Week-At-A-Glance
The Weekly Update for NPHS Staff, Apr 6 - Apr 10, 2020
All Things New
Hello Patriot Staff,
The first week of remote instruction is in the history books: Congratulations on your part for retooling in record time! Obviously, we're still working out the bugs, but at least the NPHS educational machine is turning again.
Here's What's New:
(1) You probably saw Dr. Anne Zink's new recommendations as of April 3rd regarding wearing cloth face covering. It's a cowboy bandana for me, but it could just as easily be the Muslim Niqāb for you, or equivalent (see Marianna's picture below).
Here's what Alaska's Chief Medical Officer said Friday:
"Scientific evidence available to date indicates that asymptomatic and presymptomatic shedding of the virus that causes COVID-19 is occurring. This means that people who have no symptoms whatsoever may be infected with the virus and capable of transmitting the virus to others when interacting in close proximity—for example, speaking, coughing, or sneezing. This heightens the need for community-wide implementation of control measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 among people who are not experiencing symptoms of illness."
Dr. Zink now recommends the following:
• Wear a cloth face-covering in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain (e.g., grocery stores and pharmacies).
• Make sure the face-covering covers both the nose and mouth.
• Do not remove the face covering until you return home.
• When removing the face covering, avoid touching the front of the face-covering (because it may be contaminated). Remove it by grasping the ear loops, ties, or bands and immediately discard or place in a designated container for laundering.
• Wash your hands immediately after removing the face covering and before touching anything else.
• Wash face coverings in hot, soapy water between uses.
• Do not wear N-95 or surgical masks; these are needed by health care workers and first responders.
• Do not rely on face coverings as the primary way to prevent COVID-19 transmission, and be careful to avoid developing a false sense of security through the use of face coverings. Continue to follow social distancing measures, including maintaining at least six feet between yourself and others, staying at home, avoiding touching your face, and washing your hands frequently.
Therefore, because of this recent recommendation, it is now the expectation that all staff working in the building will wear cloth face coverings. And if you think this is overreacting, click on the Carlson Center picture below, and let that sink in.
Other onsite working precautions include:
• No more than 10 staff total in the school building at any one time AND always maintaining social distancing.
• If you are not on the "Onsite School Duty Schedule" for the indicated day, you are not allowed in the school building. That schedule changes weekly as our needs change; you can use the tabs at the bottom to view who is in the building each week here.
• The school building will continue to remain closed to ALL non-staff, including children of staff.
• Distribution of materials and equipment between staff and the public will be conducted with proper PPE, social distancing, and the received materials/equipment will be placed in isolation for 72 hours.
(2) Teacher Office Hours: In addition to Monday's posted teacher office hours (see the yellow box in the chart below), each teacher needs to communicate two other times during the week for office hours when students can connect, ask questions, etc.
Here’s what Teaching and Learning said this week:
“At a minimum, teachers should identify 30 minutes, 3x/ week. Longer periods of time, such as 90 minutes are definitely encouraged. Office hours do not necessarily have to be on Zoom or Google Meet; they can simply be when you’re actively available on the phone or email. The goal is to provide access to students and for parents to connect with you.”
This means, that during regular workdays between 7:15 am – 2:45 pm, in addition to Mondays, you the teacher, need to let your students know of two more times during the week when you will be holding office hours and will be available (as stated above, this could be as little as two more 30 minute time periods).
(3) Online Etiquette for Remote Instruction: Just like classroom behavioral expectations, these should be made known to your students. Some suggestions for online expectations could be:
1. Find a quiet place
2. Show up on time
3. Mute yourself upon logging on
4. Wear school appropriate clothing
5. Use the chat box appropriately (asking questions, etc.)
6. Be respectful, be responsible, ready to learn.
Also, if you need to remove a participant in a Zoom meeting, one way to do it is here. Joyce Demientieff also shared that in the gallery view on Zoom, you can right-click on a participant and remove them that way too.
(4) Graduation: The word from above is for us to plan a graduation ceremony for Thursday, May 14th…we just don't know what that will look like right now. So, we have started a committee working on the ceremonial details, and we welcome your input. On the committee so far are Dina, Chris, Elizabeth Beks, Audra, and myself. If you have ideas or would like to join the planning committee, email Dina or Chris. Thanks.
(5) Grading: The school district will be putting out the guidelines for grading this coming week, and we will discuss them at our Thursday Staff Zoom Meeting.
(6) ESSA Reminder: Clock in/out each day you work on TCP. The link to do that is here.
(7) Remote Learning Café: If you haven’t checked this out yet teachers, there’s some cool stuff. Click here to see.
(8) Patriot Parody: Marycatherine Moroney is putting this together for our students. Those at the school building Friday did some filming for her to upload and edit. You can see that here. Marycatherine has performed the entire song here, and the lyrics are here. Consider filming yourself singing a portion of this song, or knock yourself out and sing the whole thing. Then send it to Marycatherine by Monday evening, April 6th. Google Drive is probably the best way to upload your footage and then just email her the link. It's time to get stupid...because it’s for the kids.
Finally, keep communicating and sharing information with your colleagues as you learn ("sharing is caring"). And stay updated, behave smartly, make time to play, and please stay healthy.
Have a good week,
John
This Week: April 6th - April 10th
Pictures From Last Week [Click the Picture to Enlarge]
Practicing Safety
Table Transfers
Distribution Central
Give it Up for Patriots!
Cloth Face Covering
Field Hospital
Quick-Links: One click and you're there!
Of Interest...
• NPHS YEARBOOKS: Not the entire year was taken from us! Quarters 1-3 are captured in the 2020 yearbooks, which are still being printed and shipped. As of March 20, they are still expected to arrive in North Pole the first week of May. About 90 remain for sale at yearbookforever.com Click this link to get yours!
• Paper Packets: Every Friday from 7:30 am - 2:30 pm is for students and parents to drop off any paper assignments at the school for their teachers, and to pick up any paper assignments from teachers (see pink columns in the chart above). This provision is for students unable to do their work online. We ask that when you turn in your paper assignments that you place them in a plastic bag. Since we practice safely, we will then not touch the paper assignment until Monday to allow any bad bugs on surfaces to die out over the weekend. The turn around time for feedback on paper packet work is approximately 10 days. Teachers should upload material for paper packets by the end of the workday on Tuesdays; you can upload those materials here.