Kicking off the 2020-2021 school year remotely

 

Hi families,

This is a long, but hopefully thorough and helpful email!

I appreciate hearing from all of you.  I took all of the information that you provided to devise a plan following input about what needs to be included from the district.  I want to start out by saying that I recognize that not everyone might be happy with the framework I am putting out, but I am willing to work with families around the times of things that I can control. 

Here are some of the common trends that emerged from all of the parents.  First, there is a strong desire for less screen time and more paper and pencil tasks.  Second, there was a desire that whole group meetings on zoom be more interactive and less kids sitting and watching.  Third, there were far more cons than pros to using seesaw.  Fourth, there are concerns both about social and academic needs. 

I want to pass along to all of you that I feel like I had success this past spring remotely.  I have reflected heavily about what worked for me and what I want to enhance.  My number one priority is to create something sustainable.  I know that the plan, as of now, is for remote learning to end on October 2^nd.  If we have to go longer, I want to make sure that we have a sustainable system so that your children don’t feel defeated about schooling and learning.  My second priority is to limit screen time. I want to make clear that I said limit and not eliminate. I am a firm believer that remote learning doesn’t equal online learning.  I have created paper and pencil tasks for each day until October 2^nd.  If a return to the class occurs these paper and pencil tasks will be a familiar task which will make a return mildly smoother. 

Each day I will send an email to parents.  In this email, I will include a link to a daily interactive morning meeting done on zoom and a link to a video of me modeling some work for students to work on throughout the day.  During the daily morning meeting, I will work on modeling some of the work and making sure that kids are engaged.  This daily meeting for all first graders will be at 8:30 AM and the district is requiring me to take attendance.  In the video I send out, I will model some additional work kids can work on, do a read aloud, and provide some answers to work that kids can check out after completion.

 It is my hope that twice a week first graders come to a small group time.  I plan on having the kids work on a writing task which will also facilitate a social situation.  I plan on creating the small groups based on what works for families.  While my small group times on paper are during the school day hours I am open to creating a small group time in the early evening (maybe even Sunday afternoons) as I have a feeling that could help some families out.  The small groups that I have during the school day will be on Mondays, Wednesdays, or Fridays with time slots throughout the day.  On Tuesdays and Thursdays, instead of me hosting small group times there will be other school staff hosting groups.  I, personally, found it important to have students be able to interact with many staff members remotely.  I think if students are interacting with a larger audience will allow for a more sustainable situation.

There will be tasks that first graders can complete independently (after initial setup) both on and off screen daily.  I don’t plan to use seesaw or another platform.  I will utilize my school blog as a place to access information. I am thinking that I would have students share completed work with me.  I am also considering the logistics of picking up work weekly from outside homes so that I can give written feedback.  There isn’t a teacher that likes to write “keep up the good work” on an online picture of a student’s work.  I think it would be better to have some written feedback for kids.  I am still working on the logistics part of this.

Starting this Thursday the 27^th at 1PM, I am hoping to meet with first grade families individually to orient them to all of this.  I want all kids to (re)meet me and I want parents to feel (relatively) at ease with the circumstances.  I will be in the classroom until 3 on Friday the 28^th.  I can easily stay later in the evening or over the weekend to make life easier for you.  On Monday the 31^st, I will be hosting a whole class zoom at 8:30 to kick off the first day of first grade.  I will then give kids a task to work on.  I will do the same on Tuesday the 1^st.  Also on those two days, I will make myself available for orientation times for students with their families.

I don’t want a free for all of families coming.  Please send me a day(s) with time(s) and I will make a schedule for times for first grade orientation.  I anticipate roughly 30-45 minutes per family.  Any time between 6:30 AM and 7:30 PM is realistic for me.

On Wednesday the 2^nd, I will add in more work and start small groups/office hours as it is my hope all kids and families will be oriented by then. 

Mr. Lindemann communicated this afternoon that families would here from classroom teachers Wednesday afternoon.  So if you have children in other grades stay tuned!  I am also posting this on my school blog which can be found at https://sme-stevenson.blogspot.com/  Feel free to subscribe for updates!

If you made it this far thank you!  Please go put your feet up.  I am sure there are plenty of questions so feel free to ask them.

Sincerely,

Andy Stevenson