I meet with the Team Remote teachers weekly to address your concerns and discuss how we can be more effective to support you and the students as you work from home. It may be comforting to know that teachers are feeling overwhelmed, too! Nonetheless, we are working diligently to improve our instructional delivery. Here are some things we are currently working on:
Google Classroom Organization
Google Classroom was built to help teachers and students establish a workflow for digital assignments. Truth be told, it is difficult to organize content. Google Classroom allows teachers to affiliate assignments and materials with organizational "Topics." We have been working on making Topic organization more intuitive for students and families to follow as well as consolidating assignments into fewer files. We hope that this approach will help make better sense of what students are expected to do on Google Classroom.
Google Classroom: Chrome Version vs. Android Version
Our Chromebooks are dual-platform--they run the Chrome Operating System as well as the Android Operating System (Android is Google's mobile platform, similar to how iOS is Apple's mobile platform). There has been some confusion about which version of Google Classroom students should be using. The answer is Chrome. You may have recently noticed that the Android Google Classroom app is no longer available. Students can simply go to https://classroom.google.com to access their classes. See the video below for more.
Synchronous Meetings
Background Noise
Remote learning has completely changed the audience for teachers' lessons to include not only students, but also anyone else who happens to be in the home. Background noise is easily picked up by the built-in mics on the Chromebooks as well as on microphone/speaker headsets. It would be helpful if students had a dedicated, quiet space to participate in synchronous meetings without distraction. If mics are unmuted, everyone in the class can hear background conversations (some of which are adult in nature!) taking place in your homes.
Breaks
"Zoom Fatigue" is real! Teachers are doing their best to make Zoom meetings as engaging as possible but are also cognizant of the pacing that is required to remain aligned with in-person classrooms and cover all of the essential content they are required to teach. At the elementary level, time is built into daily schedules for students to take periodic breaks. When students are in school, for example, many elementary teachers lead students through GoNoodle activities to get kids moving. GoNoodle uses exercise science to design activities that are healthy for the body, engaging for the attention, and beneficial to the brain in specific ways. Feel free to check out GoNoodle's website to share videos with your child so that scheduled breaks are productive.
Attendance
Please note that students are expected to attend scheduled Zoom meetings at all grade levels. At the secondary level, we understand that there is limited time between classes. Student who attend in-person classes have three minutes for "passing time." For students learning from home, three minutes may not be enough time to leave one meeting and hop on another as Zoom can oftentimes take a long time to load. As a group, we discussed having some flexibility for students to join meetings in a timely way. It would be much appreciated if parents could help make sure students are attending live classes when they are scheduled. If you child is not attending scheduled classes, you can most likely expect a phone call from the teacher or counselor. For chronic absenteeism, you might also expect a wellness check at your home from the School Resource Officer.
Zoom Bombing
Like Zoom Fatigue, Zoom Bombing is real! Many of our secondary teachers have reported that students are sharing links to Zoom meetings with students who aren't enrolled in the class. Those students then assume a name of someone enrolled in the class and are immediately disruptive, usually with profanity. One strategy we discussed to remedy this concern is to require students to "authenticate" (i.e. log in) to join Zoom meetings. This will give teachers a better handle on who exactly is attending class meetings and hold disruptive students accountable. Please see the video below for how students will authenticate to join Zoom. Note: This strategy will most likely be applied to secondary classes.
Chromebooks
Chromebooks are an excellent affordable option for digital learning, but they incur damage relatively easily. The built-in microphone in particular seems to be problematic for some. If it is apparent that the built-in mic is damaged, your best bet for an immediate solution would be to plug in a speaker/mic headset into the Chromebook's headphones jack. I personally use Apple ear buds that came with my old phone. The mic is located on the cord directly near my mouth. For a longer-term solution, please contact the Technology Department via email and describe the issue you are experiencing. Someone from the Tech Office will reply to help you exchange the Chromebook for another. The Technology Department can be reached at wgtechhelp@westgenesee.org
Final Note
I just wanted add one more note to conclude. Remote Learning is hard! It is hard for you at home as you are doing your best to motivate and encourage your children and keep them on top of new routines. And it is hard for teachers who thrive on the relationships they build with students and are doing their best to learn new pedagogies to deliver effective online instruction. I am confident, however, that if we work together for the benefit of our students, this year will be a success. I want to end with a bit of humor--the video below is from last spring from a family in the UK who turned to musical theater to share their frustration with being locked down. One Day More!
