This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!
I drove to Texas two years ago to watch local small town Texas football games. High school, middle school. I was not one of those people that ever "got it" about how Texas football at that level is a religion of sorts but I'll tell you, once I went,I saw. I understood. It's like the entire fabric that holds these communities together and makes them what they are.
It's actually illegal for teachers to strike in several states so they don't have that unilateral discretion some may think.
Suggestions that schools/teachers take a pay cut if they have to teach remotely indicates to me that the person making the suggestion isn't really interested in quality of education - they're more concerned with having a place to dump their kids while they work.
I was able to see the issues of distance learning first-hand this spring in regards to the limitations of learning, especially with kids with special needs, with limited internet availability, decent meals for some kids, social risks, psychological impacts,etc. The list is loooong.
Any idea of how many are opting for remote? Many areas are reaching out to parents and are able tomgive an idea of how their communities are thinking. ,
Our school sent out a questionnaire asking for input on how to proceed. 83% wanted to send the kids back at least on a hybrid (mix of online and in person) basis. Our school couldn’t find workable solutions to the hybrid schedule.
Are you saying the teachers who are refusing to come in to actually teach ARE interested in quality of education? They're interested in self preservation just like most of the rest of the population right now, and that's fine. But, if they aren't going to do the job they're specifically paid to do why should they be compensated for it?
I did this with the shutdown in March. If you have an old laptop laying around, you'd be surprised at how easy it is to convert one to a chromebook. Had one that barely ran Win7 anymore and runs android just fine (though not technically the same software that comes on a chromebook). That was for one kid...then I got an Acer chromebook for like $350 on Best Buy I think.
Under the directive:
Yes just bought my son a Lenovo chromebook. It was over $400. The iPad wasn't cutting it for remote learning.
I am not sure exactly when we threw in the towel as a country but it's disappointing. If we had the same leaders and voters as we do now, we never would have built the Interstate freeway system, the Hoover Dam, brought electricity to the Tennessee Valley or cleaned up the country's drinking water.The Gator said:
Sorry you had a bad experience with it. We didn't. I guess our anecdotal evidence cancels out. Maybe work with your school/school district to try and improve the experience?
I am sure you can find some schools and I am sure you can even morph that qty into "lots". But on a relative scale finding remote learning success stories for schools is not common at all. And it pales in comparison with all of the stories of failure.
Sometimes you need a big brush. Especially when the substrate is crap or hasn't been prepped properly.
So, not to bombard this thread with the cluster#### going on in my little community, but the City has now essentially said "oops, we didn't mean it." I get it, its a very tough job and a very difficult, fluid situation, so I give them a pass on the communications on this. Still, it has created a great amount of confusion and frustration and, for some, anger.
I don't know what you mean by "on a relative scale." There are entire educational institutions that operate almost completely remotely, pre-dating covid. There are distance learning programs within "traditional" institutions that operate almost completely remotely, pre-dating covid. They've been successful. Certainly they're not kindergarden programs, but there are many of them across the country. The models exist, some schools were able to successfully adapt those models this past spring. Others have now had several months to prepare a distance learning approach for this coming school year.
This seems very reasonable to me. I’m sure it would be revisited if they find it to be insufficient.
My mother tested positive in tests separated by more than 3 weeks. One size may not fit all...
I suspect because of multiple users touching the microwave controls and door handles of both.Honestly, I would much rather be back in the classroom full-time. That isn't an option. My district is starting online. We can teach from home or school, but if we are at school, we have to stay isolated in our classrooms and make sure we do not congregate or go to the office or especially eat with colleagues.
Somewhere down the line, at thewhimdiscretion of the governor, we will move to hybrid (Group A: Mon., Tues.; Group B: Thurs, Fri.; All online when not in school). This plan stresses me out. I'm very comfortable with digital tools, Google Classroom, the entire G-Suite, project-based learning. I've been doing it for the last three years. But juggling an online class while engaging in-class students simultaneously seems like a logistic headache.
My district has purchased two face masks per staff member, gloves, face shields, and cleaning supplies. No one is allowed at school on Wednesdays, to allow for aggressive cleaning. They are prohibiting us from using microwaves and personal refrigerators...I still don't quite understand that. I feel anxious and off-balance, and did I mention stressed? Teachers can request all online teaching, but they are not guaranteed a position.
I miss the good ol' days.
They are my own personal appliances in my own classroom that no one else is supposed to enter.
Quite obviously, you spit in your food and then turn on the microwave, the inner-working of which blows your spit-virus around your room.They are my own personal appliances in my own classroom that no one else is supposed to enter.
We got pretty much the same directives in my district for when/if we open up 2nd quarter.Honestly, I would much rather be back in the classroom full-time. That isn't an option. My district is starting online. We can teach from home or school, but if we are at school, we have to stay isolated in our classrooms and make sure we do not congregate or go to the office or especially eat with colleagues.
Somewhere down the line, at thewhimdiscretion of the governor, we will move to hybrid (Group A: Mon., Tues.; Group B: Thurs, Fri.; All online when not in school). This plan stresses me out. I'm very comfortable with digital tools, Google Classroom, the entire G-Suite, project-based learning. I've been doing it for the last three years. But juggling an online class while engaging in-class students simultaneously seems like a logistic headache.
My district has purchased two face masks per staff member, gloves, face shields, and cleaning supplies. No one is allowed at school on Wednesdays, to allow for aggressive cleaning. They are prohibiting us from using microwaves and personal refrigerators...I still don't quite understand that. I feel anxious and off-balance, and did I mention stressed? Teachers can request all online teaching, but they are not guaranteed a position.
I miss the good ol' days.
IF our football season proceeds as currently scheduled, we will have played 2 regular season games by the time you start practice.
I'm sure they're just buying time to see where the virus is by then. If worse, they'll likely cancel/postpone the high risk sports.
It gives teachers a little more access to materials and resources than the home environment may allow.
In our school's presentation a couple weeks ago, the teachers noted how they didn't like teaching by sitting alone in a classroom in front of their laptop cameras. They got some new camera systems this summer called "Swivl" which is basically a camera that sits on a stand and can move around to view the entire classroom. The teacher holds a fob which the camera follows as the teacher moves around, and it also has the microphone. They can also use the fob to remotely move the camera around to show a white board, or something else they are demonstrating. It can also be used to show students participating in the classroom, if/when they go to a "hybrid" situation with some kids at home and a small group of masked/distanced students in the room. I thought is was pretty slick, and helps make the lectures a little less boring and static.
(blows out) Not trying to single you out at all, brother, but you seem to be pretty vocal about all of this...and I understand...but this post is really for everyone.
I just looked up this Swivl system and read a little on it. It does look like it would be very useful especially for a situation where some students are in the room and some remote. I naturally move around the room a ton during class. One of my biggest fears is that I am going to be slave to a static camera and will have to continuously manipulate it throughout the class period. That will certainly distract from whatever we are trying to do and put significant limitations on lesson structure to accommodate both the in class and at home crowd simultaneously. The price tag on the basic starter set is $1262. Did your school set up every teacher with this system? That would be a pretty significant expenditure.
I’m not sure how many they bought. Maybe not one for every classroom, but they did push this tech as one of the features of the fall plan.
