his planner usually comes home blank. He missed a homework assignment last week because of this (and was told he could not make it up). He has no friends in the class.

My son has severe ADHD and a 504 plan; potentially relevant accommodations include: Provide assignment directions in writing as needed; Repetition of directions; Breakdown large assignments into manageable parts; Teacher check-ins for organization and supplies with planner checks.

He still needs a lot of support with planning and organization to stay on top of his school work; I'm happy to do as much of that as I can, but when there is literally nothing on canvas or in his planner, especially for a language class I do not speak, there is very little I can do to help him.

But, I recognize it's only the second week of school and I am reluctant to make a fuss yet. Is there any requirement or even guideline as to what teachers need to put on Canvas? My son has a difficult time speaking up/asking for help, so it's extremely unlikely he would approach the teacher himself. Should I ask the teacher directly about Canvas or planner checks, or go to the counselor (new to us this year so no existing relationship, or I'd have asked them already)?

(And for anyone who thinks the answer is "he *just* needs to get better about writing stuff down or remembering it" - if he could do that, he wouldn't have a disability and a 504.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son's 7th grade foreign language teacher has posted literally nothing on Canvas. No notes, modules, schedules, or homework assignments. Only a link to a translator app. And his planner usually comes home blank. He missed a homework assignment last week because of this (and was told he could not make it up). He has no friends in the class.

My son has severe ADHD and a 504 plan; potentially relevant accommodations include: Provide assignment directions in writing as needed; Repetition of directions; Breakdown large assignments into manageable parts; Teacher check-ins for organization and supplies with planner checks.

He still needs a lot of support with planning and organization to stay on top of his school work; I'm happy to do as much of that as I can, but when there is literally nothing on canvas or in his planner, especially for a language class I do not speak, there is very little I can do to help him.

But, I recognize it's only the second week of school and I am reluctant to make a fuss yet. Is there any requirement or even guideline as to what teachers need to put on Canvas? My son has a difficult time speaking up/asking for help, so it's extremely unlikely he would approach the teacher himself. Should I ask the teacher directly about Canvas or planner checks, or go to the counselor (new to us this year so no existing relationship, or I'd have asked them already)?

(And for anyone who thinks the answer is "he *just* needs to get better about writing stuff down or remembering it" - if he could do that, he wouldn't have a disability and a 504.)

I think this is going to be school-dependent. Some principals want all their teachers to use Canvas in a standardized way. Others are more laissez-faire.

[Anonymous]

Give the teacher one more week. First few weeks are extremely busy for teachers.
And then send an email to the teacher with your concerns. Also, encourage your child to start communicating directly with the teacher.
It is an important skill especially for HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Give the teacher one more week. First few weeks are extremely busy for teachers.
And then send an email to the teacher with your concerns. Also, encourage your child to start communicating directly with the teacher.
It is an important skill especially for HS.

I will do this (and have been), but I think part of my uncertainty is I don't know what HE should be asking for either. Should he be asking for planner checks? Again, this relies on his memory which is the reason he needs the planner checks to begin with. Should he ask if the teacher can out stuff on Canvas? Seems like a big request from a kid, less so from a parent, perhaps.

[Anonymous]

Don’t wait another week. Call/email the counselor now to see if he or she has had a chance to communicate the 504 plan to your son’s teachers. It’s possible the teacher wasn’t aware he is supposed to have accommodations.
Help your son draft an email to the teacher from his school email account. It’s sometimes easier for the child to ask for help in an email rather than face to face. Have him explain that he has a 504/disability and wants to figure out the best way he can stay on top of his work in this class. He might consider suggesting some ideas/ways that other teachers communicated assignments and due dates in the past that worked well for him and see if the teacher is able to choose one of those procedures as they work together.
Good luck. This does not need to be made more challenging than it already is, so I hope it’s just a miscommunication and not a teacher who is unwilling to follow his 504.

[Anonymous]

Our experience was it was teacher dependent in both MS and HS. Even during 2020-2021 school year (the all virtual year), my son had 1 HS teacher who didn't update Canvas with the daily notes, as the teacher was supposed to, per principal's weekly emails to families. DS gave us asking "When will this material be available?"

[Anonymous]

You can always email and ask them. At my child’s Little school everybody uses canvas and modules.

Maybe this teacher is using Google classroom.

[Anonymous]

14:33 is right. Engage the counselor now. They can talk to the teacher and share ideas. You will never get all the accommodations they promise from everyone, but this situation is not fair to your child and the school should be willing to help,

[Anonymous]

I think that there are a couple of things going on. Teachers had to rely heavily on Canvas during virtual instruction. Now that they are back in school, teachers may be back to paper/pencil tasks or activities that are not digital. So, Canvas may not be as useful as it was during virtual instruction. Not everything will be posted in Canvas.

So, the real issue is how is the teacher meeting the 504. I don't see how Canvas specifically addresses the accommodations. All of those accommodations could be provided 'live' or writing on a piece of paper. Yes, it would help you which would help him, but it is not to say that the teacher is not providing those accommodations.

I agree that a conversation with the teacher would be a good idea to see how best everyone can support him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:14:33 is right. Engage the counselor now. They can talk to the teacher and share ideas. You will never get all the accommodations they promise from everyone, but this situation is not fair to your child and the school should be willing to help,

You shouldn’t go to the counselor without talking to the teacher first. That is a good way to annoy the teacher

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:14:33 is right. Engage the counselor now. They can talk to the teacher and share ideas. You will never get all the accommodations they promise from everyone, but this situation is not fair to your child and the school should be willing to help,

You shouldn’t go to the counselor without talking to the teacher first. That is a good way to annoy the teacher

I’m the pp who said reach out to the counselor but I specified the purpose was to check to see if the 504 was communicated, not to complain about the teacher. I simultaneously suggested having the student reach out to the teacher to try to proactively figure out a solution. I once had a situation where a specials teacher didn’t follow something specific in my son’s 504, and when I reached out, she could not have been nicer and happened to mention she’d never been given a copy of it. This was in November! That’s when I realized you can’t assume it’s been delivered automatically.

[Anonymous]

Teachers are not required to post to Canvas now that in-person learning has resumed. This is something you need to work out with the teacher and the guidance counselor who is in charge of the 504 if access to teacher slides is something your child has a specific accommodation for. Canvas has nothing to do with accommodations. It's just a place to house learning materials if a teacher chooses to utilize Canvas for that. Otherwise, many assignments are outside of Canvas (paper, StudySync, Desmos, ect). They won't be posted there.

[Anonymous]

Too add to the previous post - you can ask the teacher to sign the planner after he writes down the assignment. And yes, he needs to write down the assignment. There is no other way when in person. If there is a para in the class (most likely no because it's an elective), then the para could help remind the student. And you can sign the planner at home so that both you and the teacher know you are on the same page with what he needs to do in class.

[Anonymous]

What did the teacher say at Back to School Night? I feel like I got a good understanding from all teachers as to what to expect.

Thing is that if the teacher does not use canvas, you may need to meet with the counselor to strategize as to accommodations if the plan was made based on an understanding that things would be on canvas. I think I’d look to the counselor on this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can always email and ask them. At my child’s Little school everybody uses canvas and modules.

Maybe this teacher is using Google classroom.

I thought MCPS no longer permitted teachers to use Google Classroom. They were rolling out Canvas in summer 2020, right? The teachers were only supposed to be on Canvas.

Is that different now that we're not in virtual learning?