Distance learning going well

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Certain criteria were met. Kids were logged on. Login and connectivity issues were minimal. Roll was taken.

Actual knowledge gained: zero

It will be like this for a while. We have to supplement.

I don't think you're very familiar with how schools work. Distinguish between "content" knowledge and real-life skills. The use of the technology and the fact that kids were able to meet the minimum competencies does actually count as knowledge. Much like pre-K and kindergarten are all about socialization. Baby steps. During normal times most schools don't get to content knowledge until the 2nd or 3rd week because teachers are establishing norms and expectations, team-building, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Certain criteria were met. Kids were logged on. Login and connectivity issues were minimal. Roll was taken.

Actual knowledge gained: zero

It will be like this for a while. We have to supplement.

I don't think you're very familiar with how schools work. Distinguish between "content" knowledge and real-life skills. The use of the technology and the fact that kids were able to meet the minimum competencies does actually count as knowledge. Much like pre-K and kindergarten are all about socialization. Baby steps. During normal times most schools don't get to content knowledge until the 2nd or 3rd week because teachers are establishing norms and expectations, team-building, etc.

You sound like an educator/bureaucrat trying to blow smoke up our a$$ and make distance learning sound better than it actually is.

[Anonymous]

It seems people have unreasonable expectations of schools this fall. This stinks and is exhausting for everyone to varying degrees. Venting is one thing. Blaming teachers and the schools for not addressing everything challenge seems unreasonable to me.

I am not sure what parents were thinking school would be able to do this fall.

Were parents expecting distance learning to result in the equivalent of childcare from 9-3pm?
Parents are angry with any possible permutation.

Parents mad at full day, my kid....
can’t be on screens that much!
can’t sit that long!
can’t stand run around for scavenger hunts!
can’t take breaks and log on/off on his own!
can’t type into chat!
can’t be in breakout rooms without supervision!
can’t learn with how only 4 hours of school!
can’t focus long enough for me to work!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Certain criteria were met. Kids were logged on. Login and connectivity issues were minimal. Roll was taken.

Actual knowledge gained: zero

It will be like this for a while. We have to supplement.

I don't think you're very familiar with how schools work. Distinguish between "content" knowledge and real-life skills. The use of the technology and the fact that kids were able to meet the minimum competencies does actually count as knowledge. Much like pre-K and kindergarten are all about socialization. Baby steps. During normal times most schools don't get to content knowledge until the 2nd or 3rd week because teachers are establishing norms and expectations, team-building, etc.

You sound like an educator/bureaucrat trying to blow smoke up our a$$ and make distance learning sound better than it actually is.

I am a 20+ year veteran secondary math teacher. I cannot remember a year when we taught content the first week of school. This year that is the expectation. I believe it is misguided but I'll do what the administrators want. I will try very hard not to laugh in November or December when it becomes evident why it wasn't a good idea.

[Anonymous]

Someone asked who is teaching the other half of the class. My school hired additional teachers to make this work. We're a well run, fiscally responsible district which had money in reserves for this.

Someone else said the success is only possible due to involved parents. Tjis ia absolutely true. Every year this is true. Kudos to the parents who are doing such amazing things in such difficult circumstances. Here's hoping next year is back to in person school. I love my students and my work, and while we are experiencing much success, I'm looking forward to being with them in person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Someone asked who is teaching the other half of the class. My school hired additional teachers to make this work. We're a well run, fiscally responsible district which had money in reserves for this.

Someone else said the success is only possible due to involved parents. Tjis ia absolutely true. Every year this is true. Kudos to the parents who are doing such amazing things in such difficult circumstances. Here's hoping next year is back to in person school. I love my students and my work, and while we are experiencing much success, I'm looking forward to being with them in person.

Do you think there is no chance you’ll be back in person this year? I teach third grade and I am hopeful we can get back sooner than that. I dread the thought of a long stint doing DL.

[Anonymous]

Who knows? Right now, my district has said we'll see how things look 2nd semester. I highly doubt we go back at all this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who knows? Right now, my district has said we'll see how things look 2nd semester. I highly doubt we go back at all this year.

+1 At this point I don't even think it is because of the health risks for the virus and that it is more about the fact that we don't have enough teachers. It is easy to hide the shortage by increasing class sizes. That won't work for in-person. My school and the schools of my teacher friends all have unfilled positions.

The teacher shortage is real. IMO the increase in the shortage is health concerns plus the vitriol against teachers from parents. It is a thankless job anyway but combined with those other two factors it is hard to justify wanting to teach. The hate for teachers is coming through loud and clear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You mean the first week of introductions went well? Because there is no way you could have assessed that they actually learnt something. Wait until you actually start introducing some content and can have a way to assessed that they actually learnt something.

I have a high schooler. In 2 of her classes today, 90% was learning material. Those teachers (math and foreign language) jumped right in and began teaching. I listened for awhile and later peeked at the notes. A third class was just ice breaker type stuff. The last one was half Intro stuff and half new material taught (science).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The DCPS drive to streamline access to platforms has been a marked improvement over last spring. Last spring, my K and 2nd grade kids needed all-day guidance just to figure out what they were supposed to be doing on a given day, and how to access each lesson.

I appreciate the shift toward mandatory attendance and an all-day, mostly-live schedule. Relative to the self-scheduled approach, the mostly-live schedule creates momentum and forces a discipline that helps kids stay on track throughout the day.

It's still hard for parents to balance work and school, but once again, and I know that a lot of the best elements of my kids' school simply won't translate to distance ed, but I am again impressed by DCPS' adaption to circumstances and responsiveness to parent concerns.

What remains to be seen: How will the new, software-based programs like Zearn for math compare to predecessor curriculum Eureka math? Will teachers provide the same level of paper correction and specific feedback that they were able to provide without the added barrier of uploading and downloading written work? The latter was one of my only complaints about the spring session.

Actually, Zearn is keyed to Eureka. We used it last spring when the DL for math was pretty lacking. My kid would do the Zearn module, which included video and problems, and then the corresponding Eureka homework.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You mean the first week of introductions went well? Because there is no way you could have assessed that they actually learnt something. Wait until you actually start introducing some content and can have a way to assessed that they actually learnt something.

I have a high schooler. In 2 of her classes today, 90% was learning material. Those teachers (math and foreign language) jumped right in and began teaching. I listened for awhile and later peeked at the notes. A third class was just ice breaker type stuff. The last one was half Intro stuff and half new material taught (science).

My all honors MS student is on day 3 of "all about me" presentations, introduction, discussion of syllabus. No content. No HW.

But, this is how it was last year, and the year before that, and the year before that. First week has always been introductory stuff. Maybe that will change in HS. And while I find it exceedingly irritating that a near week was always spent on this stuff, that was that case before DL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You mean the first week of introductions went well? Because there is no way you could have assessed that they actually learnt something. Wait until you actually start introducing some content and can have a way to assessed that they actually learnt something.

I have a high schooler. In 2 of her classes today, 90% was learning material. Those teachers (math and foreign language) jumped right in and began teaching. I listened for awhile and later peeked at the notes. A third class was just ice breaker type stuff. The last one was half Intro stuff and half new material taught (science).

My all honors MS student is on day 3 of "all about me" presentations, introduction, discussion of syllabus. No content. No HW.

But, this is how it was last year, and the year before that, and the year before that. First week has always been introductory stuff. Maybe that will change in HS. And while I find it exceedingly irritating that a near week was always spent on this stuff, that was that case before DL.

Yep. I understand the need to establish expectations, get kids back into the routine, and get to know each other and build some community, but I don't love the lack of content of the first weeks. But it's not unique to DL at all, and with DL I feel like those soft things are probably even more important.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a teacher who was dreading distance learning and teaching. Once we got past all the pointless stuff from the district and past the first few days, it's been great. I've been surprised. My families are amazing and the kids are too. I have to force kids to leave because they don't want to leave class. Go figure. Kids are learning so quickly.

My kid is one of those kids who doesn’t want to leave. She’s so happy to be back in school.

And I bet she tries to answer all the questions, dominates the chat, and bothers all the other kids. YOUR kid is ruining DL for my shy kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Someone asked who is teaching the other half of the class. My school hired additional teachers to make this work. We're a well run, fiscally responsible district which had money in reserves for this.

Someone else said the success is only possible due to involved parents. Tjis ia absolutely true. Every year this is true. Kudos to the parents who are doing such amazing things in such difficult circumstances. Here's hoping next year is back to in person school. I love my students and my work, and while we are experiencing much success, I'm looking forward to being with them in person.

You sound like awesome K teacher and your kids are lucky to have you! My son started K this year as well and has a wonderful teacher as well who is doing the best she can. But honestly, there is one major advantage you have and that is only ten kids. My sons class as 24 kids and no matter how awesome/creative our teacher is, I think trying to engage with that many kids online is exceedingly tough.

Your kids get much more direct one in one interaction. This would hold true in ‘live’ class as well of course, but in the virtual set up I can see that my som isn’t budging the kid next to him or making silly faces to his friend sitting across from him to break up the time between other kid responses, etc. Ideally, of course they should be listening to all the kids, patiently waiting their turn but I think it’s so much harder virtually since we are social creatures built to receive dopamine rushes from eye contact.

Really sad, my kids school went from four classes to three classes this year due to number enrolled. I get it, but keeping that fourth class to keep the numbers lower seems like it would have made a world of difference. I feel for the first grade teachers next year. They will have a lot of catching up to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I suspect my kid's teacher thinks it's going fine too. I mean, how would she know if it's not? Unless the kids can type super fast into chat (they are in 5th grade, they can't) then they can't possibly communicate anything to her. Cameras are off, mics are muted, she's sitting there in her tranquil home office without a care in the world, just going through her slides and droning on in a monotone voice, and she has no way to know that her students are falling asleep or have long since gotten up from the computer. To her no doubt this seems like a wonderfully organized and streamlined lesson, all very smooth....but she fails to realize it's just her and two or three overachievers in the class.

I think my sons teacher says the same thing. I reached out to talk because my kid is not paying attention. I’ve sat with him for a few lessons and we’ve fun into issues but there is NO WAY to let her know. No chat, no video, no mic. Sometimes
She freezes or the sounds goes out and you can’t hear instructions. And we can’t ask her to repeat. It is frustrating. My child
Is trying, but it is tough and he is not really interested anymore. Keeps leaving the sessions a few minutes early. Teacher has no idea.