Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids get bored and restless when the teachers have to go over the technology stuff/directions several times- but to be honest, that stuff probably happens in "normal" school too. When they are actually giving the lesson, my kids are focused and engaged. I think the teachers are doing a great job in presenting the information/materials so far. Its that beginning of class and end of class housekeeping that is frustrating.

This was my experience as a teacher. The beginning of the year is horribly boring for kids AND teachers. Kids really want to be busy and do work, so once actual learning and assignments take place I hope it will get better! The beginning of the year is always bad and boring, parents just never got to see it on display before!

I keep thinking this. But I think it's extra hard this year because there are more tech procedures to learn and much less fun learning it!

+1

To the teacher comment above, and yes it is more boring on the computer. The first few days of school are a necessary evil to set up the rest of the year. But I am worried school will just be a bit more boring in general because it’s virtual.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids get bored and restless when the teachers have to go over the technology stuff/directions several times- but to be honest, that stuff probably happens in "normal" school too. When they are actually giving the lesson, my kids are focused and engaged. I think the teachers are doing a great job in presenting the information/materials so far. Its that beginning of class and end of class housekeeping that is frustrating.

This was my experience as a teacher. The beginning of the year is horribly boring for kids AND teachers. Kids really want to be busy and do work, so once actual learning and assignments take place I hope it will get better! The beginning of the year is always bad and boring, parents just never got to see it on display before!

I keep thinking this. But I think it's extra hard this year because there are more tech procedures to learn and much less fun learning it!

Anonymous wrote:My kids get bored and restless when the teachers have to go over the technology stuff/directions several times- but to be honest, that stuff probably happens in "normal" school too. When they are actually giving the lesson, my kids are focused and engaged. I think the teachers are doing a great job in presenting the information/materials so far. Its that beginning of class and end of class housekeeping that is frustrating.

This was my experience as a teacher. The beginning of the year is horribly boring for kids AND teachers. Kids really want to be busy and do work, so once actual learning and assignments take place I hope it will get better! The beginning of the year is always bad and boring, parents just never got to see it on display before!

Anonymous wrote:My kids get bored and restless when the teachers have to go over the technology stuff/directions several times- but to be honest, that stuff probably happens in "normal" school too. When they are actually giving the lesson, my kids are focused and engaged. I think the teachers are doing a great job in presenting the information/materials so far. Its that beginning of class and end of class housekeeping that is frustrating.

I expect the housekeeping is less boring when you are in the classroom — and when leaving is not an option.

But at least your school is teaching stuff! Ours is still just doing SEL.

My kids get bored and restless when the teachers have to go over the technology stuff/directions several times- but to be honest, that stuff probably happens in "normal" school too. When they are actually giving the lesson, my kids are focused and engaged. I think the teachers are doing a great job in presenting the information/materials so far. Its that beginning of class and end of class housekeeping that is frustrating.

I just checked on my second grader and she had her head down on the desk with a blanket over her head. Its her spanish day and its super boring and the teacher is showing videos of farm animals and ABCs. things she learned in PK3 at her immersion school. I am researching private in person schools and PODS now. I think the teachers are doing the best they can but this is not natural.

Awful. My 3rd grader cannot and will not sit still in front of a screen. Refuses to stay focused. Too many distractions - chat windows, etc.

I’m about ready to cry. Sigh.

Anonymous wrote:Awful. Turns out all my daughter's 'friends' are in a pod together in their neighborhood (which I understand, but, super super painful to watch a 4th grader just realize school no longer has a social place for her).

I'm hoping there is some amazing content and teaching, because first day was just the most boring meetings ever. Let her turn off the video and play with legos while the meetings went on in the background. Good prep for work zoom calls

Did you ask if your daughter can join the pod? And if not, can she make another one with different friends?

I wish they would do the stronger academics first thing and the "soft" community building type stuff later. My son has been sitting up, with headphones at his desk for over and hour to just hear the other kids talk about their dogs and legos. By the time math starts, he'll be completely exhausted.

Anonymous wrote:No complaints here. Teachers and students were great. Everything went smoothly.

2nd grade, Hyde-Addison

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is an update for teams that allows you to see everyone in “preview mode”. Google - teams update. The July 31st update walks you though how to do it. Share the info w your teacher . I’m a teacher and just found it today!

This is a great tip, but I just tried to do and and couldn’t locate it. Did you find this in Settings-General on the actual app? What kind of computer do you have?

I was just able to do it, have an HP laptop.

[from https://petri.com/understanding-the-new-teams-meeting-features-and-experience]

You can enable the new meeting and calling experience by opening the Teams desktop client options page, then choosing to Turn on new meeting experience. You’ll then need to quit (rather than simply close) Teams and re-launch the client.

Image #2

Figure 2: Enabling the new meeting and calling experience (Image credit: Steve Goodman)
With the update enabled, joining or starting a meeting will open a new window. As part of moving to pop-out windows, Microsoft has moved the underlying architecture in the Teams client to use their new React.js renderer, effectively re-writing the meeting engine in Teams to provide a better experience, and according to Microsoft, a foundation that will support CPU/GPU and memory usage improvements.

The new meeting and calling experience changes the experience in Teams meetings significantly. Meeting controls move from auto-hiding controls superimposed over the video feed to the top of the meeting window, with key controls extending from the right-hand side.

Views for Teams meetings, such as Together Mode, Large Gallery view, Gallery view and Focus will all show under the more actions button. These show as greyed out until the criteria for enabling them has been met.

Gallery view is the default for meetings – so will always be available. Together mode is available once 5 people including the organizer have joined the meeting, Large Gallery view is available as soon as a meeting has 10 joined participants and Focus is available when control, such as a screen or PowerPoint presentation is shared.


After making this selection you have to quit Teams and open again. When you’re in a meeting, click the “... more” options and you should see the “large gallery” option, but it might be disabled if there are fewer than 10 attendees. Good luck!

Anonymous wrote:11:32 here and I'd say for grades 4 and under should have in person instruction while others do DL.

+1000

We have 3 kids in grades K-2 and it is terrible. The teachers are amazing but at this age (or at least our kids), someone needs to be nearby and assisting all the time (teachers are constantly calling on the parents to help more and unmute their kids in K). And trying to keep 3 kids on their different schedules is a lot. I have no idea how we are supposed to be able to work. It is what it is but so far is as challenging as I had imagined!

Anonymous wrote:There is an update for teams that allows you to see everyone in “preview mode”. Google - teams update. The July 31st update walks you though how to do it. Share the info w your teacher . I’m a teacher and just found it today!

This is a great tip, but I just tried to do and and couldn’t locate it. Did you find this in Settings-General on the actual app? What kind of computer do you have?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had a rocky start, but I’m optimistic. My kid’s K class has 27 kids, which surprised me. I thought it would be lower, but this is our first foray into DCPS.

That’s too large. What school? Has to be WOTP.

EOTP, don’t really feel comfortable sharing the school, but glad to know it’s not the norm

We had a pretty good day overall. To be fair, my expectations were very low to start. My 4th grader had a great day - her teachers are very engaging and she was pretty independent. We wrote down her schedule and she set a timer for her breaks. My 2nd grader had an ok day. He was a little bored, but it's a lot of getting to know Canvas/apps/etc. He had a lot of breaks which were helpful to get him moving outside. So, it was still pretty hands on for me, but I think that's to be expected for his grade.

We did set them up with their own school space - the 4th grader is at a desk in her room and we have a table set up in the basement with a parent nearby for the 2nd grader. I think that helped them focus better and get less distracted.