I don't count last week because it was just "getting to know you" days (at least for my kids). Let us know later how your child's first day went. My high schooler is on a zoom call now and my middle schooler starts at 9:30am.
UWS gen-ed, 5th grade. By 8:50am we discovered that DC had been switched from a cohort with friends to one where he knows no one. In the event school opens, we will be going on different days than we thought, unable to "carpool" (walk) with the friends we'd planned. And we only know this because they did attendance by cohort - there's been no communication with the parents at all.
DC is crying already. It feels like Groundhogs Day.
@ Anonymous Oh, it's a disaster. It was last year, too, and I didn't think it was likely to get better. I so wish I could think of another place to send my kiddo. But I can't. And the middle school lottery awaits us.
I'm happy that the school is breaking kids into groups of 10-12 for core subjects. Not happy about technology set up. We have a parent WhatsApp group with numerous frustrated messages. It really is a waste of time of so many adults for minuscule teaching.
@Anonymous , during registration, the school gave us a form to agree to be contacted by the PTA or not. The PTA set up a Google group for the grade, and then the parents made the WhatsApp group. More than 50 percent are in one or the other.
We were in person, (Pre-k). I think it's good they staggered something, because there were kinks to work out. That being said, the classroom looks so sad because most of the toys are put away and all kids are at their own desk. Also, they zoomed the main teacher during class, and there were a lot of technical failures.
So far, OK! DS 5th grader (brownstone BK)'s school is just a gem. So organized, he feels very comfortable, everything is working as it should. DD7th grader goes to a huge middle school in D15 and so far it seems fine, I guess? Hard to tell. She's not unhappy, so it's fine with me. She's been on one Zoom class after another all morning. DS only has one teacher, so she's spaced out the Zooms with breaks and independent work.
@BKmom can you say which school? unhappy UWS mom above, also with a 5th grader who seems so bummed out, even though he finished his "work" in 10 minutes and has been watching YouTube for the past 2 hours.
D2 gen ed 2nd grader. I feel like this is triggering my PTSD from the spring. So far, there have been two 20-30 min zooms, lots of "read for 20 mins!" "write for 20 mins!" and not much else. I am seriously wondering why these teachers can't teach most of the day online when no one is in the classroom. And don't give me this crap about kids not being able to stare at screens that long because all my kid has done in quarantine is beg for a screen.
By "teach online", do you mean watch the kids through the camera while they read/write etc? There still needs to be some independent work, no, just like there'd be in real school? That's how they apply the skills they're learning.
Well yeah, that's not great then, although on day one I'd be inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt that they're just getting the kids into the routine of reading and writing at all before they start adding specific expectations. That's based on my faith in my kids' school though. I just don't think all day zoom is a great solution.
3rd and 4th graders, D15 elementary. It went well. Two 40 minute Zoom calls and breaks for independent work in between, plus a 10 minute closing meeting. Math and ELA in the morning; after lunch was quieter, independent reading plus a drawing video from the art teacher. [ETA: during this time the teacher had office hours where kids could seek help with the morning's work if needed.] I was happy that they broke the Zoom calls up by cohort within the class so there were max 12 kids on a call. Group A which we're in had first calls at 8:30, second at 10:30 and closing circle at 2; group B was staggered to start and finish later. The teachers seem to know what they're doing with the tech and clearly have spent time prepping. Very grateful for what the school has done.
OP here. I guess the first day went ok. My son's high school is going by their bell schedule and each teacher is doing 20 minutes of synchronous teaching. My other son's middle school is more confusing. The entire 8th grade has the same schedule so kids will be receiving their synchronous teaching at the same time whether they are 100% remote or in school if they ever go in for hybrid. When the teachers split the kids into small groups without supervision, the kids didn't do anything. Today the kids had an asynchronous beginners spanish class where the teachers didn't post any work. How kids are supposed to learn a language with very little exposure is beyond me. I have to agree with poster above, it does trigger remote learning PTSD. LOL! I'm hoping that the kinks get worked out.
I guess for a middle/high school, following the bell schedule is the only way to co-ordinate that many teachers/classes. How long are the periods (ie. how much independent time in between the 20 minutes synchronous?)
The language thing is baffling when there are free websites like Duolingo that they could probably send kids to, if the teachers can't figure out how to teach remotely.
D2 elementary school. Did NOT go well. Stressful. Took 30 min to get Zoom to connect into the classroom. Then the teacher was having the kids set up their own google classroom, which apparently was a completely different set up & email than last year. Why on earth did they not send this info before so the parents could set it up? Then the kids were supposed to navigate through Google slides to create,upload and share digitally. Kids will spend more time learning to troubleshoot technology than reading, writing, math!
ES and MS. I get that it was the first day but there was not nearly enough work. There should have been a pre-recorded welome video from every teacher and at least a "get to know you survey" for each class.
I am not giving up on public (we're in placement years) but we are basically homeschooling because of lack of rigor. 10 days late and not a single assignment for my middle schooler.
UWS gen-ed, 5th grade. By 8:50am we discovered that DC had been switched from a cohort with friends to one where he knows no one. In the event school opens, we will be going on different days than we thought, unable to "carpool" (walk) with the friends we'd planned. And we only know this because they did attendance by cohort - there's been no communication with the parents at all.
DC is crying already. It feels like Groundhogs Day.
What school. That’s awful
@ Anonymous Oh, it's a disaster. It was last year, too, and I didn't think it was likely to get better. I so wish I could think of another place to send my kiddo. But I can't. And the middle school lottery awaits us.
Teachers are awesome but my son is so camera shy its not working. uws es
I'm happy that the school is breaking kids into groups of 10-12 for core subjects. Not happy about technology set up. We have a parent WhatsApp group with numerous frustrated messages. It really is a waste of time of so many adults for minuscule teaching.
@AnonymousQ how did you set up the WhatsApp group? I do t even know who these kids are on my sons class. Would be tough to find the parents
@Anonymous , during registration, the school gave us a form to agree to be contacted by the PTA or not. The PTA set up a Google group for the grade, and then the parents made the WhatsApp group. More than 50 percent are in one or the other.
We were in person, (Pre-k). I think it's good they staggered something, because there were kinks to work out. That being said, the classroom looks so sad because most of the toys are put away and all kids are at their own desk. Also, they zoomed the main teacher during class, and there were a lot of technical failures.
@Anonymous, I don't think the toys are a big deal, but Zooming the teacher is appalling for preK. Who supervised the kids?
@AnonymousQ they had two teachers supervising 5 kids, and still had to zoom in the teacher.
going smoothly so far with remote - hunter high school
Same. I hate the lack of exercise but the learning is absolutely fine.
So far, OK! DS 5th grader (brownstone BK)'s school is just a gem. So organized, he feels very comfortable, everything is working as it should. DD7th grader goes to a huge middle school in D15 and so far it seems fine, I guess? Hard to tell. She's not unhappy, so it's fine with me. She's been on one Zoom class after another all morning. DS only has one teacher, so she's spaced out the Zooms with breaks and independent work.
@BKmom can you say which school? unhappy UWS mom above, also with a 5th grader who seems so bummed out, even though he finished his "work" in 10 minutes and has been watching YouTube for the past 2 hours.
@BKmom I'm very jealous! And I understand too personal...feel free to erase :-)
D2 gen ed 2nd grader. I feel like this is triggering my PTSD from the spring. So far, there have been two 20-30 min zooms, lots of "read for 20 mins!" "write for 20 mins!" and not much else. I am seriously wondering why these teachers can't teach most of the day online when no one is in the classroom. And don't give me this crap about kids not being able to stare at screens that long because all my kid has done in quarantine is beg for a screen.
By "teach online", do you mean watch the kids through the camera while they read/write etc? There still needs to be some independent work, no, just like there'd be in real school? That's how they apply the skills they're learning.
@a nonymous OK, except there was no reading or writing lesson prior to the instructions to do independent work.
Well yeah, that's not great then, although on day one I'd be inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt that they're just getting the kids into the routine of reading and writing at all before they start adding specific expectations. That's based on my faith in my kids' school though. I just don't think all day zoom is a great solution.
3rd and 4th graders, D15 elementary. It went well. Two 40 minute Zoom calls and breaks for independent work in between, plus a 10 minute closing meeting. Math and ELA in the morning; after lunch was quieter, independent reading plus a drawing video from the art teacher. [ETA: during this time the teacher had office hours where kids could seek help with the morning's work if needed.] I was happy that they broke the Zoom calls up by cohort within the class so there were max 12 kids on a call. Group A which we're in had first calls at 8:30, second at 10:30 and closing circle at 2; group B was staggered to start and finish later. The teachers seem to know what they're doing with the tech and clearly have spent time prepping. Very grateful for what the school has done.
OP here. I guess the first day went ok. My son's high school is going by their bell schedule and each teacher is doing 20 minutes of synchronous teaching. My other son's middle school is more confusing. The entire 8th grade has the same schedule so kids will be receiving their synchronous teaching at the same time whether they are 100% remote or in school if they ever go in for hybrid. When the teachers split the kids into small groups without supervision, the kids didn't do anything. Today the kids had an asynchronous beginners spanish class where the teachers didn't post any work. How kids are supposed to learn a language with very little exposure is beyond me. I have to agree with poster above, it does trigger remote learning PTSD. LOL! I'm hoping that the kinks get worked out.
I guess for a middle/high school, following the bell schedule is the only way to co-ordinate that many teachers/classes. How long are the periods (ie. how much independent time in between the 20 minutes synchronous?)
The language thing is baffling when there are free websites like Duolingo that they could probably send kids to, if the teachers can't figure out how to teach remotely.
D2 elementary school. Did NOT go well. Stressful. Took 30 min to get Zoom to connect into the classroom. Then the teacher was having the kids set up their own google classroom, which apparently was a completely different set up & email than last year. Why on earth did they not send this info before so the parents could set it up? Then the kids were supposed to navigate through Google slides to create,upload and share digitally. Kids will spend more time learning to troubleshoot technology than reading, writing, math!
Ugh. It sounds like a nightmare. That said, troubleshooting technology is good practice for the workplace... Facepalm.
ES and MS. I get that it was the first day but there was not nearly enough work. There should have been a pre-recorded welome video from every teacher and at least a "get to know you survey" for each class.
I am not giving up on public (we're in placement years) but we are basically homeschooling because of lack of rigor. 10 days late and not a single assignment for my middle schooler.