An Update: Friday, January 15, 2020
Hello everyone;
I hope all of you are keeping well. I thought I would send you a note since there had been a few questions asked about this remote learning experience. There have been a number of challenges over the last period of time.
The internet has not always been our friend. There have been inconsistent signals, a time when it was not operating and intervals when the bandwidth was just not sufficient for the demand.
We have many families who work; some from home and others elsewhere. This is the case of both parent and staff communities. It can be stressful to try to balance job requirements while also supporting children in their learning. In addition, there are students who are sharing devices, another sometimes frustrating experience. Those of you with more than one child know the issues around scheduling devices so that Google Meets and other online instructional times do not overlap.
The above is set against the requirement that there needs to be attendance taken daily and schoolwork done. You may be aware that report cards come home on February 18th. Assignments and attendance during this time does count towards the report cards. Please encourage children to submit their work so that it may be marked.
Staff members have been charged with the task of providing appropriate learning opportunities for children in both asynchronous and synchronous formats. I don’t think I had used those terms in my career prior to the pandemic arriving on our doorsteps.
Synchronous learning experiences are many. It could be a Google Meet with a whole class, a small group lesson, or one-to-one instructional times. It could also be assigned time where students address tasks while the teacher remains online to answer questions. There could also be a flipped schedule that would allow resources or reading to be shared ahead of time. Students would then work through on their own. The follow-up educator time is then used to assist with nailing down concepts, addressing errors and even extending learning. The last part of this approach is called “Office Hours”; a pre-set Google Meet time to interact with students to discuss concepts and consolidate learning.
Asynchronous learning involves posting of work on Google Classroom and the checking in with students to see how they are doing.
We are aware that some children are able to become engaged online and some others would rather interact with a person beside them. I have mentioned previously the importance of relationships when learning. Some of the more positive connections with online experiences are connected to maturity and also learning style.
The Eramosa staff are trying to address all of the above in as positive a way as possible. We are also cognizant of the mixed messages children are receiving about how much screen time is appropriate. We all agree that children need time to be active and enjoy outdoor activity. It needs to be a balance.
At this point, we are told that in-person learning might resume on Monday, January 25th. The announcement from the government indicated that it is hoped that a decision around whether or not to come back would be made by around January 20th; next Thursday.
If you made it to the end of my letter, thanks very much. Please take care, stay safe and thank you for everything you do.
Best regards,
Paul Tribe, Principal
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