schools might closed down till September

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How can they move to the next grade when they didn’t learn the material of the current grade? Especially math? It makes no sense.

grades will be repeated

No they won’t. The kids have completed 3/4 of the year. Tbh, 4th quarter is almost all standardized prep and testing and “other fun stuff” anyway. And the tests WILL be waived this year. 1st-3rd quarter are the ones where kids are actively learning new stuff and applying it to different concepts with each progressing quarter. 4th quarter is “we have to prep you for all these tests and how can we recap everything we’ve learned?” It’s not ideal but they’ll be ok missing 4th quarter if they have to.
Schools cannot and will not retain an entire cohort of students across the country. That’s ridiculous.

-public high school teacher

Teachers reading this - are you preparing for online education for high school students?

I've posted material for the next units for all my classes on blackboard for those students who are interested in keeping up or getting ahead.
I hope we do go back this year, but if not, I suspect everyone would still move up a grade/class and we'd have some intense classes covering the missed topics and moving onto the new material.

[Anonymous]

FCPS mom here/PP. Just got my first email from a HS teacher with very detailed list of resources/sites and an organized list of concrete suggestions to stay engaged and prepare for an EOY exam.

I sent a personal, brief thank you note back. I found the email reassuring and helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So not only do we need to work two jobs (split schedule so we never seen each other) but we need to homeschool our kids too?!!

How does no one see this as unsustainable?? Maybe in a society of SAHMs like we had in the 1940s. I was talking to my grandma the other day about WWII and she said her and her siblings all just dropped their kids off with grandparents or aunts. And then big daycares opened by the city (state?). It wasn’t a big deal finding childcare. Versus now when you can’t get a single person to watch your kids during the day. Not even for $15 an hour. My parents have always flown in for summer breaks or daycare breaks but not now. They don’t want to get sick

What would you like as an alternative at this moment? What do you suggest? Do you want the kids back in school tomorrow or do you want your parents to fly in and watch your kids? Is it ok that your parents don’t fly for fear of getting sick but then ok for kids to be in school?

[Anonymous]

I am a teacher and wish I could teach online right now. We were told just to give parents the county resources and there should be no teaching. I wish they planned better for this and let teachers do remote training to get everything going again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a teacher and wish I could teach online right now. We were told just to give parents the county resources and there should be no teaching. I wish they planned better for this and let teachers do remote training to get everything going again.

For the next two weeks we should do no teaching. I get it. They want to make sure there is equity in instruction across the county. They have to figure out how to legally meet the needs of IEP students. What is expected as far as grading? How much time providing and completing instruction? Elementary assessment is different from HS. The original plan did have instruction and evaluation under Tier 2, but training for that was supposed to occur today. If they are going to provide that training it will now have to occur online. That’s a switching of gears.

[Anonymous]

I am sure seniors won’t have to repeat a year in high school. Colleges depend on them for tuition and fees income.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FCPS mom here/PP. Just got my first email from a HS teacher with very detailed list of resources/sites and an organized list of concrete suggestions to stay engaged and prepare for an EOY exam.

I sent a personal, brief thank you note back. I found the email reassuring and helpful.

Our second graders Teacher sent a nice email. It pointed out what online resources they normally use and mentioned what they were working on in the classroom. Nothing formal to work on byt atleast it gives us a better starting point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The education of the children is not the biggest concern right now. University kids close to getting degrees - we might want to finish those. But K-11 or K-12 is not the biggest concern right now. The entire world is in this boat, it will be okay.

Exactly. Who cares about a missed semester when literally everyone is in the same boat?

Not everyone. There are tiger parents who will use this time 110%, and then there are parents who struggle in life or need to work or... you name it. The achievement gap is going to widen even more.

Which is why everyone should repeat this grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How can they move to the next grade when they didn’t learn the material of the current grade? Especially math? It makes no sense.

grades will be repeated

No they won’t. The kids have completed 3/4 of the year. Tbh, 4th quarter is almost all standardized prep and testing and “other fun stuff” anyway. And the tests WILL be waived this year. 1st-3rd quarter are the ones where kids are actively learning new stuff and applying it to different concepts with each progressing quarter. 4th quarter is “we have to prep you for all these tests and how can we recap everything we’ve learned?” It’s not ideal but they’ll be ok missing 4th quarter if they have to.
Schools cannot and will not retain an entire cohort of students across the country. That’s ridiculous.

-public high school teacher

Teachers reading this - are you preparing for online education for high school students?

No. We will get guidance later this week but everything we plan and post will be supplemental and about reinforcing already learned skills. It won’t be graded and it will be optional. We cannot hold students responsible for suddenly learning via an online platform when we can’t guarantee access to computer or WiFi or that they have an appropriate work environment at home. Legally, there’s no way to ensure sped and EL students are receiving services and accommodations they are legally required to have with regard to instruction. It’s not going to be online education in any true shape or form. It’s impossible to transfer a brick and mortar school to any online platform for all students on such short notice.

Exactly. Which is why we should restart the year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How can they move to the next grade when they didn’t learn the material of the current grade? Especially math? It makes no sense.

grades will be repeated

No they won’t. The kids have completed 3/4 of the year. Tbh, 4th quarter is almost all standardized prep and testing and “other fun stuff” anyway. And the tests WILL be waived this year. 1st-3rd quarter are the ones where kids are actively learning new stuff and applying it to different concepts with each progressing quarter. 4th quarter is “we have to prep you for all these tests and how can we recap everything we’ve learned?” It’s not ideal but they’ll be ok missing 4th quarter if they have to.
Schools cannot and will not retain an entire cohort of students across the country. That’s ridiculous.

-public high school teacher

Teachers reading this - are you preparing for online education for high school students?

No. We will get guidance later this week but everything we plan and post will be supplemental and about reinforcing already learned skills. It won’t be graded and it will be optional. We cannot hold students responsible for suddenly learning via an online platform when we can’t guarantee access to computer or WiFi or that they have an appropriate work environment at home. Legally, there’s no way to ensure sped and EL students are receiving services and accommodations they are legally required to have with regard to instruction. It’s not going to be online education in any true shape or form. It’s impossible to transfer a brick and mortar school to any online platform for all students on such short notice.

Exactly. Which is why we should restart the year.

Ask for your kid to be retained then. They’ve completed about 75% of the year. Nobody is holding them back over one quarter that is almost entirely about standardized testing anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How can they move to the next grade when they didn’t learn the material of the current grade? Especially math? It makes no sense.

grades will be repeated

No they won’t. The kids have completed 3/4 of the year. Tbh, 4th quarter is almost all standardized prep and testing and “other fun stuff” anyway. And the tests WILL be waived this year. 1st-3rd quarter are the ones where kids are actively learning new stuff and applying it to different concepts with each progressing quarter. 4th quarter is “we have to prep you for all these tests and how can we recap everything we’ve learned?” It’s not ideal but they’ll be ok missing 4th quarter if they have to.
Schools cannot and will not retain an entire cohort of students across the country. That’s ridiculous.

-public high school teacher

Teachers reading this - are you preparing for online education for high school students?

I've posted material for the next units for all my classes on blackboard for those students who are interested in keeping up or getting ahead.
I hope we do go back this year, but if not, I suspect everyone would still move up a grade/class and we'd have some intense classes covering the missed topics and moving onto the new material.

My principal told us we can’t teach new material during this time. Are you sure you won’t get in trouble for posting materials for your next unit?

We were also told we can’t make anything mandatory to do. The county posted resources on blackboard that are optional to do over the next two weeks.

Parents can’t see the pacing guide but you can review grade level standards:

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/standards_docs/mathematics/index.shtml

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/standards_docs/english/index.shtml

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/standards_docs/science/index.shtml

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/standards_docs/history_socialscience/

[Anonymous]

I've decided to "fill in the holes" with my elementary kids and focus on Handwriting, basic math computation, reading and grammar since FCPS has left most of that to parents anyway.

[Anonymous]

I've posted material for the next units for all my classes on blackboard for those students who are interested in keeping up or getting ahead.
I hope we do go back this year, but if not, I suspect everyone would still move up a grade/class and we'd have some intense classes covering the missed topics and moving onto the new material.

My principal told us we can’t teach new material during this time. Are you sure you won’t get in trouble for posting materials for your next unit?

We were also told we can’t make anything mandatory to do. The county posted resources on blackboard that are optional to do over the next two weeks.

Nothing required or expected. I said on blackboard "if your interested, this is what we'll be doing next." I usually have the new units posted before we finish the current unit anyway for those who like to look ahead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: I've decided to "fill in the holes" with my elementary kids and focus on Handwriting, basic math computation, reading and grammar since FCPS has left most of that to parents anyway.

They can also practice learning how to type with a typing program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How can they move to the next grade when they didn’t learn the material of the current grade? Especially math? It makes no sense.

grades will be repeated

No they won’t. The kids have completed 3/4 of the year. Tbh, 4th quarter is almost all standardized prep and testing and “other fun stuff” anyway. And the tests WILL be waived this year. 1st-3rd quarter are the ones where kids are actively learning new stuff and applying it to different concepts with each progressing quarter. 4th quarter is “we have to prep you for all these tests and how can we recap everything we’ve learned?” It’s not ideal but they’ll be ok missing 4th quarter if they have to.
Schools cannot and will not retain an entire cohort of students across the country. That’s ridiculous.

-public high school teacher

Teachers reading this - are you preparing for online education for high school students?

plus, how you the schools make room for the incoming kindergarten students?

No. We will get guidance later this week but everything we plan and post will be supplemental and about reinforcing already learned skills. It won’t be graded and it will be optional. We cannot hold students responsible for suddenly learning via an online platform when we can’t guarantee access to computer or WiFi or that they have an appropriate work environment at home. Legally, there’s no way to ensure sped and EL students are receiving services and accommodations they are legally required to have with regard to instruction. It’s not going to be online education in any true shape or form. It’s impossible to transfer a brick and mortar school to any online platform for all students on such short notice.

Exactly. Which is why we should restart the year.

Ask for your kid to be retained then. They’ve completed about 75% of the year. Nobody is holding them back over one quarter that is almost entirely about standardized testing anyway.