Week Ahead: Jan. 17-21

Okay … it’s hard to believe we’ve only been back in school for week.  So much has happened in that week!  I’m sure that this week will feel the same.  We have come up with an exciting plan for Wednesday to get our on campus students moving and taking advantage of being on campus.  Please read carefully below to see how it will all come together and what your role will be in int.

Here is what’s up next week:

Monday, Jan. 17
A-D
1:30-3:00 Admin Mtg (Molly attends)

Tuesday, Jan. 18
E-H
9:30-10:30 Learning Plan (Pool, Burger, teacher)
3:15-4:30 MS Leadership Team (agenda)

Wednesday, Jan. 19 
Wellness / Consolidation
*MOVE Day
*Student Photo Day

Thursday, Jan. 20
A-D

Friday, Jan. 21
E-H
*Happy Birthday Thomas Lupton!

School Photos:  In order to not disrupt classes, we have scheduled school photos to be taken this Wednesday.  Students and staff need to have 2 photos taken. One “regular” for the yearbook, and one “fun” (a tradition in the MS yearbook as well).  This year, each MS community member will have a mask they can decorate with markers for the “fun” photo.  What is the schedule?  See below as it links to the Consolidation/MOVE day schedule.

Wednesday Consolidation Day: Move It Version:
Huge thank you to Elizabeth Davenport and Roxanne Amor-Ross for creating a wonderful experience for our students on their first Consolidation Wednesday on campus.  Again, the plan is to get our on campus students moving and taking advantage of being on campus.  At the same time, we will have virtual activities for our G6 students and for our Virtual G7 and 8s.

How do you know what to do? 
First find where your advisory takes their school photos.  During this block of time, you are with your advisory and NOT participating in the MOVE sessions/activity in that block.  You will report to C016 (basement of the HS bldg).  In the extra time you have during this block, you will deliver the advisory lesson for the day.  We know that this means some students and teacher miss parts of the day for photos … but this made the organization much easier and kept other class disruption to a minimum.

Second, the overall activities being offered will be sent out by Elizabeth by 12:00 on Monday.  Find yourself on that chart.  You will see where you may have been asked to lead or support an activity.  None should require too much preparation.  If you have questions about your assignment or would like to offer an alternative, please communicate with Roxanne and Elizabeth.

5 Ways to Making Concurrent Learning Work

Below is a link to a blog post with simple ways to build community and involve all virtual or physical students.

Quick Recap:

• Build community by starting the lesson with an online social-emotional learning question activity.
• Establish clear participation guidelines both virtually and physically. – Great Jamboard Template
• Involve in-person students in supporting class tasks – Ex. Have someone monitor the Zoom chat for any questions.
• Google Slides, Jamboard, Padlet, Teams Chat, etc., can act as a bridge between two groups and build a shared digital collaborative space.
• Have a predictable routine.

https://blog.savvas.com/hybrid-concurrent-teaching-5-ideas-to-make-it-work/

I’ve noticed many of you are already practicing these ideas. Keep up the excellent work.

Students must bring headphones to class.

Last week I sent a message via Schoology asking students to always have a pair of earbuds/AirPods in their backpack or computer bag. Headphones are essential if you as a teacher want to use Zoom and have the physical students interacting with our virtual students OR you are the virtual one.

 

Schoology Assessment Guide (Special offer inside!)

As you plan for assessments in our current learning environment, one tool that works for both virtual and physical evaluation is Schoology’s Assessment tool.

The Schoology Assessment Guide is a reference guide that you will want to save on your computer to help create your assessments. Please reach out to me (Daniel), and I will help build assessments with you to get you started. Once you begin adding assessments to Schoology, the process of duplicating and editing these assessments is quite efficient.

Before the break, we purchased a tool that connects to Schoology called Respondus Lockdown browser that helps you ensure students’ computers are locked down and focused only on the assessment both virtually and in class.

Zoom link for Internal Coverage

If you need someone to do internal coverage for your class, here are some Zoom tech considerations you will need to consider. If possible,

• You can make your sub an alternative host to your Zoom link. An Alternative Host will allow the person to start your Zoom call and be the least disruptive for students.
  • Go to your Zoom.us/profile
  • Click on Meetings > Personal Room.
• At the bottom, click on Edit.
  • Scroll down to the Options and click on Show.
  • In the Alternative Host field, add the address of your colleagues and Save.
• Another option is to send your students a Schoology Update with the link to your colleague’s Zoom link.
• If you are in a position that makes you unable to do any of the two above, rest assured that Duong, Thao, and Daniel will ensure the students find the correct Zoom link for your class.

iPad’s Pan and Zoom camera (3rd Generation iPad Pro)

You can take advantage of the new iPad Pro 3rd Generation for those of you who have one of the new front-facing cameras with Pan and Zoom capabilities. Here is a video demonstration by Jacob West, who was the one that discovered this invaluable feature.

Pan and Zoom Camera Feature – iPad Pro M1 chip

Zoom links that require a Passcode

Zoom links placed in Schoology should have the passcode embedded in the link so that students do not need a passcode to enter your Zoom classroom. Make sure your Zoom settings look like this:

Day Schedule

Bell Schedules

Our bell schedule is slightly adjusted to reflect a physical environment (reduced passing time from 15 min to 10 min).  As we experience the day with students physically on campus, we will review the timings and see if any adjustments are needed.  All schedules needed from Jan. 11-Jan. 28 are listed below.

Duty Schedules

Roxanne created the duty schedule.  Please review.  As with everything, we will continually review how things are working as well as updated requirements from DOET/MOET as we go along.  If you have questions about the schedule, please talk with Roxanne.