Virtual Learning - Why Not MCPS?

[Anonymous]

Those who are crying about virtual learning: Use IXL. All MCPS have a login for it.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Man, I know that there are some pandemic-era parents whose kids had a hard time and are kind of scarre from those days, but can y'all try to step back and be rational rather than react emotionally from a "I hated the COVID year" place? The rest of us are tired of our kids losing multiple days of education every year due to snow days and would like our kids to actually get some learning in rather than those useless last few days of school. We get it, not all kids learn well online, but you guys act like it's the end of the world .. pretty clearly some kind of trauma response, and again, I get it, but fake a breath and try to move through it.

You must be an online learner as you've failed to read this thread where it has been pointed out that:

1) Virtual learning didn't just fail during the pandemic. It also failed during summer school, which is why MCPS is dramatically scaling back on virtual summer school options this year
2) It tried to do an asynchronous learning day in the 2023-2024 school year. It went so poorly the state said MCPS cannot pivot to virtual instruction again with a robust, pressure tested, approved plan and structure to do so.

Insisting MCPS should do something, despite multiple failed attempts at doing so, just because you want them to is definitely a trauma response on your part. Or maybe it's just ignorance. I don't know. But you need to look in the mirror before you start psychoanalyzing anyone else.

Oh come on, you can't point to the asynchronous day two years ago as evidence virtual learning doesn't work. It was pretty clear it was supposed to work the same as the half-days in June, going through the motions of trying to count it as a day when it wasn't really going to be one. In our ES they just printed out a few worksheets and called it a day. Not at all comparable to teachers actually teaching regular lessons live over a computer.

Agree. And virtual learning did not fail all or most students in the summer. It failed the ones who had already failed courses and couldn’t be bothered to log on to do their credit recovery to get to graduation. Are we supposed to eliminate an entire option because our least engaged students, who are often chronic absentees for a variety of reasons, might not log on during a snow day?

Your privilege is showing. Your vacation is not more important than kids' education.

So you want us to go until the end of June because you think the kids who won’t log on to virtual will definitely show up in late June for meaningful education? My kids learned plenty during virtual. They did not learn anything during those silly June days tacked on last year, where grades were already turned in and teachers literally told kids not to come. I totally value education and I don’t have a vacation planned. I’m literally coming at this thinking more can be taught now than later.

You keep comparing some idealized notion of virtual learning against the worst possible implementation of make-up days. Add full days, and use the ones earlier in the calendar.

Yes you can live in la la land, but MCPS prefers to add half days in end June when all chance for meaningful instruction has gone. Look what they did last year.

And look at how they've done virtual. No meaningful instruction there.

If we need to push for higher expectations somewhere, I think higher expectations for in-person make-up days are much more likely to yield a productive outcome. Full days on March 20, April 15, and June 18 is the natural way to do that.

What school did your kids attend such that your kids received no meaningful instruction? My kids learned through nearly a year of online learning and learned a lot from excellent teachers. They learn more in person, but it makes no sense to deny kids an education because your kids had a bad experience or because you are a lazy teacher who rather do nothing than teach.

My first kid started in MCPS mid-year when they were doing the awful hybrid schedule. We got the chromebook from the school, but his teacher shortly later told us not to bother to even try to log in.

A couple years ago, when we had the "asynchronous" day, neither of my kids' teachers sent out anything. Not even an acknowledgment that something was supposed to happen.

So much venom towards the school that supposedly “taught your kid nothing” and has you convinced that all virtual learning is ineffective, but you won’t name the school….

[Anonymous]

Those who are crying about MCPS not offering virtual learning: Use IXL. All MCPS students have a login for it.

[Anonymous]

Howard and PG have been closed all week without offering any virtual learning either.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Man, I know that there are some pandemic-era parents whose kids had a hard time and are kind of scarre from those days, but can y'all try to step back and be rational rather than react emotionally from a "I hated the COVID year" place? The rest of us are tired of our kids losing multiple days of education every year due to snow days and would like our kids to actually get some learning in rather than those useless last few days of school. We get it, not all kids learn well online, but you guys act like it's the end of the world .. pretty clearly some kind of trauma response, and again, I get it, but fake a breath and try to move through it.

You must be an online learner as you've failed to read this thread where it has been pointed out that:

1) Virtual learning didn't just fail during the pandemic. It also failed during summer school, which is why MCPS is dramatically scaling back on virtual summer school options this year
2) It tried to do an asynchronous learning day in the 2023-2024 school year. It went so poorly the state said MCPS cannot pivot to virtual instruction again with a robust, pressure tested, approved plan and structure to do so.

Insisting MCPS should do something, despite multiple failed attempts at doing so, just because you want them to is definitely a trauma response on your part. Or maybe it's just ignorance. I don't know. But you need to look in the mirror before you start psychoanalyzing anyone else.

Oh come on, you can't point to the asynchronous day two years ago as evidence virtual learning doesn't work. It was pretty clear it was supposed to work the same as the half-days in June, going through the motions of trying to count it as a day when it wasn't really going to be one. In our ES they just printed out a few worksheets and called it a day. Not at all comparable to teachers actually teaching regular lessons live over a computer.

Agree. And virtual learning did not fail all or most students in the summer. It failed the ones who had already failed courses and couldn’t be bothered to log on to do their credit recovery to get to graduation. Are we supposed to eliminate an entire option because our least engaged students, who are often chronic absentees for a variety of reasons, might not log on during a snow day?

Your privilege is showing. Your vacation is not more important than kids' education.

So you want us to go until the end of June because you think the kids who won’t log on to virtual will definitely show up in late June for meaningful education? My kids learned plenty during virtual. They did not learn anything during those silly June days tacked on last year, where grades were already turned in and teachers literally told kids not to come. I totally value education and I don’t have a vacation planned. I’m literally coming at this thinking more can be taught now than later.

You keep comparing some idealized notion of virtual learning against the worst possible implementation of make-up days. Add full days, and use the ones earlier in the calendar.

Yes you can live in la la land, but MCPS prefers to add half days in end June when all chance for meaningful instruction has gone. Look what they did last year.

And look at how they've done virtual. No meaningful instruction there.

If we need to push for higher expectations somewhere, I think higher expectations for in-person make-up days are much more likely to yield a productive outcome. Full days on March 20, April 15, and June 18 is the natural way to do that.

What school did your kids attend such that your kids received no meaningful instruction? My kids learned through nearly a year of online learning and learned a lot from excellent teachers. They learn more in person, but it makes no sense to deny kids an education because your kids had a bad experience or because you are a lazy teacher who rather do nothing than teach.

My first kid started in MCPS mid-year when they were doing the awful hybrid schedule. We got the chromebook from the school, but his teacher shortly later told us not to bother to even try to log in.

A couple years ago, when we had the "asynchronous" day, neither of my kids' teachers sent out anything. Not even an acknowledgment that something was supposed to happen.

So much venom towards the school that supposedly “taught your kid nothing” and has you convinced that all virtual learning is ineffective, but you won’t name the school….

This cannot be true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Those who are crying about MCPS not offering virtual learning: Use IXL. All MCPS students have a login for it.

IXL isn’t a replacement for a teacher. JFC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:A few reasons:

State doesn’t allow virtual days to count as part of the minimum 180 day requirement.

Only HS students have individual chromebooks. Most MS and ES schools have Chromebooks on carts and cannot be taken home. The software is not set up for it.

Something, something equity.

It does if school districts submit a virtual learning plan in advance, but MCPS opted not to submit one for this year.

I can’t understand why they didn’t. It just does not make any sense to me that when a viable back up plan is available why it would not be utilized.

Is this a decision the superintendent, board of Education, or teachers union make?

It's not that complicated. We all know virtual doesn't work well for many students and families. And teachers don't have lesson plans for it.

News flash - teachers just minimally adapt their stuff for virtual. Especially when it is just for a few days. Heck, ChatGPT will modify your plans for you in seconds. Teachers are not recreating everything from scratch. Ask me how I know

Thanks for demonstrating why virtual lessons would be awful.

No different from in person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A few reasons:

State doesn’t allow virtual days to count as part of the minimum 180 day requirement.

Only HS students have individual chromebooks. Most MS and ES schools have Chromebooks on carts and cannot be taken home. The software is not set up for it.

Something, something equity.

It does if school districts submit a virtual learning plan in advance, but MCPS opted not to submit one for this year.

I can’t understand why they didn’t. It just does not make any sense to me that when a viable back up plan is available why it would not be utilized.

Is this a decision the superintendent, board of Education, or teachers union make?

It's not that complicated. We all know virtual doesn't work well for many students and families. And teachers don't have lesson plans for it.

News flash - teachers just minimally adapt their stuff for virtual. Especially when it is just for a few days. Heck, ChatGPT will modify your plans for you in seconds. Teachers are not recreating everything from scratch. Ask me how I know

Thanks for demonstrating why virtual lessons would be awful.

No different from in person.

"Minimally adapting" lesson plans intended for in person learning is going to lead to a really awful lesson, unless you're a lecture-heavy HS class, i.e., not most MCPS students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those who are crying about MCPS not offering virtual learning: Use IXL. All MCPS students have a login for it.

IXL isn’t a replacement for a teacher. JFC.

If virtual learning is a replacement for in-person learning, I don't see why IXL is not a reasonable substitute for virtual learning. IXL has video instructions and gives instant feedback on what students got right or wrong.

Explain your rejection of IXL while you simultaneously advocate for virtual learning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those who are crying about MCPS not offering virtual learning: Use IXL. All MCPS students have a login for it.

IXL isn’t a replacement for a teacher. JFC.

And virtual isn't a replacement for school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Man, I know that there are some pandemic-era parents whose kids had a hard time and are kind of scarre from those days, but can y'all try to step back and be rational rather than react emotionally from a "I hated the COVID year" place? The rest of us are tired of our kids losing multiple days of education every year due to snow days and would like our kids to actually get some learning in rather than those useless last few days of school. We get it, not all kids learn well online, but you guys act like it's the end of the world .. pretty clearly some kind of trauma response, and again, I get it, but fake a breath and try to move through it.

You must be an online learner as you've failed to read this thread where it has been pointed out that:

1) Virtual learning didn't just fail during the pandemic. It also failed during summer school, which is why MCPS is dramatically scaling back on virtual summer school options this year
2) It tried to do an asynchronous learning day in the 2023-2024 school year. It went so poorly the state said MCPS cannot pivot to virtual instruction again with a robust, pressure tested, approved plan and structure to do so.

Insisting MCPS should do something, despite multiple failed attempts at doing so, just because you want them to is definitely a trauma response on your part. Or maybe it's just ignorance. I don't know. But you need to look in the mirror before you start psychoanalyzing anyone else.

Oh come on, you can't point to the asynchronous day two years ago as evidence virtual learning doesn't work. It was pretty clear it was supposed to work the same as the half-days in June, going through the motions of trying to count it as a day when it wasn't really going to be one. In our ES they just printed out a few worksheets and called it a day. Not at all comparable to teachers actually teaching regular lessons live over a computer.

Agree. And virtual learning did not fail all or most students in the summer. It failed the ones who had already failed courses and couldn’t be bothered to log on to do their credit recovery to get to graduation. Are we supposed to eliminate an entire option because our least engaged students, who are often chronic absentees for a variety of reasons, might not log on during a snow day?

Your privilege is showing. Your vacation is not more important than kids' education.

So you want us to go until the end of June because you think the kids who won’t log on to virtual will definitely show up in late June for meaningful education? My kids learned plenty during virtual. They did not learn anything during those silly June days tacked on last year, where grades were already turned in and teachers literally told kids not to come. I totally value education and I don’t have a vacation planned. I’m literally coming at this thinking more can be taught now than later.

You keep comparing some idealized notion of virtual learning against the worst possible implementation of make-up days. Add full days, and use the ones earlier in the calendar.

Yes you can live in la la land, but MCPS prefers to add half days in end June when all chance for meaningful instruction has gone. Look what they did last year.

And look at how they've done virtual. No meaningful instruction there.

If we need to push for higher expectations somewhere, I think higher expectations for in-person make-up days are much more likely to yield a productive outcome. Full days on March 20, April 15, and June 18 is the natural way to do that.

What school did your kids attend such that your kids received no meaningful instruction? My kids learned through nearly a year of online learning and learned a lot from excellent teachers. They learn more in person, but it makes no sense to deny kids an education because your kids had a bad experience or because you are a lazy teacher who rather do nothing than teach.

My first kid started in MCPS mid-year when they were doing the awful hybrid schedule. We got the chromebook from the school, but his teacher shortly later told us not to bother to even try to log in.

A couple years ago, when we had the "asynchronous" day, neither of my kids' teachers sent out anything. Not even an acknowledgment that something was supposed to happen.

So much venom towards the school that supposedly “taught your kid nothing” and has you convinced that all virtual learning is ineffective, but you won’t name the school….

Thurgood Marshall, but I'm sure it is not unique to that school. I heard similar things from same-age-peer families at neighboring schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How can so many other school systems implement virtual learning when there are long-predicted prolonged absences.

Every student has a Chromebook.

Is it ideal? No.

Will there be complete equitable participation? No.

Will it prevent school from going well into the summer? Yes.

I just don’t get it.

You'll notice Taylor mentioned his "social media team" for his stupid day off video. What he didnt mention was that mcps has lacked a digital learning team. After covid and with Ai knocking at the door it shows students and learning are the lowest priority.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How can so many other school systems implement virtual learning when there are long-predicted prolonged absences.

Every student has a Chromebook.

Is it ideal? No.

Will there be complete equitable participation? No.

Will it prevent school from going well into the summer? Yes.

I just don’t get it.

It sounds like you do get it. Lots of kids wouldn't be able to meaningfully participate due to a variety of reasons. And summer vacation isn't more important than school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Alexandria City Public Schools over in VA has been virtual learning since Wednesday, will continue today and tomorrow as well. This wasn’t hard to plan, the news of the impact of this storm were everywhere. I don’t know how effective virtual learning is but at least those kids have a structure to their day and are following lesson plans. It’s inexcusable that MCPS couldn’t foresee this happening.

r

Virginia also Counts hours in school over days. Loved when they extended the school day after the ‘08 recession to have less days in school buildings as a way to save money. I was able to get an extended maternity leave

Baltimore and Anne Arundel ³also had virtual learning today and will have it tomorrow so it’s not like Maryland schools aren’t using virtual learning. They’ve used up their three snow days and automatically virtual learning kicks in due to their policy. Far less drama than “do nothing” McPS

Just 2? Out of like 24 counties .
That should tell you something.

[Anonymous]

what an embarrassment. half the counties in the state including baltimore city had plans in place for remote learning--and places like garrett and frederick counties that have far more rural areas were two hour delayed. Really, MCPS?