Anonymous
01/27/2021 07:15
Subject: Concurrent learning is stupid
Tbh , as a teacher, we know hybrid is happening no matter if 10% of families pick it or 90-%. If you feel safe and want them in, pick hybrid. I wish more of my kids were coming (I get why they aren’t) because it’s going to be weird having 1-2-3 kids in a class ;/
Anonymous
01/27/2021 07:11
Subject: Concurrent learning is stupid
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Concurrent has been working in numerous jurisdictions and private schools - it works well.
Which jurisdictions and private schools?
It doesn’t work “well.” The teachers are ragged. They forget the online kids. They spend a lot of time reminding in person kids about masks and distance and handling bathroom requests and whatnot which disrupts instruction for the online kids. They have to finagle ways to try to make in person resemble in person without compromising mitigation. I am a teacher and I know many in multiple states. This is exhausting. We will do it but please don’t be fooled because it happens it happened “well.”
Have you experience already doing it or are you guessing about this? Concurrent is working fine at my child’s private school. I fully support teachers, but the claim that concurrent is an awful idea is just not true. Kids in the classroom are socializing and happy to be back.
I'm the teacher who wrote the question. I currently teach concurrent, and I wouldn't say it's working fine. We've put in an incredible amount of effort to make it not that much worse than virtual was, and maybe for the less than half the kids who chose hybrid, the benefits of socializing at lunch, and childcare make up for the instructional loss. In the classroom there's significantly less socializing than there was when we were all virtual.
I assume that the parents who send their kids for the hybrid think it's working fine, or they wouldn't send their kids. I have a much clearer picture of their academics though, and the level of socialization in the classroom, and I wouldn't say it's fine.
And we are in a much better place technology wise, and ratio wise than the public schools. None of my teacher friends in public districts doing concurrent describe it as close to virtual in quality, except for the kids who live in households where adults aren't parenting.
I am a parent who probably won't send their kid back to school for concurrent hybrid because I can still work from home and virtual hasn't been that bad for us.
That said, there are a lot of parents who don't get to work from home like me. Having these parents stay home for a month during an emergency was reasonable, and then two months and three months. But nobody is paying your cleaning woman or grocery store worker or restaurant cook or postal clerk to stay home, these people have to go in to work jobs that don't necessarily pay enough to pay for some (possibly infected) stranger to come and sit all day with your kid or kids while they're in school.
This has already been a terrible year for kids, I certainly wouldn't want to take them away from the teachers that they have grown to appreciate and respect over the last six months -- and the classmates they've started getting to know and have "been in the bunkers with" in this weird time, and throw them into whole new situations because concurrent is hard.
I have a lot of respect and love for our amazing teachers, especially here in Arlington, and I really hope they can make this work. Many teachers seem to be doing okay with this. The teachers I have talked to feel like they have built relationships with kids in their classes, also -- they don't want to switch kids at this stage either. Teachers, man -- I love you so much.
I hope everything is halted until every single teacher going back is vaccinated. That is really the absolute MINIMUM that we owe our teachers.
Another APS parent who agrees with every word here. Vaccinate the teachers. All of them. Then open for those who need it! At least elementary, anyway. Middle and high are trickier with so much changing classes, etc.
It’s incredibly frustrating that we have to choose now, before all teachers get vaccinated, our preference for hybrid or in-person. This means that when all teachers are vaccinated, we will still be stuck in distance learning even after it is much safer to go.
Im choosing hybrid but I am so annoyed that I feel like I’m making a choice that might be bad for my child’s teachers, because they have been amazing and just deserve better than all the stuff they have had to deal with. I wish I could ask them their preference.
Anonymous
01/27/2021 07:10
Subject: Concurrent learning is stupid
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:
In the lower elementary grades, the lesson and/or the at-home students are projected and the teacher talks to both of them.
Upper elementary plans on DL in the classroom. They can't imagine school without laptops.
In order to talk to both groups the teacher has to be looking into a camera, not just looking at the kids in the classroom. This means she has to be in front of her computer. The kids virtually also need to see the kids in the classroom, which means the in-person kids also each need to be in front of a camera.
No, APS does not have money to fit each classroom with one or more wall mounted cameras.
Nor the time. In Loudoun they want elementary in 2/16 and secondary 3/3. They will vote on that next Tuesday. Gives schools 2-4 weeks to really start the prep. There’s no cameras being installed in classrooms because our computers have them. Teachers sit at the front and teach to the device. The screen is shared to the smart board so students in the room don’t have to stream the meet, they follow along on the screen or doing whatever the activity is on their device. The work is still assigned and completed online. Teacher will respond to questions in chat like always, probably verbally directing in person students to follow the response as well. If in person kids ask a question, I will restate for the kids at home and then give my answer out loud and in the chat for all.
Anonymous
01/27/2021 07:04
Subject: Concurrent learning is stupid
Anonymous wrote:
In the lower elementary grades, the lesson and/or the at-home students are projected and the teacher talks to both of them.
Upper elementary plans on DL in the classroom. They can't imagine school without laptops.
In order to talk to both groups the teacher has to be looking into a camera, not just looking at the kids in the classroom. This means she has to be in front of her computer. The kids virtually also need to see the kids in the classroom, which means the in-person kids also each need to be in front of a camera.
No, APS does not have money to fit each classroom with one or more wall mounted cameras.
Anonymous
01/26/2021 23:02
Subject: Concurrent learning is stupid
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Concurrent has been working in numerous jurisdictions and private schools - it works well.
Which jurisdictions and private schools?
It doesn’t work “well.” The teachers are ragged. They forget the online kids. They spend a lot of time reminding in person kids about masks and distance and handling bathroom requests and whatnot which disrupts instruction for the online kids. They have to finagle ways to try to make in person resemble in person without compromising mitigation. I am a teacher and I know many in multiple states. This is exhausting. We will do it but please don’t be fooled because it happens it happened “well.”
Have you experience already doing it or are you guessing about this? Concurrent is working fine at my child’s private school. I fully support teachers, but the claim that concurrent is an awful idea is just not true. Kids in the classroom are socializing and happy to be back.
I'm the teacher who wrote the question. I currently teach concurrent, and I wouldn't say it's working fine. We've put in an incredible amount of effort to make it not that much worse than virtual was, and maybe for the less than half the kids who chose hybrid, the benefits of socializing at lunch, and childcare make up for the instructional loss. In the classroom there's significantly less socializing than there was when we were all virtual.
I assume that the parents who send their kids for the hybrid think it's working fine, or they wouldn't send their kids. I have a much clearer picture of their academics though, and the level of socialization in the classroom, and I wouldn't say it's fine.
And we are in a much better place technology wise, and ratio wise than the public schools. None of my teacher friends in public districts doing concurrent describe it as close to virtual in quality, except for the kids who live in households where adults aren't parenting.
I am a parent who probably won't send their kid back to school for concurrent hybrid because I can still work from home and virtual hasn't been that bad for us.
That said, there are a lot of parents who don't get to work from home like me. Having these parents stay home for a month during an emergency was reasonable, and then two months and three months. But nobody is paying your cleaning woman or grocery store worker or restaurant cook or postal clerk to stay home, these people have to go in to work jobs that don't necessarily pay enough to pay for some (possibly infected) stranger to come and sit all day with your kid or kids while they're in school.
This has already been a terrible year for kids, I certainly wouldn't want to take them away from the teachers that they have grown to appreciate and respect over the last six months -- and the classmates they've started getting to know and have "been in the bunkers with" in this weird time, and throw them into whole new situations because concurrent is hard.
I have a lot of respect and love for our amazing teachers, especially here in Arlington, and I really hope they can make this work. Many teachers seem to be doing okay with this. The teachers I have talked to feel like they have built relationships with kids in their classes, also -- they don't want to switch kids at this stage either. Teachers, man -- I love you so much.
I hope everything is halted until every single teacher going back is vaccinated. That is really the absolute MINIMUM that we owe our teachers.
Another APS parent who agrees with every word here. Vaccinate the teachers. All of them. Then open for those who need it! At least elementary, anyway. Middle and high are trickier with so much changing classes, etc.
Anonymous
01/26/2021 21:56
Subject: Concurrent learning is stupid
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Concurrent has been working in numerous jurisdictions and private schools - it works well.
Which jurisdictions and private schools?
It doesn’t work “well.” The teachers are ragged. They forget the online kids. They spend a lot of time reminding in person kids about masks and distance and handling bathroom requests and whatnot which disrupts instruction for the online kids. They have to finagle ways to try to make in person resemble in person without compromising mitigation. I am a teacher and I know many in multiple states. This is exhausting. We will do it but please don’t be fooled because it happens it happened “well.”
Have you experience already doing it or are you guessing about this? Concurrent is working fine at my child’s private school. I fully support teachers, but the claim that concurrent is an awful idea is just not true. Kids in the classroom are socializing and happy to be back.
I'm the teacher who wrote the question. I currently teach concurrent, and I wouldn't say it's working fine. We've put in an incredible amount of effort to make it not that much worse than virtual was, and maybe for the less than half the kids who chose hybrid, the benefits of socializing at lunch, and childcare make up for the instructional loss. In the classroom there's significantly less socializing than there was when we were all virtual.
I assume that the parents who send their kids for the hybrid think it's working fine, or they wouldn't send their kids. I have a much clearer picture of their academics though, and the level of socialization in the classroom, and I wouldn't say it's fine.
And we are in a much better place technology wise, and ratio wise than the public schools. None of my teacher friends in public districts doing concurrent describe it as close to virtual in quality, except for the kids who live in households where adults aren't parenting.
I am a parent who probably won't send their kid back to school for concurrent hybrid because I can still work from home and virtual hasn't been that bad for us.
That said, there are a lot of parents who don't get to work from home like me. Having these parents stay home for a month during an emergency was reasonable, and then two months and three months. But nobody is paying your cleaning woman or grocery store worker or restaurant cook or postal clerk to stay home, these people have to go in to work jobs that don't necessarily pay enough to pay for some (possibly infected) stranger to come and sit all day with your kid or kids while they're in school.
This has already been a terrible year for kids, I certainly wouldn't want to take them away from the teachers that they have grown to appreciate and respect over the last six months -- and the classmates they've started getting to know and have "been in the bunkers with" in this weird time, and throw them into whole new situations because concurrent is hard.
I have a lot of respect and love for our amazing teachers, especially here in Arlington, and I really hope they can make this work. Many teachers seem to be doing okay with this. The teachers I have talked to feel like they have built relationships with kids in their classes, also -- they don't want to switch kids at this stage either. Teachers, man -- I love you so much.
I hope everything is halted until every single teacher going back is vaccinated. That is really the absolute MINIMUM that we owe our teachers.
Anonymous
01/26/2021 21:32
Subject: Concurrent learning is stupid
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Concurrent has been working in numerous jurisdictions and private schools - it works well.
Which jurisdictions and private schools?
It doesn’t work “well.” The teachers are ragged. They forget the online kids. They spend a lot of time reminding in person kids about masks and distance and handling bathroom requests and whatnot which disrupts instruction for the online kids. They have to finagle ways to try to make in person resemble in person without compromising mitigation. I am a teacher and I know many in multiple states. This is exhausting. We will do it but please don’t be fooled because it happens it happened “well.”
Have you experience already doing it or are you guessing about this? Concurrent is working fine at my child’s private school. I fully support teachers, but the claim that concurrent is an awful idea is just not true. Kids in the classroom are socializing and happy to be back.
I'm the teacher who wrote the question. I currently teach concurrent, and I wouldn't say it's working fine. We've put in an incredible amount of effort to make it not that much worse than virtual was, and maybe for the less than half the kids who chose hybrid, the benefits of socializing at lunch, and childcare make up for the instructional loss. In the classroom there's significantly less socializing than there was when we were all virtual.
I assume that the parents who send their kids for the hybrid think it's working fine, or they wouldn't send their kids. I have a much clearer picture of their academics though, and the level of socialization in the classroom, and I wouldn't say it's fine.
And we are in a much better place technology wise, and ratio wise than the public schools. None of my teacher friends in public districts doing concurrent describe it as close to virtual in quality, except for the kids who live in households where adults aren't parenting.
Anonymous
01/26/2021 21:11
Subject: Concurrent learning is stupid
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:With concurrent hybrid the majority of kids will ALWAYS be online. Even at 80% hybrid schools. Do the math! On any day, 60% of the kids will be home.
No, that's not how math works.
Our ES put as many virtual kids as possible in full virtual classrooms and had either all-in-person classes (split in half) or half-in-person (all coming on the same 2 days) half-virtual classes. That way no one type of student outnumbers the other type by a ton.
Unfortunately that didn’t work for all classes. My school is doing the same, but since we are local level IV center we only have 1 aap teacher per grade. In my grade only 5 kids chose in person, 4 of them are kids of staff members so they will be in person 4 days a week. Not
Looking forward to having 21 only and 5 in person. Luckily my kids are obviously capable since they are in aap (and no I didn’t protest going back, I teach from my empty classroom every day.)
I am in same boat. AAP teacher. I will have 4 kids per day and the rest will be online.
Anonymous
01/26/2021 20:55
Subject: Concurrent learning is stupid
This is pp. I meant in my class, not grade 
Anonymous
01/26/2021 20:54
Subject: Concurrent learning is stupid
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:With concurrent hybrid the majority of kids will ALWAYS be online. Even at 80% hybrid schools. Do the math! On any day, 60% of the kids will be home.
No, that's not how math works.
Our ES put as many virtual kids as possible in full virtual classrooms and had either all-in-person classes (split in half) or half-in-person (all coming on the same 2 days) half-virtual classes. That way no one type of student outnumbers the other type by a ton.
Unfortunately that didn’t work for all classes. My school is doing the same, but since we are local level IV center we only have 1 aap teacher per grade. In my grade only 5 kids chose in person, 4 of them are kids of staff members so they will be in person 4 days a week. Not
Looking forward to having 21 only and 5 in person. Luckily my kids are obviously capable since they are in aap (and no I didn’t protest going back, I teach from my empty classroom every day.)
Anonymous
01/26/2021 20:34
Subject: Concurrent learning is stupid
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Please explain what concurrent learning is?
Some kids stay home and log in. Some kids come to the classroom and log in . We teach both groups at the exact same time.
Fixed it for you (in bold), which is what makes it stupid.
And how do you suggest we make concurrent better. I'm not talking about in person instruction. I'm not talking about hybrid. I'm talking about concurrent. How would you improve it?
You can’t. You have to cater live students and those at home. That can only happen with screens. For all. #equity
Anonymous
01/26/2021 20:33
Subject: Concurrent learning is stupid
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Please explain what concurrent learning is?
Some kids stay home and log in. Some kids come to the classroom and log in . We teach both groups at the exact same time.
Fixed it for you (in bold), which is what makes it stupid.
And how do you suggest we make concurrent better. I'm not talking about in person instruction. I'm not talking about hybrid. I'm talking about concurrent. How would you improve it?
In the lower elementary grades, the lesson and/or the at-home students are projected and the teacher talks to both of them.
Upper elementary plans on DL in the classroom. They can't imagine school without laptops.
Anonymous
01/26/2021 20:31
Subject: Concurrent learning is stupid
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Please explain what concurrent learning is?
Some kids stay home and log in. Some kids come to the classroom and log in . We teach both groups at the exact same time.
Fixed it for you (in bold), which is what makes it stupid.
And how do you suggest we make concurrent better. I'm not talking about in person instruction. I'm not talking about hybrid. I'm talking about concurrent. How would you improve it?
Anonymous
01/26/2021 20:22
Subject: Concurrent learning is stupid
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Please explain what concurrent learning is?
Some kids stay home and log in. Some kids come to the classroom and log in . We teach both groups at the exact same time.
Fixed it for you (in bold), which is what makes it stupid.
You seem to lack vocabulary, and imagination.
Anonymous
01/26/2021 20:10
Subject: Concurrent learning is stupid
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:With concurrent hybrid the majority of kids will ALWAYS be online. Even at 80% hybrid schools. Do the math! On any day, 60% of the kids will be home.
No, that's not how math works.
Our ES put as many virtual kids as possible in full virtual classrooms and had either all-in-person classes (split in half) or half-in-person (all coming on the same 2 days) half-virtual classes. That way no one type of student outnumbers the other type by a ton.