I hope all of you are well and had a decent Spring Break. I know some of you were able to get away and maybe enjoy some nice warm weather. For the rest of us we have been busy being not busy. Quarantined inside our homes making sure we don't run out of toilet paper so we don't have to go out. But seriously, I hope everyone is well and stays healthy during this COVID 19 outbreak. Continue to stay home and social distance yourself and families. We will be entering our last 9 weeks of the school year upon our return however it is not as everyone planned or envisioned.
Looking ahead, here are some guidelines for our return:
School Access: All staff need to stay away from the building. Teachers should not be coming into the building, should not bring family or children into the building. If you need anything from the building or anything else, please contact me or Jake and we will make arrangements. Support staff will remain on call after break ends on Monday. This means you should continue to connect virtually with teachers to help them connect with students or help make accommodations for our special education or ELL students. Office staff, Sandy, Becky, Audria, Carol, Jake and I will be working from the office only on an as needed basis. We will be available via email, phone, or text. Students should not be directed to come into the building for any purposes. If there is an absolute need to come to Lincoln then call for an appointment. We will first try a virtual meeting before planning on a face to face meeting.
eLearning: We will have a Google Meet meeting on Tuesday at 9:00 am for all teachers. I will send an invite and the link for the meeting will be in the invite. You can participate via computer, iPad, or phone. You will have to download the free APP on your iPad or phone to do so. You can choose to have your camera off or on if you would rather not be seen or your house is a mess like mine. I will also send an agenda for the meeting prior to the start. Although I have participated in several of these, I have not led one so please bare with me. It will be key that we all not talk at once or it could getting crazy. When you log into the meeting, you will see the ability to mute your microphone. It is best to keep your microphone muted during this and only unmute when you are speaking. We will come up with standard procedures for the meeting in an attempt to keep it running smooth. Below are some step by step instructions with screenshots for the google meet.
1. Click on the link from the email invitation sent by me.
2) Click allow internal microphone
3) Click allow FaceTime HD Camera
4) Click Join now
5) Mute microphone and video if you choose at the bottom of your screen
eLeanring Schedule: Tuesdays and Thursdays are for planning/collaborating and checking in on students. Monday, Wednesday, Friday are elearning days through May 1st.
If you are using Google meet to hold a virtual classroom lesson/connection, to avoid conflicting times please adhere to the following schedule for elearning days.
As you continue to plan for elearning please remember the key points we talked about at the beginning of this new way of doing school.
- What standards are being addressed?
- What modes of communication need to be considered for accessing curriculum?
- What are the IEP goals, related services, and needs of each student?
- How are lessons/activities differentiated?
- What technology is integrated into instruction?
- What technology is used in class regularly?
- How can that be leveraged and reinforced with eLearning?
- Provide students opportunities to Read, Write, and Discuss
- Model new learning and directions using technology/screen casting when possible.
- Provide practice opportunities for students - be mindful of what you ask students to practice
- Provide frequent checks for understanding and feedback for students.
- Provide a method for students to ask for help.
- Check in with students.
Grades and Work completion:
Continue to encourage students to complete work. Call home if they are not completing the work. Provide feedback on the work they complete to encourage more completion. Students should not fail during this elearning time. Again do not fail students during this time. Consider students situations and understand that some of their worlds have been turned upside down. Their parent or parents may be out of work at this time, they might have siblings that they are responsible for, or they might be cooped up in a hostile environment. Consider these things as well if you maybe assign a Google Meet. Some students might not be able to meet at that time or maybe have other responsibilities during the scheduled time. Do not count this against students. Look through the lens of your students. We will continue to communicate regarding packets of work for students. In preparing paper packets, we will be sending a contact to send the work to, office staff, and then we will send the work via mail to the students. We will probably include a return envelop in our mailing for students to return the work. Stay tuned for further details.
Continue to encourage students to complete work. Call home if they are not completing the work. Provide feedback on the work they complete to encourage more completion. Students should not fail during this elearning time. Again do not fail students during this time. Consider students situations and understand that some of their worlds have been turned upside down. Their parent or parents may be out of work at this time, they might have siblings that they are responsible for, or they might be cooped up in a hostile environment. Consider these things as well if you maybe assign a Google Meet. Some students might not be able to meet at that time or maybe have other responsibilities during the scheduled time. Do not count this against students. Look through the lens of your students. We will continue to communicate regarding packets of work for students. In preparing paper packets, we will be sending a contact to send the work to, office staff, and then we will send the work via mail to the students. We will probably include a return envelop in our mailing for students to return the work. Stay tuned for further details.
Social and Emotional Learning:
For students: Kids are probably struggling now and it might only get worse. Consider touching base with students emotionally during your assignments, ask students how they are doing, provide opportunities for them to talk or connect with each other. Virtual community circles will be important. I will also share with everyone an email from Five Star as a resource. Five Star, which used to here at Lincoln, are offering their video curriculum free during this time and it could be used for a resource. Audria will also provide some resources on the elearning hub. Please feel free to use these or direct students to them in your assignments.
For students: Kids are probably struggling now and it might only get worse. Consider touching base with students emotionally during your assignments, ask students how they are doing, provide opportunities for them to talk or connect with each other. Virtual community circles will be important. I will also share with everyone an email from Five Star as a resource. Five Star, which used to here at Lincoln, are offering their video curriculum free during this time and it could be used for a resource. Audria will also provide some resources on the elearning hub. Please feel free to use these or direct students to them in your assignments.
For each other: How are you doing? It is important that you also connect with others and get outside. It is going to be awhile until we are back to normal and you have to take care of yourself. Check on each other and remember we are in this together, Team Lincoln.
Upcoming:
Teacher meeting: 9:00 Tuesday March 31st via Google Meet.
Leadership Meeting 10:00 Thursday April 2nd via Google Meet
Lastly, I am sure you have lots of questions and concerns and I could go on but this is already long so please add any questions or concerns here and we will try and address them on Tuesday. Stay Safe and stay home.
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