Week Ahead: Mar. 2-6

Dealing with ambiguity is definitely something we have been given the opportunity to practice lately.  And there will be even more opportunities in the coming weeks.  As we prepare for next week, it is likely we will not have a definite answer until Sunday.  There are a lot of rumors flying around about possibilities.  At this point, what we do know is that it isn’t an easy decision for the ministries and government to make.  So how do we respond?  How do we prepare?  We plan for Virtual School.  Whether we (by some slim chance) have middle school students on campus next week, many students will still be kept home by parents (or possibly even quarantined due to travel in S Korea).  By continuing to plan for Virtual School, we are prepared for all possibilities.

Your ability to deal with ambiguity, to be flexible and move with the situation, to maintain positivity and focus on what we can control, has been impressive.  Let’s continue to support each other and to work together as a team.

Here is what’s up next week:

Sunday, Mar. 1
*Happy Birthday Joycelyn!

Monday, Mar. 2
Day 3, BCDA

Tuesday, Mar. 3
Day 4, FGHE

Wednesday, Mar. 4
Day 5, CDAB

Thursday, Mar. 5
Day 6, GHEF

Friday, Mar. 6
Day 7, DABC
8:00? Breakfast Club Sponsored by Grade 8 – though we can’t all join in at the same time, it’s good to get back to sort of normal and bring back Breakfast Club 🙂

Upcoming (on the radar)

  • March 18 – End of Quarter 3

Parent Teacher Conferences / Student Led Conferences:  We will be making adjustments to the format and timing of conferences.  This has not been made public yet (as we don’t even have a return date for students) – so please do not share with students or parents at this time.  March 20th will be a full school day.  One hopefully with students on campus.

Grade and Comment Deadlines:  With the fluid situation, we may adjust the dates for when grades and comments are due.  We are NOT adjusting the end of the quarter (end is March 18).  The extension would be to give additional time for completion of the reports.  The extended dates would have grades and comments due on March 23 (but the possible change in Spring Break might affect that as well).

Adjustment to Due Dates:  If needed, a teacher could set a due date to be the day after the assignment/lesson was posted.  This should be done rarely as most students are still struggling to keep pace with lessons.  Ex. a small assignment was posted on Monday.  It could be due Tuesday at 9pm.  Please use this adjustment to due dates with caution.
Posting of Announcements by 8am for all courses:  In order to support the adjustment of the due date, we are adjusting the time requirement for posting of lessons to announcements.  This should be done by 8am for all courses.  Reminder: if you teach the course on A-D and E-H days, it must be posted on the A-D day.  If you only teach the course on E-H day, it could be posted on the E-H day.
Gradebook and missing or incomplete work: Now that we have interventions in place and have been using them for over a week, it is time to deal with the grades related to missing and incomplete work.  Please do the following:
  • If an assignment/assessment has been missing for 1 week past the due date, enter a score of 0 and leave the missing flag in place.
  • If you are using the “Incomplete” flag, enter the current score earned and mark incomplete. This means any “incomplete” work must have a score (and not have a blank for the score).  This alerts the student and parent that work was submitted but it was not finished.
  • This can be done anytime this week, and should be on going from this point forward.
Communication and Highest Level Intervention Students:
For the students listed below, we are intensifying the level of intervention provided.  For all teachers, the major changes are the following:
  1. The case manager will be setting the students daily schedule and prioritizing work.  This will be shared with the student’s parents and teachers.
  2. All communication with the student and parent will go through the case manager
  3. Notify the case manager if student does not attend required Google Meet (as set by case manager)

 

Check In / Catch Up and other Documents:  Here are quick links to important documents

Grade level Virtual School Check in Document

Student Survey:  Survey Summary Comparisons

MS Virtual School Guidelines for Teachers
At Risk Student Check In Guide – Virtual School