Question for parents of kids NOT in FCPS...

[Anonymous]

Freshman at APS - teachers are regularly emailing and posting assignments to be completed with deadlines, quizzes. Some teachers have a scheduled conference call with the students. Ex. History is Tuesday’s and Thursday’s at 10am. Goes over lesson. Teachers have posted hours of when they can be reached to go over questions on assignments etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Freshman at APS - teachers are regularly emailing and posting assignments to be completed with deadlines, quizzes. Some teachers have a scheduled conference call with the students. Ex. History is Tuesday’s and Thursday’s at 10am. Goes over lesson. Teachers have posted hours of when they can be reached to go over questions on assignments etc.

Forgot to mention, assignments are posted on canvas and they use Zoom. They recently started doing Microsoft teams.

[Anonymous]

LCPS - Elementary, daily work posted on Google Classroom, weekly Google Meet with teacher/class - teacher office hours posted

LCPS - Middle school, work posted on Edmentum and/or Google Classroom, depending on the class - weekly Google Meet per subject with teacher/class - teacher office hours posted, available for quick email reply or Google Meet

[Anonymous]

LCPS parent - kids in grades 6, 10, and 12. It's been smooth and excellent thus far. Public school and as far as materials, they have the school-issued Chromebooks. Mine are out of the school-issued packet range.

When in-person school ceased, teachers sent out their own assignments. It could not be any new material, only review material or stuff they were already working on.

New learning began after spring break. We have both synchronous and asynchronous going on through Google Classroom. There have been no issues with crashing or any kind of learning curve because most (for my kids, all) of their teachers already used Google Classroom.

HS kids were told to expect to spend 30 mins per class doing work and more if in an AP class. That's been about what I've seen.

[Anonymous]

My kid is in a DC charter, upper elementary.

Live lessons/options are:
1 all-class "morning meeting" per week.
Daily live math lesson.
Twice weekly reading group (<5 kids/group)
15-minute individual check-in with teacher weekly

There is a daily writing, reading, math, and science or social studies (they alternate) assignment assigned/submitted via google classrooms, with videos or assigned reading or a game to go with the lesson. Friday has no new assigned work, it's a catch-up day. Teachers grade the work by Friday and kids can revisit anything they struggled with.

[Anonymous]

Catholic Elem and Middle checking in.

Platform, teachers and materials: They are using Google Classroom and teacher also sends email directing to other resources (like for art, "watch this tutorial on YouTube and then make your own thing, take a photo and send it to me tomorrow 5pm"). They also do Zoom for math and teaching that happens on the whiteboard.

They are still grading and while the school is giving a lot of leeway the kids are typically working from 9-12, middle school 9-1pm.

Are you happy with distance learning right now?
Yes. Not so much because of the content but because the kids have goals and responsibilities each day. Mine seem to take schooling more seriously when direction comes from their teachers.

I understand we are lucky in this way because a small school is much easier to manage. Also understand that private/perochial schools need to justify parents still sending checks.

[Anonymous]

PP here, editing to add the tthey are doing their full course load.

[Anonymous]

Another DCPS parent- middle school. First week was 'spring break' early- but parents working. Second week started daily core classes that are between 30 min (two classes) and 1 hour. Zoom platform with breakout groups. Variety of communication and class platforms - Remind app for informing parents and kids of work and sign in information, Zoom process changed mid way through so that kids are admitted to Zoom. Large classes. Sometimes kids just check- in and go off and work on homework. A few worksheets in math or option to move to Kahn Academy for more advanced math if worksheets to early. Also do ALEKS and First in Math. All of these they were already doing - except Zoom . Afternoons have electives with assignments. Flip grid app for foreign language assignments. Exercise logs and variety of motivation tools for PE. The kids know their grades can only improve Lots of opportunities for extra credit. Kids seem to enjoy presenting their assignments - poems done in group, etc Hard to tell if they are learning as well as they would if it was in person. Keeps them fairly occupied and engaged, but do see them sneaking computer games. Fairly satisfied and am amazed they could put this together so quickly. Disappointed it seemed to take them a long time to get laptops to kids that needed this. Know they have set up access to families with reduced/ free meals for internet. Don't know how well that is working.

[Anonymous]

DCPS, upper elementary. We are in week 5. We have printed packets to pick up from school every two weeks. If parents prefer, they can also access the materials online and print them out. The packets have day by day info (i.e. this page is Week 4, Day 3) so that you know what activities to do when. Packets also have specials activities -- for PE, we watched a 20 minute youtube yoga video, and for art this week, my kid made something with natural objects in the yard.

There's a schedule to sign up for check-ins with teachers (via Teams). Some are individual and some are groups. There's also optional additional online activities for ELA and math.

No synchronous lessons where you tune in and watch the teacher at a given time.

And as far as I can tell, no grading or review of this work.

So far so good. For us. But some things that make it easier for us -- 2 FT working parents and one child who is motivated to do schoolwork, grateful that as yet we have not seen a financial hit in our household, we have technology at home, we had the funds to supplement so we had the tech tools my kid needs. Of all of these, the thing that has made it the most stress free is simply my kid's personality -- he'll sit down each morning and get his schoolwork done while I'm on conference calls or working.

[Anonymous]

PWCS. I teach here and have two high schoolers. Teachers are using either Zoom or Microsoft Teams for online learning. Some teachers aren’t actually holding live classes but are posting recordings and assignments. No new material is being taught, it’s all review. I think the amount of work being given is rather sensible. I think the county is doing a rather good job in how they are handling it.

[Anonymous]

Anne Arundel County middle schooler.
It is a hot mess. Google classroom. No, none, zero, interaction with teachers. They post a bunch of links to YouTube videos or other discovery videos, some busy work and have one graded assignment per week. They post on Monday morning and disappear. It is absolutely awful and I am being understanding recognizing that this is new to them.

[Anonymous]

Private middle in centra VA. Usually two live Zooms a day. Projects and work to be completed outside of that. Some teachers are clearly more tech savvy than others. I'd say my kid is really doing about 3 hours of work a day, which, honestly is about right when you consider all the down time built into school...time between classes, time to get settled into classes, time teacher has to deal with discipline, lunch, study hall, etc....

[Anonymous]

Upstate New York First Grade here. We just finished the third week of new instruction. It runs on Google Classroom and the teacher posts the work each morning. The specials teachers post once a week too. It takes us about two hours a day to complete it. I have to sit with him through it to supervise. Then he does 30 minutes of Lexia (Language Arts) and 30 minutes of Dreambox (Math) a day by himself. On Fridays they have a Google Hangout chat with the teacher and class. Only about half of the class has been signing on so I worry that some kids are not connected even though I know the district has handed out Chromebooks.