How is first day going for DCPS kids?

Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Ours is going horribly. My child still does not have classes in Canvas. The school has been extremely unhelpful. I'm about to switch her school. She is in 6th grade. Crying today because she can't attend classes.


Very sorry to hear that she's having such a rough go. Would you be willing to share the school? There may be other parents considering switching an it would stink to have made that switch only to learn the grass is not only not greener, but in much worse shape.
Anonymous
Teachers can’t turn off the chat. Part of the impact rubric gauges student engagement by if the kids are using the chat.
Anonymous
Can somebody give me one good reason why we should sign in for morning meeting tmrw?
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Teachers can’t turn off the chat. Part of the impact rubric gauges student engagement by if the kids are using the chat.


A coworker figured out how to turn it off, but the hoops you have to jump through to do it are ridiculous. And the breakout group situation is terrible in Teams. Again, there’s a work around but it’s a ridiculous method to just get kids in groups. Teams is not good for live class.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:11:32 here and I'd say for grades 4 and under should have in person instruction while others do DL.


+1000

We have 3 kids in grades K-2 and it is terrible. The teachers are amazing but at this age (or at least our kids), someone needs to be nearby and assisting all the time (teachers are constantly calling on the parents to help more and unmute their kids in K). And trying to keep 3 kids on their different schedules is a lot. I have no idea how we are supposed to be able to work. It is what it is but so far is as challenging as I had imagined!


+ 10,000 It is not sustainable. I give this six weeks max before it completely unravels. I think parents are just going to stop logging in for 2nd and under more and more for most kids because it’s going to be way more trouble than it’s worth.

Also, not really helped by the fact that science doesn’t support the dangers of in person learning in this cohort but it does support the absolute risks from disrupting education and development long term.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Can somebody give me one good reason why we should sign in for morning meeting tmrw?


I probably will tomorrow, because it is still about building class community. A couple weeks from now - no way!
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Can somebody give me one good reason why we should sign in for morning meeting tmrw?


I probably will tomorrow, because it is still about building class community. A couple weeks from now - no way!


But what's the point? There is no class community. People have grouped up and left others in the lurch. The classes are brand new so we've never met half of them. It's just an early morning wake up with absolutely nothing to follow up. There is zero benefit. Why not let them sleep in and actually get some work done?
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Missed the first 15 minutes of the day because no one told us (or a lot of others in my kid's class) that you had to re-sign in to Teams to join a meeting. They just said to click on the link out of Canvas and you're in, so we sat there waiting to get let in to the meeting until another parent figured it out.

The teacher also didn't turn off the chat function so half the class (4th grade, WOTP school) clearly was tuning her out and just chatting amongst themselves.


Teachers can't turn off the chat, unfortunately, but supposedly DCPS is going to disable it for all students next week.


The chat can be turned off in Teams.


It can be turned off in the Teams, but it cannot be turned off during the live meetings. Or at least none of the teachers at my DCPS school know how to turn it off, and I have talked to colleagues at other schools who can't turn it off, and when I google it says it can only be turned off by admin. But I would truly love to be wrong about this, so if you have a way to turn off the chat during meetings please post it here!


The “chat” is different from “conversations”. DCPS turned off chat for kids, but it’s a setting in the individual teams whether to allow users to “post messages” to a “channel” which includes what most people call chat during the meeting. In the Team you will see a section called ”General” and maybe others if the teacher has created it. Each channel has “message” settings. I turn it off for my General channel until class starts. I forgot to turn it on and then was asking kids to use it and they said they couldn’t so I know it works! We are absolutely encouraged to use the “conversation” feature (yes this looks like chat but I’m using steams terminology here!) and I actually find it helpful. After a lesson on posting appropriately about half my kids used it correctly. I imagine it will get better.

If your teacher says they can’t let them know it’s in “Manage Channel” not “Manage Team.”
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:We had a pretty good day overall. To be fair, my expectations were very low to start. My 4th grader had a great day - her teachers are very engaging and she was pretty independent. We wrote down her schedule and she set a timer for her breaks. My 2nd grader had an ok day. He was a little bored, but it's a lot of getting to know Canvas/apps/etc. He had a lot of breaks which were helpful to get him moving outside. So, it was still pretty hands on for me, but I think that's to be expected for his grade.

We did set them up with their own school space - the 4th grader is at a desk in her room and we have a table set up in the basement with a parent nearby for the 2nd grader. I think that helped them focus better and get less distracted.


I honestly don't mean this as a snarky question, but do have a job? Is the nearby parent doing their own work while supervising the 2nd grader? I'm genuinely curious how this works.
Anonymous
Observations from Days 1 and 2. This is for 3rd Grade.

Our Charter did no fewer than 4 meetings in the 2 weeks leading up the start of school (some with the administration, some with the classroom teachers) to set expectations, explain how they intended things to work and to solicit feedback. One of the things the school did was announce that the first 2 weeks of school were not going to dive headlong into education topics and that instead they would spend 2 weeks working on building an online community, doing deep dives into the technology at play, tech tips (e.g., how to bookmark pages, how to use Clever, Google Classroom, email and other 3rd party resources.) When I first saw the plan I was a bit annoyed that they planned to waste 2 whole weeks; I was so very wrong and they were right. Because they are building the technological building blocks the kids are being set up to be independent with respect to technological hurdles. Their "homework" this week is about learning the technology that will underpin future learning. Some of the "work" this week involved how to set up a successful workstation, and one of the assignments was to take a picture of their dedicated learning station and send it to the teacher by email. This was a creative way for the teachers to get a better understanding of kids that might not be getting ideal levels of support at home and allow for early intervention. Much like last spring, they are not playing around. Cameras on, kids focused on the teacher, muted microphones unless they are speaking, etc. We get emails every Sunday night with the plan for the week, a summary email every day with what was assigned through Google classroom, and we have a QR code to be able to log into their accounts to see what was assigned, completed, returned with comments, etc. This allows me to passively monitor the progress of the day and (for instance) ask the kid why I can see 3 unread emails from the teacher when they think they are done for the day. And when the kid comes into my office to ask a question, I can open up their school experience on my system, quickly address and send them away.

I'm confident that this approach will yield a level of independence that will allow spouse and me to work while kid does school. This past spring most of my parental intervention was desktop support and technology confusion. I think this will eliminate a lot of that effort.

I was really happy with my charter school before this year. Now I'm just madly in love.

P.S. Nothing is perfect. There will be hurdles. But this school is so very nimble and responsive that I have every confidence that they will adapt as needed and support the teachers and families as best they can.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Awful. My 3rd grader cannot and will not sit still in front of a screen. Refuses to stay focused. Too many distractions - chat windows, etc.

I’m about ready to cry. Sigh.


WADR, your kid is in 3rd grade. Your expectations for acceptable behavior, engagement and attention are below grade level. Maybe time to look in the mirror just a bit?

Signed,
Parent of 3rd grader who would NOT suffer that behavoir


PP,
Your behavior is that off an asshole. Maybe it's time to reflect on why you need to be so nasty?

Signed,
New poster who knows how to spell behavior.


+1 what an awful post. Your superiority complex is showing, PPP.
Anonymous
My 3rd grader is pretty bored..and does not want to do it. Says it's too long; and this is just week 1. He keeps switching to video games/ youtube....or sends chats to the other kids. Not sure how he will do 8:30am-3:00pm...
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:My 3rd grader is pretty bored..and does not want to do it. Says it's too long; and this is just week 1. He keeps switching to video games/ youtube....or sends chats to the other kids. Not sure how he will do 8:30am-3:00pm...


And you let this happen? I'm the PPPP who everyone said was mean when I accused parents of not setting/enforcing exceptions and trying to be their kids friends. Read the passive voice in this post about the choices they are permitting this 8 year old to make and tell me this isn't partly a parenting issue.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My 3rd grader is pretty bored..and does not want to do it. Says it's too long; and this is just week 1. He keeps switching to video games/ youtube....or sends chats to the other kids. Not sure how he will do 8:30am-3:00pm...


And you let this happen? I'm the PPPP who everyone said was mean when I accused parents of not setting/enforcing exceptions and trying to be their kids friends. Read the passive voice in this post about the choices they are permitting this 8 year old to make and tell me this isn't partly a parenting issue.


You are ridiculous if you think a patent should be blamed for a kid not having enough executive function to sit through virtual boredom when escape is only a click away. Many kids this age can manage it; some can’t.

Clearly, Ms. Judgmental does not have an ADHD child.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My 3rd grader is pretty bored..and does not want to do it. Says it's too long; and this is just week 1. He keeps switching to video games/ youtube....or sends chats to the other kids. Not sure how he will do 8:30am-3:00pm...


And you let this happen? I'm the PPPP who everyone said was mean when I accused parents of not setting/enforcing exceptions and trying to be their kids friends. Read the passive voice in this post about the choices they are permitting this 8 year old to make and tell me this isn't partly a parenting issue.


You are ridiculous if you think a patent should be blamed for a kid not having enough executive function to sit through virtual boredom when escape is only a click away. Many kids this age can manage it; some can’t.

Clearly, Ms. Judgmental does not have an ADHD child.


NP. I have a kid with moderate to severe combined ADHD. I find it totally valid to blame a parent for letting a child miss school and run amok. I have not had issues getting my child to sit for every and all lessons, even though to be sure he is fidgety during most and sometimes not the happiest camper to be doing it.
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