Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Am I understanding concurrent right for “hybrid” students: instead of two days (tues/thurs or wed/fri) in person and three days asynch, they will now be asynch Mondays, in class two days (tues/wed or Thurs/fri), and virtual two days (whatever days they are not in person)?

Is this approved / a done deal?

It is not yet approved.

It will be, unless the teachers torpedo it. Which they may very well do because honestly it will be a lot more work to teach concurrently. More risk for all but everyone is short changed. This plan sucks.

Anonymous wrote:Am I understanding concurrent right for “hybrid” students: instead of two days (tues/thurs or wed/fri) in person and three days asynch, they will now be asynch Mondays, in class two days (tues/wed or Thurs/fri), and virtual two days (whatever days they are not in person)?

Is this approved / a done deal?

It is not yet approved.

Am I understanding concurrent right for “hybrid” students: instead of two days (tues/thurs or wed/fri) in person and three days asynch, they will now be asynch Mondays, in class two days (tues/wed or Thurs/fri), and virtual two days (whatever days they are not in person)?

Is this approved / a done deal?

Anonymous wrote:I agree with OP - for younger children, this is going to be a disaster.

Yes, probably. But less of a disaster than 2 days of in-person instruction and E days of fully asynchronous.

Three Mondays a week? Nooo.

I only like the concurrent plan if I'm guaranteed that if I go 100% virtual, I get a 100% virtual teacher. I don't want my child to be watching a teacher teach a different class 4 days a week. Our situation has changed since the fall - we originally selected hybrid, but need to be 100% virtual now.

I agree with OP - for younger children, this is going to be a disaster.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No it would not. The distance learning teacher can add in the hybrid kids at home.

Haha. No.

This will not be the case. In my kids’ ES choosing 100% virtual will have a classroom teacher who is teaching 100% virtual students. The hybrid students will have one teacher. Same teacher for both in person and their DL. The hybrid kids are not going to be in the same virtual class as the 100% virtual students.

So your ES split up every classroom by all virtual or all hybrid? What happened when people switch their choices?

Exactly. They'll either implement concurrent or have to switch teachers.

Yup. I am not sure why people who picked virtual think they're definitely going to have a dedicated virtual teacher. Letting parents revisit their choices is going to mess everything up, even in schools that managed to separate the groups initially. And what happens when some schools can have classes with DL kids matched to a DL teacher and other schools have to put DL kids with a teacher that is also teaching hybrid kids? Will people complain that this isn't equitable? Sure seems like it won't be.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Frankly, I don’t think the plan is going to be effective those two days at home....

That being said: why wasn’t this the plan we started with?

I suggested this months ago and was told multiple times it wasn't possible due to technology constraints.

We don’t have the technology yo do this well. We don’t have mounted cameras in classrooms, bandwidth for everyone to be videoconferencing, microphones for teachers...we don’t even have document cameras in most classrooms. Teachers are going to have to position themselves so they can be seen by their laptop’s built in camera while trying to project through a mask to be heard online as well as in person. How to keep the online kids engaged while you provide meaningful interactions in person? You can’t. It’s nuts. We knew it was a horrible decision from the beginning. This sudden shift in approach is a huge mistake.

You are way overthinking this. Sit at your desk, deliver the class like you have been. There will be a Bluetooth speaker and mics. We don’t need a view of the classroom at home, we need what you’ve been doing which is slides and audio. Ocassionally you show your face.

NP. No. Someone needs to think this through. O know a couple of teacher friends who have been killing it in DL. Did a lot of unpaid DL methodology training over the summer. Are doing very innovative and interesting things with their classes. And working a full,day on Saturday every week to plan and make videos and paddlers and slides. Going into the schools with members of their team to dim science lab demonstrations. And who are willing to go back old hybrid. They strongly feel the quality of education will be much lower than DL and really walked me through the mechanics.

One is MS. One is HS. So, I’m not discussing ES here. And I wish we had a separate thread on each, because people are arguing past each other since the two levels are very different.

After talking to them, I understand now that they can’t lecture for 80 minutes to a screen without losing 80% of the class. They are building in approx 50% group work or independent work for each class. Group work is impossible in a classroom because social distancing. And they are fine saying hi to kids and giving a 5 minute summary of the day. But, want the ability to then have kids work on discussion questions in AP Lang on an asynchronous day, and concentrate on a small group lit circle in person. Or have one group in breakout rooms doing group work, while the other works in person the the teacher. mSand HS teachers seemed to really feel like they could make the hybrid work better, engage the students more and provide a better education.

I teach a middle ES grade level. Since July I have been willing to give the original hybrid model a try. I think it would be better then the current DL we are doing. The concurrent model seems like it would be difficult and I don't know that it would be an improvement over what we are doing now. I keep hoping something will get figured out that is better than DL.

In a nutshell, a typical day goes like this:

I open up Meet 15 minutes prior to the start of school. Within a minute about half the class of 21 students are in the Meet socializing. At the start of school I have all students. The day starts with a short student created news show, the Pledge and a moment of silence. This is followed by a morning meeting that lasts about 20 minutes. The entire stretch lasts 30 minutes and about one-third keep their cameras off. They then get a 15 minute screen break before math begins. Some students don't take that break.

When math begins (9:45) about half of the class (9-11 students) keep their cameras off. A core group of 4 or 5 students participate on a consistent basis (raising hand, sharing strategies, putting answers or "S" to share in the chat). I can get a few others to contribute if I call on them directly, but often they haven't been paying attention and don't know what we are doing. I can see some with cameras on are distracted (pets, spinning in chair, loud house, loud daycare), but I have no clue about those with cameras off. Some don't answer because even though they are logged in and I call on them, they aren't there. Of those participating some may put answers on a PearDeck slide, some do work on dry erase boards and show it. The lesson usually takes about 30 minutes and is a slow "teeth pulling" process. I then explain the assignment they will complete while I work with a smaller group. At this point 1 or 2 will disappear from the Meet call. Even though the routine hasn't changed it still takes 5 or 6 minutes to get everyone to understand that group A will be staying with me for the next 15 minutes while groups B and C work on the assignment and that group B will come back in 15 minutes, etc. Students are directed to all return at 11:00. Questions such as, "So, what time do I come back? When do we all come back?" are asked. Then, while meeting with groups, students will come back and say, "Is this group C? What time do I need to come back? I'm done. What do I need to do now?". It is almost guaranteed that some students will not come back for their group time. Some will come back late and ask, "What are we doing?" One or two may disappear for the rest of the day. A good number won't do the assignment.

11:00 begins the Specialized Instruction block. Some students attend classes such as ESOL, speech, or AAP. I can use this time to meet with another group or complete assessments. Others can work on asynchronous work. We have not yet made it through this transition very smoothly so again time is lost trying to get everyone to understand what they need to do. 3 or 4 are usually missing at this time. For the rest of the day at least 12 students will keep their cameras off.

11:30 we meet as a whole class for science or social studies. At noon the students get an hour for lunch/recess and I finally get a break from the screen.

Language arts begins at 1:00 and for the most part students are refreshed, but it doesn't last long. 1:00-2:15 or so runs basically like the math block in the morning. Whole group lesson followed by small groups. A few students participate. Some are logged in but not present. I call on students with cameras off to make sure they are still there and if I'm lucky they have been paying attention. Often I get, "Huh?" or "Wait, what?" Some might not even be in the Meet call. Participation has slowly been dropping as the fall has progressed. It is too difficult to keep track of who is in class so I have stopped trying. At this point I'm relying on the 4 or 5 participants who are contributing and I'm willing to keep going to that well to at least keep the ball rolling. When we transition to groups I spend minutes going over the directions and what needs to be done numerous times while fielding the "What time do I come back" and, "So is this free time?" questions.

At 2:30 the students have a 30 minute break before specials. For good measure throw in a few "Everybody is frozen" or "I can't hear you" moments, plenty of "I just got here. Can you put the link in the chat again?" and "I can't find it" comments.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No it would not. The distance learning teacher can add in the hybrid kids at home.

Haha. No.

This will not be the case. In my kids’ ES choosing 100% virtual will have a classroom teacher who is teaching 100% virtual students. The hybrid students will have one teacher. Same teacher for both in person and their DL. The hybrid kids are not going to be in the same virtual class as the 100% virtual students.

So your ES split up every classroom by all virtual or all hybrid? What happened when people switch their choices?

Exactly. They'll either implement concurrent or have to switch teachers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Frankly, I don’t think the plan is going to be effective those two days at home....

That being said: why wasn’t this the plan we started with?

I suggested this months ago and was told multiple times it wasn't possible due to technology constraints.

We don’t have the technology yo do this well. We don’t have mounted cameras in classrooms, bandwidth for everyone to be videoconferencing, microphones for teachers...we don’t even have document cameras in most classrooms. Teachers are going to have to position themselves so they can be seen by their laptop’s built in camera while trying to project through a mask to be heard online as well as in person. How to keep the online kids engaged while you provide meaningful interactions in person? You can’t. It’s nuts. We knew it was a horrible decision from the beginning. This sudden shift in approach is a huge mistake.

You are way overthinking this. Sit at your desk, deliver the class like you have been. There will be a Bluetooth speaker and mics. We don’t need a view of the classroom at home, we need what you’ve been doing which is slides and audio. Ocassionally you show your face.

NP. No. Someone needs to think this through. O know a couple of teacher friends who have been killing it in DL. Did a lot of unpaid DL methodology training over the summer. Are doing very innovative and interesting things with their classes. And working a full,day on Saturday every week to plan and make videos and paddlers and slides. Going into the schools with members of their team to dim science lab demonstrations. And who are willing to go back old hybrid. They strongly feel the quality of education will be much lower than DL and really walked me through the mechanics.

One is MS. One is HS. So, I’m not discussing ES here. And I wish we had a separate thread on each, because people are arguing past each other since the two levels are very different.

After talking to them, I understand now that they can’t lecture for 80 minutes to a screen without losing 80% of the class. They are building in approx 50% group work or independent work for each class. Group work is impossible in a classroom because social distancing. And they are fine saying hi to kids and giving a 5 minute summary of the day. But, want the ability to then have kids work on discussion questions in AP Lang on an asynchronous day, and concentrate on a small group lit circle in person. Or have one group in breakout rooms doing group work, while the other works in person the the teacher. mSand HS teachers seemed to really feel like they could make the hybrid work better, engage the students more and provide a better education.

DL may be innovative, and my kid's teacher is doing a good job with DL, like yours is. But it's not good for my kid. He needs to be physically near other people, his teacher and his classmates.

I also think that the concurrent model can use some of the new DL techniques and some regular school techniques effectively, including small groups and group discussion. Maybe more regular school techniques and fewer innovative DL techniques. But innovative teachers will do a great job with the concurrent instructional model. And non-innovative teachers will do a better job with the concurrent instructional model than they are doing now. Consider all teachers and all students, not just the best ones.

They aren’t saying they can’t teach concurrent and they won’t try. They are saying it really limits them, and it’s frustrating because they feel the quality of the education for both the in person and virtual students will be lower than DL.

I am a harsh critic on here of teachers who don’t want to work. But when hard working people who do their jobs well tell me something I listen.

And again, this is secondary. I don’t know enough about how ADAs is working or what the plan is to have an opinion there.

I do think they can use the old hybrid model of Ms and Hs and concurrent for ES if it works best that way. Because these levels require different things.

But again, I’m not opinion one way or another on ES. I’m just saying that I look at DD who is only really being taught 40 minutes for most classes and is in group work of independent 40– because no kid can manage back to back to back 80 minute Zoom lectures. And I see that it would work well to do the 80 minutes she speeds each week being taught in a classroom. And the 80 minutes of group/ individual asynchronous.

There will always be one group that gets less of the
Teachers attention I am sensing it is going to be the kids online. So in reality you are getting 2 goods of education.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Frankly, I don’t think the plan is going to be effective those two days at home....

That being said: why wasn’t this the plan we started with?

I suggested this months ago and was told multiple times it wasn't possible due to technology constraints.

We don’t have the technology yo do this well. We don’t have mounted cameras in classrooms, bandwidth for everyone to be videoconferencing, microphones for teachers...we don’t even have document cameras in most classrooms. Teachers are going to have to position themselves so they can be seen by their laptop’s built in camera while trying to project through a mask to be heard online as well as in person. How to keep the online kids engaged while you provide meaningful interactions in person? You can’t. It’s nuts. We knew it was a horrible decision from the beginning. This sudden shift in approach is a huge mistake.

You are way overthinking this. Sit at your desk, deliver the class like you have been. There will be a Bluetooth speaker and mics. We don’t need a view of the classroom at home, we need what you’ve been doing which is slides and audio. Ocassionally you show your face.

NP. No. Someone needs to think this through. O know a couple of teacher friends who have been killing it in DL. Did a lot of unpaid DL methodology training over the summer. Are doing very innovative and interesting things with their classes. And working a full,day on Saturday every week to plan and make videos and paddlers and slides. Going into the schools with members of their team to dim science lab demonstrations. And who are willing to go back old hybrid. They strongly feel the quality of education will be much lower than DL and really walked me through the mechanics.

One is MS. One is HS. So, I’m not discussing ES here. And I wish we had a separate thread on each, because people are arguing past each other since the two levels are very different.

After talking to them, I understand now that they can’t lecture for 80 minutes to a screen without losing 80% of the class. They are building in approx 50% group work or independent work for each class. Group work is impossible in a classroom because social distancing. And they are fine saying hi to kids and giving a 5 minute summary of the day. But, want the ability to then have kids work on discussion questions in AP Lang on an asynchronous day, and concentrate on a small group lit circle in person. Or have one group in breakout rooms doing group work, while the other works in person the the teacher. mSand HS teachers seemed to really feel like they could make the hybrid work better, engage the students more and provide a better education.

DL may be innovative, and my kid's teacher is doing a good job with DL, like yours is. But it's not good for my kid. He needs to be physically near other people, his teacher and his classmates.

I also think that the concurrent model can use some of the new DL techniques and some regular school techniques effectively, including small groups and group discussion. Maybe more regular school techniques and fewer innovative DL techniques. But innovative teachers will do a great job with the concurrent instructional model. And non-innovative teachers will do a better job with the concurrent instructional model than they are doing now. Consider all teachers and all students, not just the best ones.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Frankly, I don’t think the plan is going to be effective those two days at home....

That being said: why wasn’t this the plan we started with?

I suggested this months ago and was told multiple times it wasn't possible due to technology constraints.

We don’t have the technology yo do this well. We don’t have mounted cameras in classrooms, bandwidth for everyone to be videoconferencing, microphones for teachers...we don’t even have document cameras in most classrooms. Teachers are going to have to position themselves so they can be seen by their laptop’s built in camera while trying to project through a mask to be heard online as well as in person. How to keep the online kids engaged while you provide meaningful interactions in person? You can’t. It’s nuts. We knew it was a horrible decision from the beginning. This sudden shift in approach is a huge mistake.

You are way overthinking this. Sit at your desk, deliver the class like you have been. There will be a Bluetooth speaker and mics. We don’t need a view of the classroom at home, we need what you’ve been doing which is slides and audio. Ocassionally you show your face.

NP. No. Someone needs to think this through. O know a couple of teacher friends who have been killing it in DL. Did a lot of unpaid DL methodology training over the summer. Are doing very innovative and interesting things with their classes. And working a full,day on Saturday every week to plan and make videos and paddlers and slides. Going into the schools with members of their team to dim science lab demonstrations. And who are willing to go back old hybrid. They strongly feel the quality of education will be much lower than DL and really walked me through the mechanics.

One is MS. One is HS. So, I’m not discussing ES here. And I wish we had a separate thread on each, because people are arguing past each other since the two levels are very different.

After talking to them, I understand now that they can’t lecture for 80 minutes to a screen without losing 80% of the class. They are building in approx 50% group work or independent work for each class. Group work is impossible in a classroom because social distancing. And they are fine saying hi to kids and giving a 5 minute summary of the day. But, want the ability to then have kids work on discussion questions in AP Lang on an asynchronous day, and concentrate on a small group lit circle in person. Or have one group in breakout rooms doing group work, while the other works in person the the teacher. mSand HS teachers seemed to really feel like they could make the hybrid work better, engage the students more and provide a better education.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No it would not. The distance learning teacher can add in the hybrid kids at home.

Haha. No.

This will not be the case. In my kids’ ES choosing 100% virtual will have a classroom teacher who is teaching 100% virtual students. The hybrid students will have one teacher. Same teacher for both in person and their DL. The hybrid kids are not going to be in the same virtual class as the 100% virtual students.

So your ES split up every classroom by all virtual or all hybrid? What happened when people switch their choices?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No it would not. The distance learning teacher can add in the hybrid kids at home.

Haha. No.

This will not be the case. In my kids’ ES choosing 100% virtual will have a classroom teacher who is teaching 100% virtual students. The hybrid students will have one teacher. Same teacher for both in person and their DL. The hybrid kids are not going to be in the same virtual class as the 100% virtual students.