First Day of Virtual School

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
08/20/2020 at 10:05 • Filed to: None

It will actually be much more structured than it was last spring, when the district went into crisis mode.

The first three weeks are entirely online for all students in our district. My high schoolers have an A day (periods 1-4) and a B day (periods 5-8). The middle schools where I teach trumpet lessons will be doing something similar with an odd/even schedule that aligns with the dates of the calendar, which makes scheduling students a nightmare. The first forty-five minutes of each period will be synchronous, or with a lecturer, and the second forty-five minutes will be asynchronous, or on your own, in a small group, etc. After the first three weeks, students can continue to learn from home (70% of our district has chosen this option, as have we), or they can return to the building. However, students will be separated into small groups, be required to wear a mask at all times, have to stay in the same room all day (except for lunch), and will do the same online work that the at-home kids are doing. This allows for a quick pivot back to 100% virtual if necessary. Therefore, there is really no incentive to go in-person unless you really need your kids to be out of the house.

After the first three weeks, if conditions allow it, elective classes such as marching band will be allowed to meet before or after school, and the kids who decided to stay home will be allowed to attend. When (and if) things cool down significantly, the third phase will see in-person students allowed to move from their pod to fine arts classes or other electives during the day, and stay-home students can come to school and take part in electives like band or choir. Students who decided to stay home after the first three weeks can change to in-person at the end of the grading period, while students who initially chose in-person can switch back to at-home at any time.

I give our district, Round Rock ISD, a lot of credit for really thinking this thing through. They’ve come up with a system that is flexible and makes the best of a terrible situation. It remains to be seen, however, how well it actually works in practice. A neighboring district had to cancel the first two days of virtual learning in the high schools because of a technical glitch, while Austin schools delayed their opening because, apparently, that district doesn’t know what the hell they are going to do. And somehow, I’m going to be teaching online private trumpet lessons in the midst of all of this.

The great experiment has begun.

DISCUSSION (30)

BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind > ttyymmnn
08/20/2020 at 10:14

In ten years, it’s going to be a fascinating case study for what happens to children who don’t have social interaction with their peers. Repressed social skills, repressed learning, repressed speech and language abilities in younger kids, not to mention the heightened likelihood of malnutrition or abuse. Not saying it’s the school districts’ fault or that everyplace should definitely be open 100%, but there’s just going to be huge, long lasting repercussions if quarantine and even masks last for years (as is likely).

ttyymmnn > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind
08/20/2020 at 10:17

TBH, I think we’re already seeing that in the generation of kids whose entire social life is based on their phone. My rising 9th graders spent the entire extended summer playing video games with their friends. Four months of daily interactions but they never saw each other face to face. My rising senior still doesn’t have his license (we’re getting it in October) because there’s no reason to go anywhere. Interactions are done online, though he does have a girlfriend he would see in person once a week or so. It’s all very strange to me. When I turned 16 I got a key to the car and I was gone. That was also 1982.

shop-teacher > ttyymmnn
08/20/2020 at 10:19

That sounds like a reasonable plan.

Future next gen S2000 owner > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind
08/20/2020 at 10:19

I’m not sure it will be that bad. Kids are resilient. Sure they may be hampered for a year or two but I think only the very youngest ones. I think in 3 years there will be no long lasting effects.

Just my guess though.

ttyymmnn > shop-teacher
08/20/2020 at 10:22

I think so. It remains to be seen how it all goes. We spent the morning making sure work spaces were in order, they could get on line, going over schedules, all of that. There was a single father of three kids ranting on Facebook about how difficult it was for him to get his kids all set up, and I’m sure he was struggling this morning. I can certainly sympathize. Of course, one person had to reply with something like, “Welcome to adulting.”

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > ttyymmnn
08/20/2020 at 10:40

I’m very impressed with your school district. They’ve developed a system that allows the most people to do what they feel is necessary or permissible .

They’ve come up with a system that is flexible and makes the best of a terrible situation. It remains to be seen, however, how well it actually works in practice.

Yes, maintaining enforcement and addressing unforeseen complications will be necessary. How do you feel about the steps taken to keep staff safe?

Chariotoflove > ttyymmnn
08/20/2020 at 10:45

Similar schedule here, although we’re in a private high school. Alternating blue and gold days online with small groups. After Labor Day, those groups will move to alternating online and in person. They’ve thought it through pretty carefully. Let’s see how it goes.

My daughter has really missed the social interaction school brings. I used to wonder how my kid would navigate the waters of the swirling new social environment at high school. Now it seems the worry is more about the lack of the social environment.

ttyymmnn > Chariotoflove
08/20/2020 at 10:55

My rising freshman spent the extended summer online playing games with their small group of friends. While they never saw each other in person, at least they were interacting. My rising senior had a bit worse time of it. Band was his major social scene. He was selected as a brass captain this year, but there will be no marching season to speak of. He’s really hoping that band will be able to meet after school soon.

Ash78, voting early and often > ttyymmnn
08/20/2020 at 11:01

Today is our first virtual day, tomorrow our first in-person day. Our kids are both on a Tuesday/Friday schedule, with the other three days at home. I’m sure this will keep up for a couple of weeks until the first COVID case hits the school, at which point they’ll probably quarantine the class, but then they’ll cave to pressure to quarantine the entire school.

I take this very seriously, but it’s also hard to watch my 9-year-old act like a 5-year-old for months on end. This whole thing is just so irritating because we followed the guidance and laws perfectly for months, only to seemingly have it undone by people who failed to comply (I’m including some of the teachers here, who couldn’t control themselves enough to NOT post group social events and multi-family vacations they took over the summer).

That’s my biggest fatigue right now...you do your part, but a small minority of people just seem to mess it up for all of us.

Chariotoflove > ttyymmnn
08/20/2020 at 11:04

High school is when kids get to test their wings a little bit away from their parents. Without it, the jump to college may be a bigger leap.

ttyymmnn > Ash78, voting early and often
08/20/2020 at 11:09

Agreed. The only way my boys will be able to take part in marching band, which they all desperately want to do, will be if infection rates continue to drop. I watch the graph for our county every day, knowing full well that how it does is completely out of my hands. It’s maddening

ttyymmnn > Chariotoflove
08/20/2020 at 11:10

One of our concerns is that many kids will skip trying to enter college this year, making admission that much more difficult for my senior next year. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

Chariotoflove > ttyymmnn
08/20/2020 at 11:13

People are spending so many of their waking hours speculating on the fallout, but most of it is going to be wait and see in the end. So much new territory. And yet, kids are adaptable, if we guide them well, they should be alright in the end.

Good luck with yours. You’re entering a big transition time for him. Exciting and scary at the same time.

WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAnowbacktoGTI > ttyymmnn
08/20/2020 at 11:19

I am certainly privileged that I don’t have to wor ry about any of this (single, no kids).

That said, random question: How are other countries handling their education? Same as us? I know we’ve been less successful handling the virus, so I would assume we’re doing it differently?

ttyymmnn > Chariotoflove
08/20/2020 at 11:31

I had a chat with my brother the other morning. His take is that the kids who are well supported, and would have done well anyway, will be fine. It’s all the other kids he worries about. But then again, they probably would have been lost anyway.

ttyymmnn > WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAnowbacktoGTI
08/20/2020 at 11:32

I may be wrong, but I think that most European countries have the virus well enough in hand that they are doing in-person school. Remember, we have more active cases (5+ million) than any other country. USA! USA! USA!

f86sabre > ttyymmnn
08/20/2020 at 11:40

Ethernet connections are your friend. Keep off the WiFi to have better audio and video quality.

We are in week 2. Seems to be going well. Similar program to what you described above.

Good luck!

WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAnowbacktoGTI > ttyymmnn
08/20/2020 at 11:46

Makes sense I suppose. I wonder if they’ll see spikes.

Also: “ we’re number 1.......”

Chariotoflove > ttyymmnn
08/20/2020 at 11:50

I don’t like to think of any kid as lost, but yes, success starts with a good home situation.

WRXforScience > ttyymmnn
08/20/2020 at 12:05

Your setup and district makes me jealous, I just found out that our interactive whiteboards might not work well while doing Zoom since our computers don’t have the processing/graphical power needed to do both at the same time.

I might just pre-record my lectures and play them in class for both the in-person and virtual students. Our virtual students are supposed to be synchronous for at least an hour of the class, but looks like they’ll also get attendance credit if they do the daily work/assignments.

I’ve transitioned to the ‘acceptance’ stage of coping and have become ambivalent to whatever is going to happen.

ttyymmnn > f86sabre
08/20/2020 at 12:48

We’re already having issues, some with connectivity, some with school systems. I’m not sure ethernet will be an option, but we may have to go that route.

ttyymmnn > WRXforScience
08/20/2020 at 12:50

First day for us is hit and miss so far. Kids got randomly booted from meetings, may be our internet, may be them. Hard to know. Another kid got a bum link to a meeting. I’m sure things will iron out, but so far, pretty good.

WRXforScience > ttyymmnn
08/20/2020 at 12:53

Sounds relatively smooth so far. Good luck on the rest of the day!

DipodomysDeserti > Future next gen S2000 owner
08/20/2020 at 13:04

What happens if this goes on for a year or two?

My BIL and a close friend are social workers that work with kids , even small and temporary things have a huge impact on their psyche.

ttyymmnn > WRXforScience
08/20/2020 at 13:17

Thanks. They’ve got a long break now so I’m making them practice instead of letting them sit around on their phones.

Long_Voyager94 > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind
08/20/2020 at 13:27

So much this.

These actions now will have devastating long term effects on these kids. Socially, developmentally, and their health.

In the end, I can honestly see our panic now causing more health issues and death in the very near future.

ttyymmnn > f86sabre
08/21/2020 at 12:04