DC teachers - how are you feeling about DL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Since it’s not a reality yet, no, there has not been support from a DCPS. We may all believe we’ll be DL but that doesn’t make it true yet.

That being said, I haven’t done anything meaningful to get ready. I’ve given a lot of thought to some things I would like to do and how I would ideally like to support parents and families. DCPS is pushing the use of Canvas (requiring, really) and I’ve explored a little some features and how to make it fun for kids. I always send my kids post cards over the summer and will do the same in the next week or so. Probably do an online meet the teacher event and offer online “home visits” since I found talking with families before school super helpful. One bonus is we don’t take notes during home visits and I forget so much after so many. On a video call it will be less awkward. I’m not worried about parents watching me and judging me. I invite feedback but rarely get it, not because parents aren’t involved but because they really trust the teachers at my school.

Honestly my biggest concern for teaching DL is I live in a small apartment and my seating options caused me significant back pain in the spring. My husband insists if we do DL that I get an actual office chair but we have no space for it other than using it as a kitchen table chair, and even then it’s in the middle of our tiny apartment. Overall I would feel very relieved health wise to be home, but also terribly sad that I couldn’t set up my classroom and meet my kiddos for real. And I always HATE the anxiety of the first day of school.

Not the important part of your post, but we have a huge office chair at our dining table because our condo’s too small for a desk space. Yes, it is a little ugly. But it’s 100% worth it for comfort reasons. Everyone wants to sit there, even for smaller tasks like mealtime or hobbies. Please, PP, do the thing that makes your body happy even if it’s not the home decorating ideal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a Deal teacher with more than a decade of experience.

I do not know how often I will have synchronous vs asynchronous classes. I do not know how many assignments students will have to submit a week. I do not know how attendance will work. I do not know how grading will be done (will we have 300% again?). I do not know what system we will be using (canvas or teams or both?). I do not know whether kids will have access to see their completed work. They didn't in the spring. I do not know how I will give them feedback on their work. Until I know these things I cannot possibly lesson plan.

Overall, I'm not good.

They explained in June training that attendance for online learning will be taken through Canvas. Once someone logs into a student’s Canvas account it syncs with aspen to record attendance. I’m personally hoping we get more guidance on how to count participation because I imagine a lot of parents logging in to get their child credit for attendance but doing nothing.

Is canvas going to replace Microsoft teams?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a Deal teacher with more than a decade of experience.

I do not know how often I will have synchronous vs asynchronous classes. I do not know how many assignments students will have to submit a week. I do not know how attendance will work. I do not know how grading will be done (will we have 300% again?). I do not know what system we will be using (canvas or teams or both?). I do not know whether kids will have access to see their completed work. They didn't in the spring. I do not know how I will give them feedback on their work. Until I know these things I cannot possibly lesson plan.

Overall, I'm not good.

They explained in June training that attendance for online learning will be taken through Canvas. Once someone logs into a student’s Canvas account it syncs with aspen to record attendance. I’m personally hoping we get more guidance on how to count participation because I imagine a lot of parents logging in to get their child credit for attendance but doing nothing.

Is canvas going to replace Microsoft teams?

Not replace (live meetings will still happen on Teams), but the assignments will live on Canvas from what I've gathered.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a Deal teacher with more than a decade of experience.

I do not know how often I will have synchronous vs asynchronous classes. I do not know how many assignments students will have to submit a week. I do not know how attendance will work. I do not know how grading will be done (will we have 300% again?). I do not know what system we will be using (canvas or teams or both?). I do not know whether kids will have access to see their completed work. They didn't in the spring. I do not know how I will give them feedback on their work. Until I know these things I cannot possibly lesson plan.

Overall, I'm not good.

They explained in June training that attendance for online learning will be taken through Canvas. Once someone logs into a student’s Canvas account it syncs with aspen to record attendance. I’m personally hoping we get more guidance on how to count participation because I imagine a lot of parents logging in to get their child credit for attendance but doing nothing.

Is canvas going to replace Microsoft teams?

Not replace (live meetings will still happen on Teams), but the assignments will live on Canvas from what I've gathered.

Canvas is a platform to organize information. Think about it as a teacher’s website. Kids log in and can access work, videos, lessons, assignments, message teachers, and click links to open Teams videos for live lessons. You may see more integration with Office into Canvas depending on the teacher’s comfort level with some of the more advanced tools we have access to.

Kids actually already have Canvas accounts so you can log in and see what (if anything) is already there to explore. Login through Clever using regular login info.

[Anonymous]

Art teacher in an elementary here. In don’t even know if I’ll be teaching art.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Art teacher in an elementary here. In don’t even know if I’ll be teaching art.

I know the art teacher at our JLKM sure didn't last spring! I hope the specials teachers try a little harder this year. Felt like they just checked out when we went DL in March.