TJ’s Remote Learning Plan

Hello TJ,

I miss seeing you all every day so much. I know that this has been a different experience for everyone and I appreciate all of the positive messages that have come in. This is a long email, so bear with me. I know you’ve been eagerly awaiting our plan for next week and the weeks to come. Before I get into it, I wanted to briefly share with you the process that we went through to get to this point. As an admin team we collected the plans from several of the comprehensive high schools to get an idea of what others were doing. In these changing times I wanted the dust to settle a little before we jumped in and started planning. After looking at the other plans, we came up with what we thought met some core goals:

• Respectful of everyone’s new situation (kids, parents, teachers, admin)
• Re-engage all kid and all teachers (none of us signed up at the start of the year to be online students or teachers, so let’s get re-connected)
• Expectations that we set must be realistic
• Be flexible

Based on these core principles, we created a schedule and a list of expectations for students, teachers and administration.

Schedule:

April 6th – April 10th

This week we are just planning to host on-line learning on Tuesday (April 7^th) and Wednesday (April 8^th) ONLY. We thought it made sense to ease everyone in to the new platform. The following weeks we will use the second schedule posted.

During class period students can participate in live version or view recorded version later but must complete exit slip regardless.

During class period teachers will be available live via Google Meet and Classroom.

April 13th- May 22nd (Finals Schedule is still TBD)

As you can see in the schedule above, we will offer classes in a “block” format. I am asking teachers to host “live” sessions in the first 15 minutes of each class to explain what it is that the kids are going to do that day, and then give the remainder of the time for students to collaborate or work on their own. We are hoping to record each lesson and post it in the Google Classroom (or Schoology) so that if a student cannot make it to the live session that they can still get the instruction from the teacher and progress in the work.

Remember – mistakes are OK! I make them all the time and you will to, especially  in this new format. I have encouraged your teachers to share their new learnings with the kids as well. We are all learning together and making mistakes are part of the process!

Expectations for Students:

• Students will be experiencing a hybrid class to help them initiate learning and connect with their teachers as they would in a college environment.
• The first week (April 7th-April 10th), all students will have one assignment due in each class to figure out the schedule and the technology.
• Students’ attendance will be based upon participation in Google Classroom. You will have to complete an exit slip as part of their attendance.
• April 13th – May 22nd students will be expected to fully participate in on-line learning

Students will:

• Be a full participant in their on-line learning opportunities
• Be required to participate in one on-line session per class every week, if scheduled for the class by the teacher
• Engage in interactive groups and chats, when assigned by the teacher
• Track their progress in Google Classroom (Schoology & Edgenuity) and Infinite Campus and advocate for their success in every class
• Follow all regular TJ classroom expectations and school rules
  • https://tjhs.dpsk12.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/TJ-Student-Planner-19-20.pdf
• Reach out to teachers when you have questions or need support
• If students have a Concurrent Enrollment course, students may be required to work outside of the scheduled time. Please connect with your instructor about specific college requirements which need to be met.

Students may:

• Participate in office hours provided by the teachers. If there is a conflict in schedule students should contact the teacher, communicate the issue, and work with the teacher to resolve challenges

We will all:

• Be gracious and thankful for one another as we do our best to design, engage and refine a remote learning system that works for students and adults, alike

Thank you for taking the time to read through this email. TJ teachers are working now to get the Google Classrooms set up and we will be posting the class codes on our tjhs.dpsk12.org website soon so that students can access the codes and be ready to roll on April 7^th.

We look forward to seeing you online next Tuesday!

Mike Christoff
Principal