My kids (NYC) started school today. To keep teachers separate, part of their day is on zoom anyways. Because everyone has the option of being remote, parents are able to view classes, live whenever they want and a few are spending the morning "sitting in" on class. Our covid check in app is not working well.
private? what do you mean part pf their day is on zoom? so the kids are in school but watching teachers on zoom while in the same school?
yes, because many classes share the same teacher (science, art, math, etc) and some teachers are home because of medical issues. So they are zooming into those classes while in school. It's not ideal, but I guess it makes sense.
This is what is going to happen at our D2 middle school. The kids stay in one classroom all day with one teacher and the others teachers will be piped in on a screen. A lot of schools will be doing this.
I think this is inevitable. Our school also has some teachers working remotely due to medical issues, so their classes will be via Zoom. And other small(er) group work will be sometimes done remotely even if they are in school.
We are on hybrid here in Vermont. Kids (K and 2nd grade) were given chrome books which didn’t work to check in for morning online meeting. My friend’s daughter is in 1st and checked in okay, but the teacher signed off abruptly at the end of the zoom meeting (presumably to deal with the in-person students), and her daughter burst into tears.
Our infection rate here in our district is at or less than 0.1%. I know it’s only day 1, but this system is not serving our children well - particularly our youngest.
It’s so important that teachers be well trained in how to make the virtual experience a meaningful one. Little things like that an devastate a young child.
We plan to observe classes at least for a bit — should be interesting.
Op. The day went well. I was worried they would not be able to socialize, but they all had fun. The zooms in class still have some technical difficulties, but I think they could handle them better in school than we could at home.
Another thing they have been doing is using microphones in class so that students who are far back can hear the teacher wearing a mask.
This is a good idea. I find myself not being able to hear properly when speaking to people with masks on.