Weekly Update: February 7 – 14

The HS Virtual School is running well. Thank you everyone! You’re helping our students immensely. Be sure to monitor your own health. Please inform the HS Office if you are ill for any reason and will not be at school.

Friday Feb. 7th
Day 3 – BCDA

Monday, Feb. 10th
Day 4 – FGH Adv E
Advisory Schedule

Tuesday, Feb. 11th
Day 5 – CDAB
HSLT Meeting

Wednesday, Feb. 12th
Day 6 GHEF
Divisional Faculty Meeting, 3:15-4:30 (TBD)

Thursday, Feb. 13th
Day 7 – DAB Adv C
Advisory Schedule

Friday, Feb. 14th
Day 8- HEFG
Sunshine Breakfast

On the Horizon

• February 13, Jacob and Tim gone in the afternoon for Job alike
• February 26 to March 4, IB Mock Exams
• February 27 to 29, Positive Education Training
• March 5 to 7, Strategic Planning
• March 12th Career Day (Special Schedule)
• March 19 & 20, Parent Teacher Conferences
• March 23 to 25, IBO Accreditation Visit
• March 28, Spring Break Starts
• IB Mock Exam Information and Schedule
• TOK – The Map is Not the Territory Blog

Recent Notes from Jacob

By Friday, each teacher needs to notify the students and parents of anyone that is not engaging in a majority of activities in online learning.  We are not going to define majority for you as educators, but instead leave it to your professional judgement on which families need to be notified.  These emails are intended for those students that seem completely disconnected from learning, NOT for students that may have missed one or two things in your courses.  Below is a sample email that you could use.  To ensure that the admin/counseling teams are included and can support those students that are struggling or not engaged in most of their courses, we ask that you create a very brief “Log Entry” for the student (see below).
Email ExampleDear…
It has become apparent over the course of the last few days that you are not fully engaged in the Virtual Learning experiences that I have posted to PowerSchool Learning.  I am very concerned that you are falling behind significantly and that your performance in the class may be impacted negatively.  Please make sure  that you are checking PowerSchool Learning and your school emails each day.  I am here to support you during this temporary transition to Virtual School please reach out to me if you need any assistance. Log Entry ExampleYou do NOT need to enter any information into the “Log Entry Text” section, but ONLY the “title”.  We want to make this as easy as possible for you as teachers and at the same time provide the admin/counseling team with enough to identify students that are really struggling in this platform.
Title example using our designated naming protocol:Grade Level – Role – Area of Concern
11-Teacher-Virtual Learning ConcernsAs I mentioned in our meetings yesterday with Catriona we would like you to provide feedback to your head of department this morning regarding the following issues.  This is what I requested from the HoD’s yesterday.
If we had go virtual next week, I need feedback from your departments on the following:

1. Should we transition to a more structured schedule for students.  i.e. During A block from 8:00-9:25 all students are required to be online doing work for that class.  It might start with a google meet with all of the students for the first 10-15 minutes to share the work and answer questions.  
2. A lot of teachers are expressing concerns about assessments, particularly summative ones.  Should we schedule a couple of meetings on Friday for Thomas Galvez to share what’s available for summative assessments virtually and for the group of teachers to brainstorm alternative ideas together?  I was envisioning Humanities on Floor 4 meeting together, and STEM teachers meeting together at a different time.

A few reminders are below, I have bolded anything that is new for Thursday.
Key reminders:

• Make sure to review the HS Online Learning Protocol
• Please add any questions to the HS Virtual School Q & A Document in the 1st column and then Tim, Thomas and I will do our best to answer them for the good of the entire faculty.  
• Provide feedback to your head of department regarding online summative assessment meetings and potential structural changes to the delivery of online learning to our students.
• Remember to post your announcements in PSL each morning, so our students can access and complete their tasks on a flexible timeline. 
• If you are noticing that your learning support or EAL students are struggling please email Kari and Justin immediately, so they might support you as well.  FYI, they are communicating with their students daily in an effort to keep them on track.  The online learning platform will be difficult for many of these students, so it is critical that we go above and beyond to support them.
• Respond to all student/parent messages within 24 hours.
• Monitor assignment submissions and communication with students to remind them of missed and/or upcoming deadlines.  Every Friday teachers will communicate with both students and parents of anyone that has not been engaged in their learning (i.e. no assignments turned in, no comments on discussion boards, etc). You can just copy and paste the email message from above or write a personalized email of concern to the student and parent. Make sure to copy this message into PowerSchool as a log entry, so the administrative team and counselors can get a more global picture of struggling students and can follow up with families ourselves and support you.

Staff Action Needed

• Need more time for unit documentation? Complete this form
• Read the all school Wellness Blog from the WELL Core Team
• Review Check important dates that impact instruction here
• Send a kudos to a colleague

February 12 Faculty Meeting– Each grade level team will meet on this date to discuss advisory plans through March 18 and students of concern. There will not be snacks on this day and we will not meet as a whole faculty beforehand due to our precautions with the Coronavirus. Please meet in your established team meeting areas at 3:15.

Updates from Catriona– It is critical that you carefully read each message that Catriona sends. This information is very important and potentially impacts teaching and learning and other key events that we participate in.

Attendance Taking– Taking accurate attendance is always important, but even more important in light of the health concerns in the community. Thank you for your support.