What would you like to see in Distance Learning FY21?

[Anonymous]

We have a PK 4 son in DCPS. Things that worked for US:

Small group instruction (4 kids) For 30 min or less
Journal entry assignments
Worksheets (a few a day)
A special half hour virtual session where kids brought legos, play doh, etc and created online and teachers drew out conversation about what they were doing

Things that didn’t work for US:
Large group morning meeting daily
Large group story time (storyline online and similar way more engaging if you have to do virtual)
Large amounts of worksheets

Things we wished we had:
Recommended phonics/reading and math and Spanish apps that engage. We did a lot of our own research and did land on some and they did actually engage and teach son things. Was not a believer until I saw him actually improve. (And got through a lot of conference calls w the support of those apps.)

A simple lesson plan and worksheet packet for the week or two weeks so we could self pace. Everything was ad box even now and we get at least 20 emails a week with do this or that from teachers. Hard to sort out. Started to make us give up on trying. I realize this is a new way of being, but just something to work toward.

More science experiments and creative projects, etc. Again hard but something to work toward. Simple activities were super fun to my son. A game where we would guess if certain objects would sink or float, for example. Perhaps DCPS could hand out supplies/manipulative s once a month. Some activities don’t need supplies.

Someone to watch my son while we work...just kidding! (Not really...) DS had to learn to play by himself a lot more these moths and we had to rely on apps/tv a lot more. Which makes me wonder if school can set it up with suggestions/strategies to find a meaningful project that is more “play” (even for the big kids) that could be game changing. My son became deeply intellectual about legos (in a good way). For some other kid it might be art or music or researching a historical event deeply (older kids) or trying to write a book, etc. but I think those kinds of self-driven pursuits could be nurtured In these weird times . The kids don’t have to be successful in our traditional sense. Right now is about engaging in ways that make sense to the individual student and teachers and parents can act as guides in that. (Snots that I am not saying this replace all learning, just that it be considered as a way for the student to spend some time each day.)

[Anonymous]

PP here. Sorry. Didn’t realize my last post was so long. Sadly can’t go back and edit it down.

[Anonymous]

I would like teachers to really think about what parents can easily facilitate and what might be harder. For instance, some of the ways math is instructed now are very different from how we learned. Make sure the teacher covers that. Phonics instruction needs a trained professional. Asking reading comprehension questions doesn’t. Teachers should prioritize live instruction for the topics most difficult for parents. Small group works best, but videos of these difficult topics would also help.

[Anonymous]

I know some people, like myself, have ordered a workbook or two to give the kids some extra work as needed. Also board and card games. I would love for a teacher to make a recommendation or two regarding which books And/or games would best complement the curriculum/provide the most bang for your buck. I think it wouldn’t be too difficult for teachers to research this a bit over the summer and have a recommended resource list in the fall. (Taking it a step further, perhaps you could ask for a donated item or two from that list for others in the class who are unable to purchase. I would buy my kid some items and happily donate some to another kid)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think distance learning is garbage.

But if you're going to do it, do it all day, like the private schools do. None of this "well we met for an hour or two in the morning -- let's call it a day."

If you're going to do distance learning, do it for at least six hours per day. Make it come as close to a real day of school as humanly possible.

The private schools are doing distance learning basically all day long.

How are they managing gaming K-2 on zoom or whatever 6-7 hours a day?

That should say having. I can barely get my k kid to do 1 or 2 thirty minute sessions a week. But because I have to work because it’s too long for him to sit on the computer.

I find it hard to believe that some students are online for 6-7 hours. That is ridiculous. It is not age appropriate.

Not all private schools—some are doing what they think is developmentally appropriate. Our private school is doing increasing time by grade level, but definitely not all day even for the upper school students. My 3rd grader is doing 1 or 2 Google meets per day, with about 2-2.5 hours of work total (usually takes her longer).

[Anonymous]

Ditto to the folks who said there should be a calendar listing all the calls and call times and a basic outline of the curriculum goals for the month/semester. We've been engaging in distance learning, but at this point I really don't know if my kid knows what she's supposed to know at this point.

[Anonymous]

Some info in my child's goals would be great. I would also be happy to sponsor another child for an order of books/workbooks, magazine or app subscription, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a K kid and he barely makes it through the 15-minute Zoom video. He usually says that it was horrible and too long. The only Zoom meeting I want is parent teacher conference.
I'd like the curriculum, list of book to read and worksheets e-mailed to me. I doubt there are any textbooks but if there are, I'd come and pick them up.
Just write that worksheet pages 1-30 should be done in September, 30-60 in October and so on. If I have any questions, I'll e-mail the teacher and name to exact page number page.
Please don't send out the garbage that was in packet 1-8 (DCPS).
I'd also like the option to opt out completely if the curriculum and materials are garbage like in K.

Also a K parent, and I 100% agree with this. Don't force kids this age to spend lots of time on zoom.

[Anonymous]

If you are doing week by week or month by month please give a itemized list line daily tasks/ goals for 2 weeks at a time if at all possible. Keep any live meetings at the same time. If I need to schedule around a couple live meetings I can do that. If it changes I am probably not making that live meeting.

I agree with the read 3 books of 20 minutes here are age level books. Does reading all school count?? I never know.
Writing tasks 5 minutes. Alternative examples.
Honestly in K-1st is it even age appropriate for kids to sit more than 10-20 minutes at anyone time??
Give us play break ideas, intentional play can go a long way. What activities should we be focused on including for "choice time" during the school day.
Please help with ideas for social and energy outlets... No parks, no library time.. I can't keep up with my kids social needs. How do we support these?? Yeah, parents can play with their kids sure and I do but it is not the same as peers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you are doing week by week or month by month please give a itemized list line daily tasks/ goals for 2 weeks at a time if at all possible. Keep any live meetings at the same time. If I need to schedule around a couple live meetings I can do that. If it changes I am probably not making that live meeting.

I agree with the read 3 books of 20 minutes here are age level books. Does reading all school count?? I never know.
Writing tasks 5 minutes. Alternative examples.
Honestly in K-1st is it even age appropriate for kids to sit more than 10-20 minutes at anyone time??
Give us play break ideas, intentional play can go a long way. What activities should we be focused on including for "choice time" during the school day.
Please help with ideas for social and energy outlets... No parks, no library time.. I can't keep up with my kids social needs. How do we support these?? Yeah, parents can play with their kids sure and I do but it is not the same as peers.

I do this as a teacher. We send week-at-a-glance with must do’s and may do’s. I try to incorporate fun activities in the May-do section to go along with what the kids are learning. I do 2-45 minute sessions and then 1-on-1 or 2/3-on-1 for help or to have kids socialize. We also have a channel dedicated for kids to connect with other kids on fun topics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The private schools are not having kids online all day. I have one kid in DCPS and one in a Big3 private (Sidwell/GDS/St lAlbans). Thy both have about 2 hours per day of live instruction. It’s no more hours at the Big3 than our DCPS. The experiences (private vs public) are actually far MORE similar now than ever before.

You have two hours of live instruction per day in a DCPS school? What grade level is that and which school?
My kids go to one of the best DCPS Schools in NW DC and they don't have any live instruction. One kid has 10-15 minutes of morning meetings each day, with the teacher and the entire class. The other kid has this once a week.

Deal is doing 2 hours per day

Yup! And all my kid’s teachers have daily live office hours for an hour a day so they can interact with students that way too, outside of the live lessons. I do think this was facilitated by being with these teachers for most of the year, and I’m not sure that it would have been quite so smooth if teachers and students didn’t know each other already. Guess we’ll find out next year!

The one thing that really suffered IMO in the Deal curriculum was the daily language lessons turning into once a week. OTOH, there were a few disruptive kids in a couple of my kid’s classes and DC seems to focus much better on the subject matter in these classes working from home without those distractions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi OP

What grade level do you teach?

K & 1st grade

I’m jumping from here since I have a kid in your grades and assume you just want as many perspectives as possible. I want the educational stuff recorded and available with the accompanying materials at a time when works for us. I don’t need live sessions and I’m fact, my K kid did not whatsoever benefit from his live K classes (his IEP live zoom one on ones are a diff story...those were incredibly helpful and were a totally good substitute for in person). I get that the vast majority of at least K is play and activity based and for that stuff, I just want a paragraph of what the kids would be doing each week, eg art class ideas or gym class ideas. Whatever. For us, this would likely be worked into our weekend regime. Weekly one on ones with the teacher -for the student- would also be helpful. Just to check in and interact. It would also be nice to have some sort of weekly homework - NOT daily and nothing heavy. But something to keep us accountable and on track and for you to assess.

RazKids is awesome...i would like that to continue to be part of the curriculum and it’s great when the teachers leave feedback on recorded sessions from RazKids.

[Anonymous]

I have a rising third grader. I feel like whole-group meetings are pointless, because it's just too much time wasted on getting kids to pay attention, unmute themselves, etc. It's really hard to keep my kid focused and engaged. Smaller groups work much better. I'd like some lecture or video to introduce the lesson and topic, and small groups regularly scheduled to work through problems, review homework, allow kids to ask questions, etc., and to allow real differentiation. More feedback on the assignments that we turn in.

[Anonymous]

I want advance notice on what is needed for a particular call. I usually have to set my kid up with everything he needs, get him on his call real quick, and then get to a conference call I am expected to be on/run for my job. About once or twice a week I have been interrupted by my kid because he needs something else for his call- materials, a different packet, crayons, etc. We are trying to teach him to be self sufficient and find what he needs himself, but it would just be so much easier if we had a list ahead of a call.