AggieMom_38 said:

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I would be fine with the feel good stuff (some kids may need or benefit from the caravans and such, particularly young kidsI highly doubt that for most teenagers). My concern with these caravans of school spirit (or however framed) is that they seem to be in place of actual education. I certainly don't see anything wrong with staying connected to kids via weekly zoom check ins or asking HS students to provide your counselor a selfie because "you are missed" (this is going on as well). I agree with you that that's considerate and kind and do believe it may be particularly beneficial for some kids. But let's please not forget about education being the primary mission here and not overlook the kids/families seeking learning. and I feel that teachers are best to be teaching.

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Unfortunately, pretty much all real teaching in the state has stopped right now, except the online schools. It's not just your district. We're all in this together.

For what it's worth, schoology was down nationwide this morning...

I just did some digging to look at what other districts around the state are doing. I didn't have any rhyme or reason as to what district I looked for, but tried to get an assortment of areas across the state. Visited each of their websites to see what their "at home learning" models looked like.

I looked at:

Round Rock ISD
Plano ISD
Waller ISD
Comal ISD
Bryan ISD
College Station ISD
Fort Bend ISD

They are ALL essentially doing the same thing. Offering printed packets OR digital resources for parents to access along with weekly (or maybe twice weekly) communication with the teacher. These districts don't have kids on the computer all day with a teacher like some have suggested. Round Rock ISD's at home learning guide specifically said "no new standards would be introduced".

Perhaps it varies by teacher/campus, but I know for our children (on two different campuses) the teachers have done Zoom conferences, posted videos to support the activities on the weekly activity plan, and set up new digital platforms for their students to submit work. Someone made the comment that the teachers should be teaching and I haven't felt for one second that they weren't. Maybe they aren't at a small group table or in a video conference all day, but it does appear to me that they are still teaching.

Horn_in_Aggieland said:

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When did you last check Schoology? It seems to be working normally right now. I had a heck of a time with it earlier.

I would throw in that I can't stand Schoology. It's not user-friendly at all in my opinion. Too many folders and clicks.

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I don't use schoolology at all; I access the lesson plans from csisdathomelearning.weebly.com. You might prefer that route, as well.

girlmom3 said:

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Quote:

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Perhaps it varies by teacher/campus, but I know for our children (on two different campuses) the teachers have done Zoom conferences, posted videos to support the activities on the weekly activity plan, and set up new digital platforms for their students to submit work. Someone made the comment that the teachers should be teaching and I haven't felt for one second that they weren't. Maybe they aren't at a small group table or in a video conference all day, but it does appear to me that they are still teaching.

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It is highly variable, as there is of now and there is no requirement that teachers do anything of this besides answer schoology / email questions. I don't think most are pounding their first for immediate, graded assignments. Just a baseline level of interaction. From what I know in Houston HISD right now, it's a blend online for those who have it and phone calls for those who don't yet.

I don't think any (certainly not me) are expecting nor wanting CSISD to offer 8 hours of online education a day. But a baselines expectation of daily interactions with each of their teachers for an hour or so (elementary, of course less for older where there's more teachers) seems like a fair place to start.

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pants said:

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I think all schools and teachers are going to be backing off for a while. It is not fair to students' grades to continue at the same pace and rigor when equity of access is uneven. It's not just the 5% of kids without technology or internet. It's also the kids with single working parents with essential jobs. I don't think it's a good idea for a 14 year old to have free private access to the internet for 8 hours a day. It's also the families with 5 kids and one computer with the 16 year old high school student babysitting the other 4, the youngest of which might be in diapers. Those kids have almost no chance in class rankings compared to the single child with a stay at home college educated parent helping them through. It's never perfect, but going online has magnified the equity issue.

The answer is not to push on with no mercy. The answer is to give all students and families some grace and pick back up with the rigor in the fall. It's (at most) a loss of 25% of a school year. These kids would be fine, even if it was all review.

CSISD AND BISD are dangling on the strings of the county, state, and federal governments, and they're both trying to do their best with a situation that keeps pulling the rug from under them. They can't communicate plans that aren't developed, and they can't develop plans because things change daily.

Schools will not punish students for their situations by pushing forward without mercy. There is a whole world of enrichment out there for those parents who want their kid to push on and have the resources and time to help.

Quote:

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Relationships before rigor
grace before grades
patience before programs
love before lessons.
-Dr. Brad Johnson

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Hey, these are valid concerns, but we can't use these as an excuse to not start solving these issues and helping where we can. Nor do I think it's unfair to call for more transparency and communication from school leadership. I don't think many if any are calling for immediate, graded assignments where there's not equity of access, but instead interaction, by whatever means necessary, to whatever degree possible for all of our kids.

You've listed a few situations, and the truth is we're all struggling right now. Many have lost jobs already. Many are isolated. I've had friends who are dedicated business owners who love their employees have to shut their doors. I'm fortunate to be in an essential industry (power sector) that must keep going, but that means long days and nights right now. My wife is in higher education and is working harder than usual. We're working 7 days week, averaging 5-6 hours a nights of rest. And we have three kids (and can't call grandparents for fear of infecting them), and now must homeschool because education matters to us, even now, because it helps them feel more normal.

^^^ That's the lens through which I ask that each one my kids' teachers, each start regularly interacting with my kids and help guide them in things to do and learn, even if it's not graded. I've said it many times, and I'll say it again, we're not angry, but we are calling for excellence and communication from our leaders right now. Progess, not perfection.

I appreciate your heart, yet I believe we will reach equity quicker not by pausing all student / teacher interactions until it all looks the same from day 1, but rather by getting the ball rolling and supporting all of our families as best we can now. This gets us to equity much quicker, supports families now, and moves to a point of real education quicker.

Looks, it's harsh to think about, but we may very well be distancing 2,3,4+ months from now. No country on earth yet has successfully tested the waters on moving back to the norm on the other side of the bell curve of this pandemic. So it's time to plan.

Just FYI - A&M is allowing students to either take their courses pass/fail OR take the grade. Most students are probably going to proceed "if you don't have an A, you can select pass/fail". They aren't continuing normally as suggested earlier in the thread.

Wendy 1990 said:

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Just FYI - A&M is allowing students to either take their courses pass/fail OR take the grade. Most students are probably going to proceed "if you don't have an A, you can select pass/fail". They aren't continuing normally as suggested earlier in the thread.

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They are also allowing students to drop/withdraw from the classes without it going on their record up until the last day of class (same deadline on moving to pass/fail) as well. So besides knowing their final exams or projects, students are being given tons of flexibility on how to proceed.

I agree with the lack of informative communication about future progress. I can grant grace in many situations, however I have a senior that graduates in 59 days. They needed these last two reporting periods to help with a grade from last semester that wasn't so great. Would pass/fail be for the entire year? Just this semester? There are too many variables for a number of students that don't fit the "typical" student mold. The seniors have the most to lose. There are scholarship recipients, college bound students, work program/internship students, technical school students and military bound students that need direction NOW. NOW!

Not worried with my other children, so much. What they have missed can be made up next semester. Ideal? No. But it is the hand we may be dealt.

Also, so much emphasis is placed on standardized tests, that there is a lot of reviewing going on after spring break. When we move into May, things get pretty loose academically and then the movies begin. I'm not complaining, just reminding that it is not straight up academics up till May 28.

And a reminder that as frustrated as we are as parents, the teachers are too. Their hands are tied. They are not treating this as a vacation. Most have children who are students too. Was anyone prepared for this? Absolutely not. Will we be prepped for next time if this should ever arise again? Absolutely. In the mean time, work with what you have, make the most of the time that you can with your student and lets all work towards flattening the curve by staying home.

Does Specs deliver?

montegobay said:

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We are teaching at Blinn. I am spending 8 hours a day creating lessons/content and grading. I don't understand why it's so hard to take what you were going to teach anyway and transfer it to online. I taught public school. It can be done for all ages.

CSISD should check out tablets to those who need them. Worksheets aren't school. There has to be instruction. And Zoom meetings aren't necessarily teaching. Forcing kids and parents to be online at a certain time for the lesson is unreasonable.

This should not be this complicated. My sister in law has been teaching her elementary students in Hong Kong online since early February.

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Can you explain in a little more detail your logic here?

Zoom meetings aren't necessarily teaching, I understand. But if a teacher uses Zoom live for instruction, how can he/she avoid having it at a specific time? A teacher could record it for those that cannot make the specific time, but then one might lose the opportunity for questions on-the-spot. I'm not sure that a teacher can tailor Zoom for each individual student time that a parent can be online w/o collapsing from exhaustion. Seems to me that setting up a time for a subject or instruction and recording the lesson for those who cannot be online during that time may be a compromise. Hold live office hours online in the afternoon/early evening perhaps and ask for any questions outside of those hours to be emailed? Or maybe I am not understanding you clearly.

Parents are trying to WFH, but so are the teachers.

"CSISD should check out tablets to those who need them. Worksheets aren't school. There has to be instruction. And Zoom meetings aren't necessarily teaching. Forcing kids and parents to be online at a certain time for the lesson is unreasonable".

i don't get this either. Don't kids have to be there at a certain time during normal school days?

If you want live instruction there is only one time you can have live instruction unless you repeat it on some kind of loop. My suggestion is for all the teachers videos to be recorded and then have a daily live Q and A session via zoom, that way parents and kids can ask questions, the videos can be done at any time by the teachers who may have to deal with their own kinds at home

montegobay said:

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We are teaching at Blinn. I am spending 8 hours a day creating lessons/content and grading. I don't understand why it's so hard to take what you were going to teach anyway and transfer it to online. I taught public school. It can be done for all ages.

CSISD should check out tablets to those who need them. Worksheets aren't school. There has to be instruction. And Zoom meetings aren't necessarily teaching. Forcing kids and parents to be online at a certain time for the lesson is unreasonable.

This should not be this complicated. My sister in law has been teaching her elementary students in Hong Kong online since early February.

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The analogy between college online teaching and public school teaching does not work.

Assumptions for college students that are not true for k-12
1. Every student has a computer/device connected to internet
2. Every student is paying for their college and wants to be there
3. Every student knows how to "behave" socially in an online class for that to work (this is especially a fallacy of this.poster's analogy for 6th grade and lower, and likely for 8th grad and lower)

And a college prof probably has only 1 or 2 classes they have to teach. Imagine trying to do 6-7 classes per day with kindergarten through 4th grade kids.


And the elephant in the room is the socioeconomic factor that society has mandated that you cannot leave a child behind. Online classes are going to widen the gap based on socioeconomic factors.

You can say "why should my kid suffer because of bad life choices of other parents?", but that does not change the current state of our screwed up legislation and everyone must be equal in all things or else the government has failed them and the school district must be sued.

I was thinking about this last night. I'm a private music teacher and am now teaching online to keep my students learning. I meet with each individually on Zoom. The younger the student, the more parent help they need to do this. I cannot see how it would be possible to do this with a class of young kids unless the parent was sitting with them. What about the teachers who have young kids themselves? What about the people who are out of the house working? Or who are working at home and have 9-5 hours?

As a teacher, trying to do this with an entire class would be a nightmare. It just compounds the problems of regular classroom teaching. Some will get it, some will need more help. Some will pay attention, others will be on the floor or on their phone. I guess you would record a day of lectures the night before and then post it and then have "office hours" to answer questions and hope that families have time to watch before hand. Or when we did online homeschool, the teachers responded by email, but it might take a day or two.

Meeting with my students for one on one lessons online is taking me a lot more time than it did to teach private lessons at home. Getting the connection made, hoping no one is late, teaching them to deal with instrument problems that would take me a minute but takes them much longer, not being able to point at a problem in the music, not being able to change their hand position, harder to demonstrate. What would have taken me an hour to teach is now taking me an hour and a half. Plus the extra time I am spending trying to get new music into their hands as they need it, but at least I don't have to worry about ESL, or ARD meetings or other accommodations.

All this to say, I am glad I am not trying to handle a class of 20, or a workload of 110 like the public school teachers. I am grateful my students are wanting to continue to work on learning to play their instruments and I am glad for the technology to do so, glitchy and frustrating as it can sometimes be. I hope the school districts get things worked out, through the entire state. I hope my students continue to advance in their school work. We may have to go to year around school for a while, just to catch up.

montegobay said:

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91 Aggie. Not all of my students have computers or wifi. It has been a struggle these last two weeks for quite a few of them to find access. I teach 6 classes at Blinn with over 120 students. A full load at Blinn is 5 classes. Not all of my students pay for their own classes; a large number are on financial aid and are the first in their families to attend college. Assuming they know online etiquette is quite incorrect.

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It is still different. You have a very small subset that cannot get a computer. Again college is optional and the majority of those in college want to be there and want to actually attend classes so they can graduate.

It is just a bad strawman argument and trying to compare adults taking online classes vs 5 year olds to 17 year old kids is just not valid here.

An easy solution is for the teachers to host (2) live session per day that includes ~20 minutes of new instruction and ~10 minutes of review of the previous lesson(s). This will help to accommodate better to everyone's schedules. Also, host another 30-45 minute review per day to catch those students up who have more questions about the content. I'm not sure why in today's climate our teachers cannot adjust to this and learn how to accommodate more our students and families.

Personally, I feel that it is kind of ridiculous that our teachers are paid at their regular salary rate and now are spending less than an hour or so of delivering instruction. Also, this part about most of the lessons are review at this point of the year is a cop-out excuse. So many complain about having to teach to state testing standards, yet they have been lifted, and now the teachers are given more freedom to explore other topics or to go further into the curriculum.

Critical instruction time is lost because so many are sitting on their thumbs and not taking action. It's not that difficult to make some adjustments and be there for their students. Again, they are getting paid the SAME, and I am sure that many are doing half the amount of work than previously.

double b said:

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An easy solution is for the teachers to host (2) live session per day that includes ~20 minutes of new instruction and ~10 minutes of review of the previous lesson(s). This will help to accommodate better to everyone's schedules. Also, host another 30-45 minute review per day to catch those students up who have more questions about the content. I'm not sure why in today's climate our teachers cannot adjust to this and learn how to accommodate more our students and families.

Personally, I feel that it is kind of ridiculous that our teachers are paid at their regular salary rate and now are spending less than an hour or so of delivering instruction. Also, this part about most of the lessons are review at this point of the year is a cop-out excuse. So many complain about having to teach to state testing standards, yet they have been lifted, and now the teachers are given more freedom to explore other topics or to go further into the curriculum.

Critical instruction time is lost because so many are sitting on their thumbs and not taking action. It's not that difficult to make some adjustments and be there for their students. Again, they are getting paid the SAME, and I am sure that many are doing half the amount of work than previously.

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And again, several teachers have pointed out they are pulling their weight. Just because you can't see them in the school does not mean they are not working. Our family members in school systems are all putting in more hours than ever before, especially with evening and night time meetings and phone calls.

It is not a cakewalk for teachers and I hope to continue refuting this notion every time it comes up.

Governor just closed all schools through May 4. Doubt they'll go back even then, seeing as we haven't peaked in this bell curve yet.

double b said:

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From my conversations with both students and parents (spoken to over 20), there is a great deal of variability through the grade levels. This should not be happening and more uniformity needs to be implemented across the board. Also, in doing so, it may help to relieve some of the stress that other teachers are having who are going above and beyond.

Again, it should not be that difficult and with the right leadership, someone needs to be calling the shots and laying out the sort of expectations they want to see from all of their teachers. Right now, there is way too much variability in the delivery of instruction to think that everyone is receiving a quality education.

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Just quit armchair quarterbacking and basing what you think is happening on anecdotal evidence. You have not talked to 20 people. This did not happen.

nthomas99 said:

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Governor just closed all schools through May 4. Doubt they'll go back even then, seeing as we haven't peaked in this bell curve yet.

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Ummm, perhaps I'm misunderstanding you but if we have a large bell curve we're probably doing it wrong. We might be better off with more of a gong shape.....

Sorry, off topic.