What should MCPS' virtual learning plan be ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Virtual learning was a disaster and should not be repeated, ever. MCPS should build kore snow days into the calendar (which would be the same thing as going later or attending earlier, unless you want them to get rid of necessary breaks - they are not allowed to have school on some holidays, did you know Easter Monday was a Maryland requirement to have off?).

The result is the same - more days of school, same as we are going to get because of the snow storm

Virtual learning was a disaster, but I wouldn't necessarily rule it out as a temporary measure for a truly exceptional event like covid.

But, snow isn't exceptional. It happens every winter. Virtual isn't necessary or appropriate when competent leadership can plan for this with a combination of more built-in days and real contingency days.

It was a problem because it was for a year! For a week, there are great opportunities to do things that aren't easily done at school-- like enrichment activities for the kids who are on top of current work and more remedial work for kids who need it. Neither would particularly need teachers re-teaching (remedial stuff is all review and enrichment stuff can be done independently). So teachers could ready a range of such assignments at the beginning of the year and then when a snow day is predicted, they'd just need to assign which kid gets which set of work (videos, worksheets, projects, whatever).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Elementary School: Send on-paper worksheets home. Preferably a lot of them (but not so many that kids can't also go sledding). It's a great opportunity to have kids work at their own pace. Offer teacher office hours (or a required teacher check-in if that's what is required to have the state give 'credit' for the school day.

If it's feasible to send ES kids home with chromebooks (I think that's why MCPS has been relucatant to do virtual til now), then have kids work through Khan Academy lessons at home. These are adaptable. Teacher can track the kid's progress and see how much time was spent. Teacher isn't overwhelmed with a lot of grading on return. The actual work can adapt to the kid's needs so can provide more differentiation than is usual at school. This could actually make virtual days more effective than in-school days because kids who need more help can get more remedial lessons and other kids can work ahead on challenge problems.

High School: Regular online zoom sessions a la 2020 but give teachers flexibility to record lessons instead, or only come online to introduce the assignment and then let kids work offline.

In both cases, deadlines should be strong suggestions to keep kids on track but everything is due 24 hours after the return to school -- in case there are power outages or kids have special scheduling challenges during that week (taking care of siblings or whatnot). Maybe this is set up as actual deadlines during the snowweek, but extensions on request.

Are you actually a parent? This is wishful thinking.

Good luck getting all the kids to do the worksheets or log on to Khan Academy.

For present and engaged parents at the elementary, it will be an absolute power struggle as kids will fight tooth and nail about having to do any work on a snow day.

At the high school level, only the motivated, disciplined and responsible kids who already care about their education will do any kind of synchronous or asynchronous work on a snow day.

You all have to start dealing with the reality of kids and adolescents and not what you wish them to be.

They are not small, fully developed adults. If they think they can take the easy way out of something they think is either boring or a waste of their time, they will. Everyone involved in education policy should know this and make plans accordingly. Plans like this are absolutely a nonstarter for a public school district. This can, however, work with small or selective private and charter schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Virtual learning was a disaster and should not be repeated, ever. MCPS should build kore snow days into the calendar (which would be the same thing as going later or attending earlier, unless you want them to get rid of necessary breaks - they are not allowed to have school on some holidays, did you know Easter Monday was a Maryland requirement to have off?).

The result is the same - more days of school, same as we are going to get because of the snow storm

Virtual learning was a disaster, but I wouldn't necessarily rule it out as a temporary measure for a truly exceptional event like covid.

But, snow isn't exceptional. It happens every winter. Virtual isn't necessary or appropriate when competent leadership can plan for this with a combination of more built-in days and real contingency days.

It was a problem because it was for a year! For a week, there are great opportunities to do things that aren't easily done at school-- like enrichment activities for the kids who are on top of current work and more remedial work for kids who need it. Neither would particularly need teachers re-teaching (remedial stuff is all review and enrichment stuff can be done independently). So teachers could ready a range of such assignments at the beginning of the year and then when a snow day is predicted, they'd just need to assign which kid gets which set of work (videos, worksheets, projects, whatever).

Kids need live teaching. It can be done well virtually. Try taking some of the harder classes with no teaching. We have a teacher doing a flipped classroom, what ever that means and the kids have to figure it out on their own via videos and its terrible. Virtual live teaching would be better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Elementary School: Send on-paper worksheets home. Preferably a lot of them (but not so many that kids can't also go sledding). It's a great opportunity to have kids work at their own pace. Offer teacher office hours (or a required teacher check-in if that's what is required to have the state give 'credit' for the school day.

If it's feasible to send ES kids home with chromebooks (I think that's why MCPS has been relucatant to do virtual til now), then have kids work through Khan Academy lessons at home. These are adaptable. Teacher can track the kid's progress and see how much time was spent. Teacher isn't overwhelmed with a lot of grading on return. The actual work can adapt to the kid's needs so can provide more differentiation than is usual at school. This could actually make virtual days more effective than in-school days because kids who need more help can get more remedial lessons and other kids can work ahead on challenge problems.

High School: Regular online zoom sessions a la 2020 but give teachers flexibility to record lessons instead, or only come online to introduce the assignment and then let kids work offline.

In both cases, deadlines should be strong suggestions to keep kids on track but everything is due 24 hours after the return to school -- in case there are power outages or kids have special scheduling challenges during that week (taking care of siblings or whatnot). Maybe this is set up as actual deadlines during the snowweek, but extensions on request.

Are you actually a parent? This is wishful thinking.

Good luck getting all the kids to do the worksheets or log on to Khan Academy.

For present and engaged parents at the elementary, it will be an absolute power struggle as kids will fight tooth and nail about having to do any work on a snow day.

At the high school level, only the motivated, disciplined and responsible kids who already care about their education will do any kind of synchronous or asynchronous work on a snow day.

You all have to start dealing with the reality of kids and adolescents and not what you wish them to be.

They are not small, fully developed adults. If they think they can take the easy way out of something they think is either boring or a waste of their time, they will. Everyone involved in education policy should know this and make plans accordingly. Plans like this are absolutely a nonstarter for a public school district. This can, however, work with small or selective private and charter schools.

If its a struggle for you you need to readjust your parenting style. This is a you problem, not MCPS or us problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Elementary School: Send on-paper worksheets home. Preferably a lot of them (but not so many that kids can't also go sledding). It's a great opportunity to have kids work at their own pace. Offer teacher office hours (or a required teacher check-in if that's what is required to have the state give 'credit' for the school day.

If it's feasible to send ES kids home with chromebooks (I think that's why MCPS has been relucatant to do virtual til now), then have kids work through Khan Academy lessons at home. These are adaptable. Teacher can track the kid's progress and see how much time was spent. Teacher isn't overwhelmed with a lot of grading on return. The actual work can adapt to the kid's needs so can provide more differentiation than is usual at school. This could actually make virtual days more effective than in-school days because kids who need more help can get more remedial lessons and other kids can work ahead on challenge problems.

High School: Regular online zoom sessions a la 2020 but give teachers flexibility to record lessons instead, or only come online to introduce the assignment and then let kids work offline.

In both cases, deadlines should be strong suggestions to keep kids on track but everything is due 24 hours after the return to school -- in case there are power outages or kids have special scheduling challenges during that week (taking care of siblings or whatnot). Maybe this is set up as actual deadlines during the snowweek, but extensions on request.

Are you actually a parent? This is wishful thinking.

Good luck getting all the kids to do the worksheets or log on to Khan Academy.

For present and engaged parents at the elementary, it will be an absolute power struggle as kids will fight tooth and nail about having to do any work on a snow day.

At the high school level, only the motivated, disciplined and responsible kids who already care about their education will do any kind of synchronous or asynchronous work on a snow day.

You all have to start dealing with the reality of kids and adolescents and not what you wish them to be.

They are not small, fully developed adults. If they think they can take the easy way out of something they think is either boring or a waste of their time, they will. Everyone involved in education policy should know this and make plans accordingly. Plans like this are absolutely a nonstarter for a public school district. This can, however, work with small or selective private and charter schools.

And here's a microcosm of why kids are not performing well in school. "Kid's are going to be lazy, don't try to have expectations of them" is not a good excuse to not have virtual learning for extended closures.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Elementary School: Send on-paper worksheets home. Preferably a lot of them (but not so many that kids can't also go sledding). It's a great opportunity to have kids work at their own pace. Offer teacher office hours (or a required teacher check-in if that's what is required to have the state give 'credit' for the school day.

If it's feasible to send ES kids home with chromebooks (I think that's why MCPS has been relucatant to do virtual til now), then have kids work through Khan Academy lessons at home. These are adaptable. Teacher can track the kid's progress and see how much time was spent. Teacher isn't overwhelmed with a lot of grading on return. The actual work can adapt to the kid's needs so can provide more differentiation than is usual at school. This could actually make virtual days more effective than in-school days because kids who need more help can get more remedial lessons and other kids can work ahead on challenge problems.

High School: Regular online zoom sessions a la 2020 but give teachers flexibility to record lessons instead, or only come online to introduce the assignment and then let kids work offline.

In both cases, deadlines should be strong suggestions to keep kids on track but everything is due 24 hours after the return to school -- in case there are power outages or kids have special scheduling challenges during that week (taking care of siblings or whatnot). Maybe this is set up as actual deadlines during the snowweek, but extensions on request.

Are you actually a parent? This is wishful thinking.

Good luck getting all the kids to do the worksheets or log on to Khan Academy.

For present and engaged parents at the elementary, it will be an absolute power struggle as kids will fight tooth and nail about having to do any work on a snow day.

At the high school level, only the motivated, disciplined and responsible kids who already care about their education will do any kind of synchronous or asynchronous work on a snow day.

You all have to start dealing with the reality of kids and adolescents and not what you wish them to be.

They are not small, fully developed adults. If they think they can take the easy way out of something they think is either boring or a waste of their time, they will. Everyone involved in education policy should know this and make plans accordingly. Plans like this are absolutely a nonstarter for a public school district. This can, however, work with small or selective private and charter schools.

And here's a microcosm of why kids are not performing well in school. "Kid's are going to be lazy, don't try to have expectations of them" is not a good excuse to not have virtual learning for extended closures.

Seriously. I don't understand this screaming about virtual learning when so many schools offer virtual instruction. In NYS, my friend's school district has an automatic rule--two days of consecutive snow days, if conditions still aren't clear, then virtual learning kicks in. Four snow days are built into the calendar. There's no chaos about "what will be done" because things are automatic.

Everything in MCPS seems to say that they must agonize over every decision because they're so different and special. We're not different and special. Other school districts have kids under Gr3, and kids with IEPs, and kids who are poor. They have approved virtual learning plans, because it's the best option rather than having no school at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Elementary School: Send on-paper worksheets home. Preferably a lot of them (but not so many that kids can't also go sledding). It's a great opportunity to have kids work at their own pace. Offer teacher office hours (or a required teacher check-in if that's what is required to have the state give 'credit' for the school day.

If it's feasible to send ES kids home with chromebooks (I think that's why MCPS has been relucatant to do virtual til now), then have kids work through Khan Academy lessons at home. These are adaptable. Teacher can track the kid's progress and see how much time was spent. Teacher isn't overwhelmed with a lot of grading on return. The actual work can adapt to the kid's needs so can provide more differentiation than is usual at school. This could actually make virtual days more effective than in-school days because kids who need more help can get more remedial lessons and other kids can work ahead on challenge problems.

High School: Regular online zoom sessions a la 2020 but give teachers flexibility to record lessons instead, or only come online to introduce the assignment and then let kids work offline.

In both cases, deadlines should be strong suggestions to keep kids on track but everything is due 24 hours after the return to school -- in case there are power outages or kids have special scheduling challenges during that week (taking care of siblings or whatnot). Maybe this is set up as actual deadlines during the snowweek, but extensions on request.

Are you actually a parent? This is wishful thinking.

Good luck getting all the kids to do the worksheets or log on to Khan Academy.

For present and engaged parents at the elementary, it will be an absolute power struggle as kids will fight tooth and nail about having to do any work on a snow day.

At the high school level, only the motivated, disciplined and responsible kids who already care about their education will do any kind of synchronous or asynchronous work on a snow day.

You all have to start dealing with the reality of kids and adolescents and not what you wish them to be.

They are not small, fully developed adults. If they think they can take the easy way out of something they think is either boring or a waste of their time, they will. Everyone involved in education policy should know this and make plans accordingly. Plans like this are absolutely a nonstarter for a public school district. This can, however, work with small or selective private and charter schools.

And here's a microcosm of why kids are not performing well in school. "Kid's are going to be lazy, don't try to have expectations of them" is not a good excuse to not have virtual learning for extended closures.

Seriously. I don't understand this screaming about virtual learning when so many schools offer virtual instruction. In NYS, my friend's school district has an automatic rule--two days of consecutive snow days, if conditions still aren't clear, then virtual learning kicks in. Four snow days are built into the calendar. There's no chaos about "what will be done" because things are automatic.

Everything in MCPS seems to say that they must agonize over every decision because they're so different and special. We're not different and special. Other school districts have kids under Gr3, and kids with IEPs, and kids who are poor. They have approved virtual learning plans, because it's the best option rather than having no school at all.

Really? Because some people are satisfied with virtual in some school districts, you think everyone should be happy with it everywhere?

This is not just between "virtual days" and "no school". There are other options. Better options.

But if you really want to push virtual, then come up with approaches to address or remediate the problems with it. Instead we just see people ignoring the problems because they're too hard or they think they would cost too much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Elementary School: Send on-paper worksheets home. Preferably a lot of them (but not so many that kids can't also go sledding). It's a great opportunity to have kids work at their own pace. Offer teacher office hours (or a required teacher check-in if that's what is required to have the state give 'credit' for the school day.

If it's feasible to send ES kids home with chromebooks (I think that's why MCPS has been relucatant to do virtual til now), then have kids work through Khan Academy lessons at home. These are adaptable. Teacher can track the kid's progress and see how much time was spent. Teacher isn't overwhelmed with a lot of grading on return. The actual work can adapt to the kid's needs so can provide more differentiation than is usual at school. This could actually make virtual days more effective than in-school days because kids who need more help can get more remedial lessons and other kids can work ahead on challenge problems.

High School: Regular online zoom sessions a la 2020 but give teachers flexibility to record lessons instead, or only come online to introduce the assignment and then let kids work offline.

In both cases, deadlines should be strong suggestions to keep kids on track but everything is due 24 hours after the return to school -- in case there are power outages or kids have special scheduling challenges during that week (taking care of siblings or whatnot). Maybe this is set up as actual deadlines during the snowweek, but extensions on request.

I just don't understand how someone could write a message like this with a straight face. Really? I really wonder what sort of life you've had.

You want to use virtual days for remedial lessons for elementary school kids? What are you expecting there. Kids from rich families with SAHPs or tutors are going to be fine. They won't even need that. The kids who do are going to be much more likely to be in households with parent support, or maybe simply be at daycare settings or grandparents homes without the means to connect and participate.

Even if they do participate, what do you think expect the teacher to do? A lot of the lessons involve activities by hand or at least on paper. The student can't see what the teacher is doing, and even more importantly, the teacher can't see what the student is struggling with.

You expect young kids to be able to break down a problem, think about what's at the root of their misunderstanding, and articulate a clear question? And then be able to process a verbal response? That's simply not a reasonable expectation for a second grader. Not even an on-grade-level second grader.

Do you really think that would work? Or do you just not care?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Elementary School: Send on-paper worksheets home. Preferably a lot of them (but not so many that kids can't also go sledding). It's a great opportunity to have kids work at their own pace. Offer teacher office hours (or a required teacher check-in if that's what is required to have the state give 'credit' for the school day.

If it's feasible to send ES kids home with chromebooks (I think that's why MCPS has been relucatant to do virtual til now), then have kids work through Khan Academy lessons at home. These are adaptable. Teacher can track the kid's progress and see how much time was spent. Teacher isn't overwhelmed with a lot of grading on return. The actual work can adapt to the kid's needs so can provide more differentiation than is usual at school. This could actually make virtual days more effective than in-school days because kids who need more help can get more remedial lessons and other kids can work ahead on challenge problems.

High School: Regular online zoom sessions a la 2020 but give teachers flexibility to record lessons instead, or only come online to introduce the assignment and then let kids work offline.

In both cases, deadlines should be strong suggestions to keep kids on track but everything is due 24 hours after the return to school -- in case there are power outages or kids have special scheduling challenges during that week (taking care of siblings or whatnot). Maybe this is set up as actual deadlines during the snowweek, but extensions on request.

Are you actually a parent? This is wishful thinking.

Good luck getting all the kids to do the worksheets or log on to Khan Academy.

For present and engaged parents at the elementary, it will be an absolute power struggle as kids will fight tooth and nail about having to do any work on a snow day.

At the high school level, only the motivated, disciplined and responsible kids who already care about their education will do any kind of synchronous or asynchronous work on a snow day.

You all have to start dealing with the reality of kids and adolescents and not what you wish them to be.

They are not small, fully developed adults. If they think they can take the easy way out of something they think is either boring or a waste of their time, they will. Everyone involved in education policy should know this and make plans accordingly. Plans like this are absolutely a nonstarter for a public school district. This can, however, work with small or selective private and charter schools.

If its a struggle for you you need to readjust your parenting style. This is a you problem, not MCPS or us problem.

If it’s not a struggle for you to get your kids to do random Khan assignments, then why do you need the teacher to assign them? Why can’t you just tell them “Hey go do some random Khan assignments”?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Virtual learning was a disaster and should not be repeated, ever. MCPS should build kore snow days into the calendar (which would be the same thing as going later or attending earlier, unless you want them to get rid of necessary breaks - they are not allowed to have school on some holidays, did you know Easter Monday was a Maryland requirement to have off?).

The result is the same - more days of school, same as we are going to get because of the snow storm

Virtual learning was a disaster, but I wouldn't necessarily rule it out as a temporary measure for a truly exceptional event like covid.

But, snow isn't exceptional. It happens every winter. Virtual isn't necessary or appropriate when competent leadership can plan for this with a combination of more built-in days and real contingency days.

It was a problem because it was for a year! For a week, there are great opportunities to do things that aren't easily done at school-- like enrichment activities for the kids who are on top of current work and more remedial work for kids who need it. Neither would particularly need teachers re-teaching (remedial stuff is all review and enrichment stuff can be done independently). So teachers could ready a range of such assignments at the beginning of the year and then when a snow day is predicted, they'd just need to assign which kid gets which set of work (videos, worksheets, projects, whatever).

Busy work that can’t be graded.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Elementary School: Send on-paper worksheets home. Preferably a lot of them (but not so many that kids can't also go sledding). It's a great opportunity to have kids work at their own pace. Offer teacher office hours (or a required teacher check-in if that's what is required to have the state give 'credit' for the school day.

If it's feasible to send ES kids home with chromebooks (I think that's why MCPS has been relucatant to do virtual til now), then have kids work through Khan Academy lessons at home. These are adaptable. Teacher can track the kid's progress and see how much time was spent. Teacher isn't overwhelmed with a lot of grading on return. The actual work can adapt to the kid's needs so can provide more differentiation than is usual at school. This could actually make virtual days more effective than in-school days because kids who need more help can get more remedial lessons and other kids can work ahead on challenge problems.

High School: Regular online zoom sessions a la 2020 but give teachers flexibility to record lessons instead, or only come online to introduce the assignment and then let kids work offline.

In both cases, deadlines should be strong suggestions to keep kids on track but everything is due 24 hours after the return to school -- in case there are power outages or kids have special scheduling challenges during that week (taking care of siblings or whatnot). Maybe this is set up as actual deadlines during the snowweek, but extensions on request.

Are you actually a parent? This is wishful thinking.

Good luck getting all the kids to do the worksheets or log on to Khan Academy.

For present and engaged parents at the elementary, it will be an absolute power struggle as kids will fight tooth and nail about having to do any work on a snow day.

At the high school level, only the motivated, disciplined and responsible kids who already care about their education will do any kind of synchronous or asynchronous work on a snow day.

You all have to start dealing with the reality of kids and adolescents and not what you wish them to be.

They are not small, fully developed adults. If they think they can take the easy way out of something they think is either boring or a waste of their time, they will. Everyone involved in education policy should know this and make plans accordingly. Plans like this are absolutely a nonstarter for a public school district. This can, however, work with small or selective private and charter schools.

If its a struggle for you you need to readjust your parenting style. This is a you problem, not MCPS or us problem.

You are burying your head in the sand. MCPS is literally telling you virtual is a problem because large numbers of kids are absent or unengaged.

As a public school system, they can’t ignore that fact because they HAVE to educate every child.

So doing virtual learning, where they know only 50% or fewer of their students will show up for and of that 50%, only 50% will be engaged in the lesson is not worth it for them. Because it creates more makeup and catchup work for the teacher and the school.

What are you not understanding?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Elementary School: Send on-paper worksheets home. Preferably a lot of them (but not so many that kids can't also go sledding). It's a great opportunity to have kids work at their own pace. Offer teacher office hours (or a required teacher check-in if that's what is required to have the state give 'credit' for the school day.

If it's feasible to send ES kids home with chromebooks (I think that's why MCPS has been relucatant to do virtual til now), then have kids work through Khan Academy lessons at home. These are adaptable. Teacher can track the kid's progress and see how much time was spent. Teacher isn't overwhelmed with a lot of grading on return. The actual work can adapt to the kid's needs so can provide more differentiation than is usual at school. This could actually make virtual days more effective than in-school days because kids who need more help can get more remedial lessons and other kids can work ahead on challenge problems.

High School: Regular online zoom sessions a la 2020 but give teachers flexibility to record lessons instead, or only come online to introduce the assignment and then let kids work offline.

In both cases, deadlines should be strong suggestions to keep kids on track but everything is due 24 hours after the return to school -- in case there are power outages or kids have special scheduling challenges during that week (taking care of siblings or whatnot). Maybe this is set up as actual deadlines during the snowweek, but extensions on request.

Are you actually a parent? This is wishful thinking.

Good luck getting all the kids to do the worksheets or log on to Khan Academy.

For present and engaged parents at the elementary, it will be an absolute power struggle as kids will fight tooth and nail about having to do any work on a snow day.

At the high school level, only the motivated, disciplined and responsible kids who already care about their education will do any kind of synchronous or asynchronous work on a snow day.

You all have to start dealing with the reality of kids and adolescents and not what you wish them to be.

They are not small, fully developed adults. If they think they can take the easy way out of something they think is either boring or a waste of their time, they will. Everyone involved in education policy should know this and make plans accordingly. Plans like this are absolutely a nonstarter for a public school district. This can, however, work with small or selective private and charter schools.

If its a struggle for you you need to readjust your parenting style. This is a you problem, not MCPS or us problem.

If it’s not a struggle for you to get your kids to do random Khan assignments, then why do you need the teacher to assign them? Why can’t you just tell them “Hey go do some random Khan assignments”?

These posters touting this party line have no experience with children other than their privileged, well-resourced kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Elementary School: Send on-paper worksheets home. Preferably a lot of them (but not so many that kids can't also go sledding). It's a great opportunity to have kids work at their own pace. Offer teacher office hours (or a required teacher check-in if that's what is required to have the state give 'credit' for the school day.

If it's feasible to send ES kids home with chromebooks (I think that's why MCPS has been relucatant to do virtual til now), then have kids work through Khan Academy lessons at home. These are adaptable. Teacher can track the kid's progress and see how much time was spent. Teacher isn't overwhelmed with a lot of grading on return. The actual work can adapt to the kid's needs so can provide more differentiation than is usual at school. This could actually make virtual days more effective than in-school days because kids who need more help can get more remedial lessons and other kids can work ahead on challenge problems.

High School: Regular online zoom sessions a la 2020 but give teachers flexibility to record lessons instead, or only come online to introduce the assignment and then let kids work offline.

In both cases, deadlines should be strong suggestions to keep kids on track but everything is due 24 hours after the return to school -- in case there are power outages or kids have special scheduling challenges during that week (taking care of siblings or whatnot). Maybe this is set up as actual deadlines during the snowweek, but extensions on request.

Are you actually a parent? This is wishful thinking.

Good luck getting all the kids to do the worksheets or log on to Khan Academy.

For present and engaged parents at the elementary, it will be an absolute power struggle as kids will fight tooth and nail about having to do any work on a snow day.

At the high school level, only the motivated, disciplined and responsible kids who already care about their education will do any kind of synchronous or asynchronous work on a snow day.

You all have to start dealing with the reality of kids and adolescents and not what you wish them to be.

They are not small, fully developed adults. If they think they can take the easy way out of something they think is either boring or a waste of their time, they will. Everyone involved in education policy should know this and make plans accordingly. Plans like this are absolutely a nonstarter for a public school district. This can, however, work with small or selective private and charter schools.

If its a struggle for you you need to readjust your parenting style. This is a you problem, not MCPS or us problem.

You are burying your head in the sand. MCPS is literally telling you virtual is a problem because large numbers of kids are absent or unengaged.

As a public school system, they can’t ignore that fact because they HAVE to educate every child.

So doing virtual learning, where they know only 50% or fewer of their students will show up for and of that 50%, only 50% will be engaged in the lesson is not worth it for them. Because it creates more makeup and catchup work for the teacher and the school.

What are you not understanding?

I think you're not understanding that she doesn't care as long as her vacation isn't disrupted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The thing is, the virtual learning would just be "check the box, we did it" like the days at the end of the school calendar. It would put an extra burden on teachers and parents (and even more on the many teachers who are parents), extra expense for more devices for MCPS, and it would make 99% of the kids miserable and not really amount to any additional learning. So why?

Oh come on. Just because most kids don't learn as much virtually as they do in person doesn't mean no one is learning anything. Most kids learn some stuff and some learn just as much as they would in person.

That is clearly better than pushing the calendar in June into half days in the following week, which is truly zero learning. Most kids don't even go and there is absolutely no educational activity going on for the ones who do come because everything got wrapped up the week before or even earlier.

It is also clearly nett

So someone might learn something. Maybe.

What high standards you have.

Yes, I think virtual "many or most kids will probably learn something" days are superior to "no kids will learn anything" days. You prefer the "no kids will learn anything" days?

I am sure I will be booed but I would absolutely rather my kids be in school with their friends doing games and watching movies than home, isolated doing mediocre learning. If we are talking about 4-5 days time

That’s what you want for your kids, but it’s not what I want for mind. Virtual instruction need not be mediocre if the teacher is not mediocre. I’ve seen plenty of virtual classes that my kids have had during the Covid period and beyond, and just like with in-class instruction, there are good teachers who make virtual instruction worthwhile.

Most of us lived through covid and remember how awful virtual was. Calling it "mediocre" is generous. It was actively harmful.

Interesting how just four days ago, it was a crime that MCPS wasn’t offering it. Now we are back to the argument that it is actively harmful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The thing is, the virtual learning would just be "check the box, we did it" like the days at the end of the school calendar. It would put an extra burden on teachers and parents (and even more on the many teachers who are parents), extra expense for more devices for MCPS, and it would make 99% of the kids miserable and not really amount to any additional learning. So why?

Oh come on. Just because most kids don't learn as much virtually as they do in person doesn't mean no one is learning anything. Most kids learn some stuff and some learn just as much as they would in person.

That is clearly better than pushing the calendar in June into half days in the following week, which is truly zero learning. Most kids don't even go and there is absolutely no educational activity going on for the ones who do come because everything got wrapped up the week before or even earlier.

It is also clearly nett

So someone might learn something. Maybe.

What high standards you have.

Yes, I think virtual "many or most kids will probably learn something" days are superior to "no kids will learn anything" days. You prefer the "no kids will learn anything" days?

I am sure I will be booed but I would absolutely rather my kids be in school with their friends doing games and watching movies than home, isolated doing mediocre learning. If we are talking about 4-5 days time

That’s what you want for your kids, but it’s not what I want for mind. Virtual instruction need not be mediocre if the teacher is not mediocre. I’ve seen plenty of virtual classes that my kids have had during the Covid period and beyond, and just like with in-class instruction, there are good teachers who make virtual instruction worthwhile.

Most of us lived through covid and remember how awful virtual was. Calling it "mediocre" is generous. It was actively harmful.

Interesting how just four days ago, it was a crime that MCPS wasn’t offering it. Now we are back to the argument that it is actively harmful.

There are one or two posters here who really don't want their summer vacations disrupted. Most everyone else knows that virtual is terrible for young kids, and only marginally useful for high school kids in AP classes.