Week Ahead: March 23-27

Another huge shift this week has occurred. You are all now working in a new environment – the home office. Whether you see it as a dream come true or a horror film come to life, it’s another major change among what has been a sea of changes. As you start to get settled in this part of our new normal, let’s pass along helpful tips and advice. Since the HOD section of the blog has been dormant for a bit (not that we aren’t appreciating each other and things around us … I think there is just so much to acknowledge it actually is stopping people from trying to pick out a few), I am going to shift it to tips and advice. So what’s one thing that is working for you in your new home office? What does your home working space look like? Send me an email with a tip or with a picture … and let’s start sharing!

To get things started …here is my first tip:
1. Hide the snacks.
This is literally something Andy sent me today (the “she” in this is Maddie who has moved from D2 to live with us for a bit).

Here is what’s up next week:

Saturday, Mar. 21
*Happy Birthday David Rynne!
Sunday, Mar. 22
*Happy Birthday Rick Freil!

Monday, Mar. 23
Day 1, ABCD
9:30-10:30 MS Leadership Team Mtg (agenda)

Tuesday, Mar. 24
Day 2, EFGH

Wednesday, Mar. 25
Day 3, BCDA

Thursday, Mar. 26
Day 4, FGHE

Friday, Mar. 27
Day 5, CDAB
*Happy Birthday Emily Wolf!

Upcoming (on the radar):

• March 30-April 3 Spring Break

Adjustments for Quarter 4:  As we head into a new quarter, we need to make a few adjustments based on things we have learned. I also want to remind us all of agreements we have made (since it was 7 weeks ago that we set this up):

1. The day after a due date mark if an assignment is missing by 10am. If the due date is Tuesday at 9pm, the collected/missing flags should be entered by 10am. Using the submission feature in PSLearning makes this very quick as a paperclip shows up in your PowerTeacher grade book by each student who has submitted.
2. New – When an assignment is missing, enter a zero in the point value when you put in the missing flag. This is a change to waiting 5 days to enter the zero. Now that we are entering the 8th week, we need to eliminate the grace period to create a more efficient system. This will also assist with the D/F reports that we run (since we have way more missing assignments, the D/F report was skewed and hid some student issues).
3. All other systems, agreements, and structures remain in place – MS Virtual School Guidelines for Teachers – 24 hr minimum on due dates, with the time always being due at 9pm; Google Meet schedule will not change; use of the announcement blocks for posting; posting all graded assignments via PSLearning; using PSLearning assignment submission system for turning work in; only using approved platforms, tech products, web services, etc.

Finalizing Grades/Comments:  We will be sending out information about high intervention students that will be having special grading situations and then having schedule adjustments (being withdrawn from some classes). This will be shared on Friday, March 20. Thank you to all the case managers who have made recommendations that will improve these students’ ability to engage in the virtual environment.

Grades/comments are due by 3pm on Monday, March 23. Verification reports will be run on Tuesday, March 24. Hang will send you an emailed PDF of your reports by around 12 on Tuesday. Your verification is due by 1:00 on Wednesday, March 25. Report cards will be emailed to parents on Thursday, March 26.

New Tech Tools/Software/Website Services:  Lots of free products are being offered to schools to assist with online education.  Partially altruistic and partially capitalistic on their part. Regardless of their motive, we have a process for adding any tech tools / software / products / website services to our systems.  This is still in place.  Just because it’s free doesn’t mean we can just use it.  If you want to introduce a new product / tool / website account service in your course, you MUST go through the process.  No exceptions.  This is one of those situations where I would have to come in and tell you to take it down / stop using it / etc. if you don’t go through the proper process.  Here is what that process is:

• First step, see David Rynne.  He will be able to tell you what the process is – and whether the particular thing you are thinking of using is / has been already submitted.
• Second step, see David Rynne.  He will tell you if we’ve already decided to use a different product that does the same thing.
• Third step, see David Rynne.  He will help you check through things like compatibility and all the privacy issues related to students using online tools.
• Fourth step (… can you guess?), see David Rynne.  He will help you find the correct paperwork that needs to be completed and start the approval process (which will take a few days at a minimum).

Course Registrations for 2020-2021: On a more normal front, we are processing student course requests and will be setting up section counts. From there we will begin developing the master schedule.

Evaluation for this year: Again on a more normal front … but quickly veering into the less normal, I will begin working on annual evaluations after Spring Break (on the normal side). We are developing a modified version that will be applicable to our current situation (on the less normal side) – and reduce the time required to complete the evaluation. This is a requirement that cannot be waived (even under our current circumstances). So, my goal is to meet the requirement, make the process of value to each of you, and ensure that it isn’t onerous.