Recording all Zoom classes

[Anonymous]

I’m not the PP, but I’m a school counselor and can share some reasons. I’m not asking anyone to “approve” of these reasons, just sharing reality for some families.

Child home alone because parent working (and no child care) and child needs more assistance than others to get on (that too could be for many reasons)

Multiple family members in tiny space sharing only a few devices or overtaxing their WiFi

Child has to take care of even younger sibling while parent is working

Teen is working because parent lost job because of Covid and will drop out if they can’t get the classes at off times, because they have to help support their family because...Covid has wreaked havoc on the family’s finances

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It doesn’t bother me at all. Kids who can’t make it need access to the class. -Parent of 3rd grader

Why can't they make it? Did they miss the bus

Are you dense? Do you not understand that all kids don’t have parents there to help them? You really think an ES kid can navigate this on his or her own? Or that MS and HS kids all have the executive functioning skills to do it? Do you not understand that there are people with family circumstances different from yours or mine?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If classes aren't recorded, what happens with children who are unable to attend a given class at a given time?

I assume it would be like missing a day of school- he/she would make up the work at a later time or just have to catch up the next day

Actually, the point was: what about children are often unable, or never able, to attend that class at that time?

I know this will be many of my students. There is no time in our schedule to record lessons to post for these students. It’s too bad they can’t just record the main screen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If classes aren't recorded, what happens with children who are unable to attend a given class at a given time?

I assume it would be like missing a day of school- he/she would make up the work at a later time or just have to catch up the next day

Actually, the point was: what about children are often unable, or never able, to attend that class at that time?

They get free wifi and their own free chromebooks. There is no excuse except for sickness why a child can not make it to class.

PP, use your imagination a little bit more, please. There are many reasons why a child would not be able to make it to a class.

Not the PP, but please enlighten us? I just don't see how they can not.

I am waiting on this too. wifi and chromebooks are provided. Where are these kids that they can not log on

[Anonymous]

Hit submit too soon. I teach first graders and in the spring, many of them went to work with their parents or their grandparents watched them. They were t tech savvy so they had no idea how to join live lessons. Many of them don’t speak or read English or Spanish which was a huge obstacle.

[Anonymous]

Not every kid is going to be able to join classes on a regular basis. Parents have to work, and school work is going to happen whenever it is possible with schedules.

It seems like the obvious solution would be to just record the teacher and his/her screen without the students' videos. It's not that hard to set up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m not the PP, but I’m a school counselor and can share some reasons. I’m not asking anyone to “approve” of these reasons, just sharing reality for some families.

Child home alone because parent working (and no child care) and child needs more assistance than others to get on (that too could be for many reasons)

Multiple family members in tiny space sharing only a few devices or overtaxing their WiFi

Child has to take care of even younger sibling while parent is working

Teen is working because parent lost job because of Covid and will drop out if they can’t get the classes at off times, because they have to help support their family because...Covid has wreaked havoc on the family’s finances

Every student gets a chromebooks and a mifi and comcast offers free wifi

How would a mom that had to work take care of her younger child if the older student was IN school? And if the child is K and above, they will be in classes on their own equipment too. My 1st grader had no issues logging on, on her own last Spring.

Any teen that needs a job can work the same hours they do IF they went to school. After 3pm.


We need to stop acting like virtual learning is an option. It isn't. If the kids were in school, there would be no difference in work time, childcare, etc...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not every kid is going to be able to join classes on a regular basis. Parents have to work, and school work is going to happen whenever it is possible with schedules.

It seems like the obvious solution would be to just record the teacher and his/her screen without the students' videos. It's not that hard to set up.

So basically Khan Academy. Stare at a screen and self learn? No interactive classes.

Sorry, if you allow kids to not join, they won't. Especially the older kids. This is a recipe for disaster. There has to be accountability, just like school days and absenteeisms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not every kid is going to be able to join classes on a regular basis. Parents have to work, and school work is going to happen whenever it is possible with schedules.

It seems like the obvious solution would be to just record the teacher and his/her screen without the students' videos. It's not that hard to set up.

So basically Khan Academy. Stare at a screen and self learn? No interactive classes.

Sorry, if you allow kids to not join, they won't. Especially the older kids. This is a recipe for disaster. There has to be accountability, just like school days and absenteeisms.

I agree. There has to be accountability for absenteeisms, especially for older ES (4th, 5th) and middle and high schoolers. They should be able to log on by themselves.

Internet glitch or not being able to log on may be a one off issue, but its not like every day you will be having internet glitches and log on issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not every kid is going to be able to join classes on a regular basis. Parents have to work, and school work is going to happen whenever it is possible with schedules.

It seems like the obvious solution would be to just record the teacher and his/her screen without the students' videos. It's not that hard to set up.

So the majority of the students do not get live interactive classes with raising hands, reading texts of books, playing kahoot games, etc... because a minority of kids will choose to possibly log on and maybe want to watch a pre-recorded boring video? So that means ALL of the kids have to watch the pre-recorded or live non-interactive class?

Sorry, but MCPS and Maryland should be doing what Florida is doing. They all have 3 options.

In person
Live interactive classes within your district
Florida recorded school for the state

My BIL is an ES teacher down there and says it is working well. About 37% are back in person, 45% are doing district live classes, and 10% are doing Florida recorded school, and 8% homeschooling. That is just in his school.

MCPS is giving one option. ONE

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not every kid is going to be able to join classes on a regular basis. Parents have to work, and school work is going to happen whenever it is possible with schedules.

It seems like the obvious solution would be to just record the teacher and his/her screen without the students' videos. It's not that hard to set up.

So the majority of the students do not get live interactive classes with raising hands, reading texts of books, playing kahoot games, etc... because a minority of kids will choose to possibly log on and maybe want to watch a pre-recorded boring video? So that means ALL of the kids have to watch the pre-recorded or live non-interactive class?

Sorry, but MCPS and Maryland should be doing what Florida is doing. They all have 3 options.

In person
Live interactive classes within your district
Florida recorded school for the state

My BIL is an ES teacher down there and says it is working well. About 37% are back in person, 45% are doing district live classes, and 10% are doing Florida recorded school, and 8% homeschooling. That is just in his school.

MCPS is giving one option. ONE

How does that work - the district live classes? Do they use zoom and how many kids are in a class?

[Anonymous]

Not necessarily. My friend teaches in FL and is very stressed out and it’s only been two weeks. Having to teach kids online while teaching in person is a mess. She gets emails and texts all day long from complaining parents (mostly parents at home) who say she

1) isn’t calling on their kid enough
2) isn’t interesting enough to keep her kid’s attention
3) isn’t doing any group/partner work (her district won’t allow kids online to go into breakout rooms)
4) isn’t mailing home packets of work for when the parents decide to take the kid out of online sessions for a long weekend
5) isn’t solving home tech problems on the spot
6) isn’t “choosing” interesting enough books for ELA instruction (the district chooses them, not the teacher)


The list is endless and this isn’t just one parent. She is ready to quit. Her DH talked her down but she doesn’t know how much longer she can take it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not every kid is going to be able to join classes on a regular basis. Parents have to work, and school work is going to happen whenever it is possible with schedules.

It seems like the obvious solution would be to just record the teacher and his/her screen without the students' videos. It's not that hard to set up.

So the majority of the students do not get live interactive classes with raising hands, reading texts of books, playing kahoot games, etc... because a minority of kids will choose to possibly log on and maybe want to watch a pre-recorded boring video? So that means ALL of the kids have to watch the pre-recorded or live non-interactive class?

Sorry, but MCPS and Maryland should be doing what Florida is doing. They all have 3 options.

In person
Live interactive classes within your district
Florida recorded school for the state

My BIL is an ES teacher down there and says it is working well. About 37% are back in person, 45% are doing district live classes, and 10% are doing Florida recorded school, and 8% homeschooling. That is just in his school.

MCPS is giving one option. ONE

When did I say only recorded? I just said the teacher can record their video/audio without including the videos from the kids that are connected live.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hope classes are recorded, with an option of attending later in the day. I plan to use that feature extensively.

I have zero interest in 9-3 screen time for my elementary school student.

What if most kids does that??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not every kid is going to be able to join classes on a regular basis. Parents have to work, and school work is going to happen whenever it is possible with schedules.

It seems like the obvious solution would be to just record the teacher and his/her screen without the students' videos. It's not that hard to set up.

So basically Khan Academy. Stare at a screen and self learn? No interactive classes.

Sorry, if you allow kids to not join, they won't. Especially the older kids. This is a recipe for disaster. There has to be accountability, just like school days and absenteeisms.

I agree. There has to be accountability for absenteeisms, especially for older ES (4th, 5th) and middle and high schoolers. They should be able to log on by themselves.

Internet glitch or not being able to log on may be a one off issue, but its not like every day you will be having internet glitches and log on issues.

I'm not saying it doesn't suck. But all options suck.

A lot of kids are going to be in rather suboptimal daycare situations in school days when their parents go to work. Yes, good daycares will work with kids to get them in video classes, but not all families can afford good daycares.

Penalizing the kids in that situation should not be an option