Proposed Hybrid for HS and MS would be one day a week. Is it worth it?

[Anonymous]

I don’t think it would be worth, bc as one poster said, it’s all the risk of exposure, for very limited class time.

I read somewhere that with distance learning this year the focus would be on math, science, history and ELA. Perhaps foreign language, I forget.

I really like the idea of reducing the number of courses, for example one month of math, then one month of ELA, or maybe six eeeks of science/math, six weeks of ELA/social studies.

Why not seize the opportunity to change it up a bit, do learning/teaching in a way that’s tailored to the distance learning experience?

Fewer subjects for students to track, fewer on-line platforms to master. Maybe even some satisfaction from doing a deep dive? My DC is doing mathnasium this summer, and is exclaiming “Wow, I’m really good at math”....because DC has nothing else to do, so wants to focus, so is able to focus...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Until we know what the model will be for delivering Distance Learning, it is hard to make assumptions for what will or will not be the days on site.

But the specific language that was selected in communication the model for middle school and high school was that it would not be core instruction.

Let's pretend we are using Deal Middle School as an example.

100 kids in each grade select 100% DL
100 kids in each grade are in each group, A, B, C, D

On A Day, 300 students are in the building, 100 for each grade. Per DC guidelines, you need to break them into 10 groups so you are under the threshold for students per setting. But you do not need to have 7 periods.

Maybe A Day = Students enrolled in French
B Day = Chinese +no foreign language
C = 1/2 of the Spanish Students
D = other 1/2 of Spanish Students

And possibly have in person language class?

A check in for a cohort advisor to support students not falling behind and teaching executive functioning planning skills

An in person class to support art or music or PE

Ok, so when these students (25%) are at Deal each day, who is teaching the rotating 75% who are home each day?

Also, how does this work with kids also being in different math classes (math 8, algebra, geometry and algebra 2)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Until we know what the model will be for delivering Distance Learning, it is hard to make assumptions for what will or will not be the days on site.

But the specific language that was selected in communication the model for middle school and high school was that it would not be core instruction.

Let's pretend we are using Deal Middle School as an example.

100 kids in each grade select 100% DL
100 kids in each grade are in each group, A, B, C, D

On A Day, 300 students are in the building, 100 for each grade. Per DC guidelines, you need to break them into 10 groups so you are under the threshold for students per setting. But you do not need to have 7 periods.

Maybe A Day = Students enrolled in French
B Day = Chinese +no foreign language
C = 1/2 of the Spanish Students
D = other 1/2 of Spanish Students

And possibly have in person language class?

A check in for a cohort advisor to support students not falling behind and teaching executive functioning planning skills

An in person class to support art or music or PE

Ok, so when these students (25%) are at Deal each day, who is teaching the rotating 75% who are home each day?

Also, how does this work with kids also being in different math classes (math 8, algebra, geometry and algebra 2)?

I think Deal would have to have teams based on language. For example, all kids in Cochabamba take Spanish, and Kampala kids take French, etc... This would open up scheduling for math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Until we know what the model will be for delivering Distance Learning, it is hard to make assumptions for what will or will not be the days on site.

But the specific language that was selected in communication the model for middle school and high school was that it would not be core instruction.

Let's pretend we are using Deal Middle School as an example.

100 kids in each grade select 100% DL
100 kids in each grade are in each group, A, B, C, D

On A Day, 300 students are in the building, 100 for each grade. Per DC guidelines, you need to break them into 10 groups so you are under the threshold for students per setting. But you do not need to have 7 periods.

Maybe A Day = Students enrolled in French
B Day = Chinese +no foreign language
C = 1/2 of the Spanish Students
D = other 1/2 of Spanish Students

And possibly have in person language class?

A check in for a cohort advisor to support students not falling behind and teaching executive functioning planning skills

An in person class to support art or music or PE

But if all the kids taking Chinese are in the building, then how are you going to get ratios low enough in the classroom to meet the distancing requirements?

I assume that Deal doesn't have a ton of Chinese teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Until we know what the model will be for delivering Distance Learning, it is hard to make assumptions for what will or will not be the days on site.

But the specific language that was selected in communication the model for middle school and high school was that it would not be core instruction.

Let's pretend we are using Deal Middle School as an example.

100 kids in each grade select 100% DL
100 kids in each grade are in each group, A, B, C, D

On A Day, 300 students are in the building, 100 for each grade. Per DC guidelines, you need to break them into 10 groups so you are under the threshold for students per setting. But you do not need to have 7 periods.

Maybe A Day = Students enrolled in French
B Day = Chinese +no foreign language
C = 1/2 of the Spanish Students
D = other 1/2 of Spanish Students

And possibly have in person language class?

A check in for a cohort advisor to support students not falling behind and teaching executive functioning planning skills

An in person class to support art or music or PE

But if all the kids taking Chinese are in the building, then how are you going to get ratios low enough in the classroom to meet the distancing requirements?

I assume that Deal doesn't have a ton of Chinese teachers.

If all the Chinese students were on the same team, they’d be split across 4 days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Until we know what the model will be for delivering Distance Learning, it is hard to make assumptions for what will or will not be the days on site.

But the specific language that was selected in communication the model for middle school and high school was that it would not be core instruction.

Let's pretend we are using Deal Middle School as an example.

100 kids in each grade select 100% DL
100 kids in each grade are in each group, A, B, C, D

On A Day, 300 students are in the building, 100 for each grade. Per DC guidelines, you need to break them into 10 groups so you are under the threshold for students per setting. But you do not need to have 7 periods.

Maybe A Day = Students enrolled in French
B Day = Chinese +no foreign language
C = 1/2 of the Spanish Students
D = other 1/2 of Spanish Students

And possibly have in person language class?

A check in for a cohort advisor to support students not falling behind and teaching executive functioning planning skills

An in person class to support art or music or PE

But if all the kids taking Chinese are in the building, then how are you going to get ratios low enough in the classroom to meet the distancing requirements?

I assume that Deal doesn't have a ton of Chinese teachers.

If all the Chinese students were on the same team, they’d be split across 4 days.

The PP proposed having all the Chinese students assigned to B day. Doesn't that imply that they aren't split?

[Anonymous]

Each language will need to be split across all days so they can be put on the same team.

The question remains though: what do the 75% of kids do at home on the 3 out 4 days that they are not at school?

Can someone please address this issue?

[Anonymous]

Given the rising numbers, I bet DCPS is fully remote this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Each language will need to be split across all days so they can be put on the same team.

The question remains though: what do the 75% of kids do at home on the 3 out 4 days that they are not at school?

Can someone please address this issue?

Who knows? I wish I did so I could lesson plan. We certainly haven’t been told.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Each language will need to be split across all days so they can be put on the same team.

The question remains though: what do the 75% of kids do at home on the 3 out 4 days that they are not at school?

Can someone please address this issue?

Who knows? I wish I did so I could lesson plan. We certainly haven’t been told.

This is why MS and HS at the very least will be DL in the fall. The planning that would need to go into students being taught simultaneously by a teacher at home and in school is astronomical. And the easiest method would be just have worksheets when not at school, which is not helpful for learning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One day a week is better than none. Labs, presentations, q&a - much better in person.

yes, but if you're doing this with 25% of the class on each of the 4 days, what is the other 75% of the class doing on each of these days???
Who is teaching them at home?
Are they just doing homework?

Yeah, that's my question too. I would prefer five days of in-person school, of course, but ... if it's ONE day of in-person school with no social stuff (no recess, lunch in the classroom, no after school activities) plus four days of working on homework/tests/whatever, then I'd rather have five days where they're actually SEEING their teachers and interacting with them. Maybe it makes sense for high school - as the parent of a middle-schooler, I felt that language learning and science class were probably the least suited to distance learning, but they aren't really doing big time lab work in 6th-7th grade. (though they were doing some fun experiments! I'm trying to supplement that a little bit at home with some science kits and lots and lots of NOVA but it isn't the same of course.)

High school and middle school don't have recess. And of course they will be social kids talk to each other in class and at lunch.
One day keep everyone accountable to do the work on the other days. Any amount of actual face time, checking in, time for in person questions, labs, hands on projects is important. Of course the school needs to completely change the scope of the school and prioritize what schools need to be teaching on the in person day and the online days .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One day a week is better than none. Labs, presentations, q&a - much better in person.

yes, but if you're doing this with 25% of the class on each of the 4 days, what is the other 75% of the class doing on each of these days???
Who is teaching them at home?
Are they just doing homework?

Yeah, that's my question too. I would prefer five days of in-person school, of course, but ... if it's ONE day of in-person school with no social stuff (no recess, lunch in the classroom, no after school activities) plus four days of working on homework/tests/whatever, then I'd rather have five days where they're actually SEEING their teachers and interacting with them. Maybe it makes sense for high school - as the parent of a middle-schooler, I felt that language learning and science class were probably the least suited to distance learning, but they aren't really doing big time lab work in 6th-7th grade. (though they were doing some fun experiments! I'm trying to supplement that a little bit at home with some science kits and lots and lots of NOVA but it isn't the same of course.)

Deal kids traditionally do get recess.
High school and middle school don't have recess. And of course they will be social kids talk to each other in class and at lunch.
One day keep everyone accountable to do the work on the other days. Any amount of actual face time, checking in, time for in person questions, labs, hands on projects is important. Of course the school needs to completely change the scope of the school and prioritize what schools need to be teaching on the in person day and the online days .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One day a week is better than none. Labs, presentations, q&a - much better in person.

yes, but if you're doing this with 25% of the class on each of the 4 days, what is the other 75% of the class doing on each of these days???
Who is teaching them at home?
Are they just doing homework?

Yeah, that's my question too. I would prefer five days of in-person school, of course, but ... if it's ONE day of in-person school with no social stuff (no recess, lunch in the classroom, no after school activities) plus four days of working on homework/tests/whatever, then I'd rather have five days where they're actually SEEING their teachers and interacting with them. Maybe it makes sense for high school - as the parent of a middle-schooler, I felt that language learning and science class were probably the least suited to distance learning, but they aren't really doing big time lab work in 6th-7th grade. (though they were doing some fun experiments! I'm trying to supplement that a little bit at home with some science kits and lots and lots of NOVA but it isn't the same of course.)

Deal kids traditionally do get recess.
High school and middle school don't have recess. And of course they will be social kids talk to each other in class and at lunch.
One day keep everyone accountable to do the work on the other days. Any amount of actual face time, checking in, time for in person questions, labs, hands on projects is important. Of course the school needs to completely change the scope of the school and prioritize what schools need to be teaching on the in person day and the online days .

Deal kids traditionally do get recess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One day a week is better than none. Labs, presentations, q&a - much better in person.

yes, but if you're doing this with 25% of the class on each of the 4 days, what is the other 75% of the class doing on each of these days???
Who is teaching them at home?
Are they just doing homework?

Yeah, that's my question too. I would prefer five days of in-person school, of course, but ... if it's ONE day of in-person school with no social stuff (no recess, lunch in the classroom, no after school activities) plus four days of working on homework/tests/whatever, then I'd rather have five days where they're actually SEEING their teachers and interacting with them. Maybe it makes sense for high school - as the parent of a middle-schooler, I felt that language learning and science class were probably the least suited to distance learning, but they aren't really doing big time lab work in 6th-7th grade. (though they were doing some fun experiments! I'm trying to supplement that a little bit at home with some science kits and lots and lots of NOVA but it isn't the same of course.)

High school and middle school don't have recess. And of course they will be social kids talk to each other in class and at lunch.
One day keep everyone accountable to do the work on the other days. Any amount of actual face time, checking in, time for in person questions, labs, hands on projects is important. Of course the school needs to completely change the scope of the school and prioritize what schools need to be teaching on the in person day and the online days .

So kids will see their math teachers (for example) one day per week an then teach themselves math the rest of the time using Khan?
My kid did this last spring from March 13th on for Algebra in 7th grade but I really don't look forward to an entire year of Geometry learned by Khan. My kid loves Math but the 4th quarter of Algebra was basically self-taught. We did a lot of instruction at home as my husband is great at math.
I can't see this working for kids who don't have a mathe-brained parent at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One day a week is better than none. Labs, presentations, q&a - much better in person.

yes, but if you're doing this with 25% of the class on each of the 4 days, what is the other 75% of the class doing on each of these days???
Who is teaching them at home?
Are they just doing homework?

Yeah, that's my question too. I would prefer five days of in-person school, of course, but ... if it's ONE day of in-person school with no social stuff (no recess, lunch in the classroom, no after school activities) plus four days of working on homework/tests/whatever, then I'd rather have five days where they're actually SEEING their teachers and interacting with them. Maybe it makes sense for high school - as the parent of a middle-schooler, I felt that language learning and science class were probably the least suited to distance learning, but they aren't really doing big time lab work in 6th-7th grade. (though they were doing some fun experiments! I'm trying to supplement that a little bit at home with some science kits and lots and lots of NOVA but it isn't the same of course.)

High school and middle school don't have recess. And of course they will be social kids talk to each other in class and at lunch.
One day keep everyone accountable to do the work on the other days. Any amount of actual face time, checking in, time for in person questions, labs, hands on projects is important. Of course the school needs to completely change the scope of the school and prioritize what schools need to be teaching on the in person day and the online days .

So kids will see their math teachers (for example) one day per week an then teach themselves math the rest of the time using Khan?
My kid did this last spring from March 13th on for Algebra in 7th grade but I really don't look forward to an entire year of Geometry learned by Khan. My kid loves Math but the 4th quarter of Algebra was basically self-taught. We did a lot of instruction at home as my husband is great at math.
I can't see this working for kids who don't have a mathe-brained parent at home.

This is why hybrid won’t work. How will kids only get instruction one day a week and then teach themselves biology, us history, AP Physics, etc.? Some of those courses are really difficult, some of those courses really benefit from discussions , not just readings or videos.