Conestoga Back-to-School Q & A
Q: Will students be required to attend zoom or other types of virtual meetings at certain times? If so will those meetings happen during the "normal school day"? And what hours will that be? 9-4?
Q: Will there be band classes for all grade levels this upcoming school year? Can band classes be taught remotely, especially for kids that want to do CDL all year long?
Q: Is band considered a “high risk class”?
Q: Will the same teachers doing the CDL instruction being doing the in-person instruction for the same students? Meaning, if we do the hybrid and it's approved to be in process, will the teachers be handling both the in-person students and the ones doing 100% CDL at the same time or will a separate set of teachers be managing the 100% CDL students so they can address their needs during the day? Also, what will the in-person students be doing while they are at the school? If it's an option to do CDL 100%, what would those students be missing?
Q: What is the actual expectation for instructional time vs self directed learning for the virtual classes? I'm worried this will be a repeat of the spring where very little instructional time and kids were left on their own.
Q: How would this ratio compare if there was no pandemic? Ie is the 50/50 ratio compatible with what you would expect a classroom to look like normally?
Q: What is the plan to continue distance learning if/when hybrid in person learning begins? (ie how will a teacher successfully lead a classroom while at the same time facilitate learning to anyone at home?)
Q: How much access to the teachers a CDL student would have if/when hybrid teaching starts?
Q: My student still has a Chromebook from last year. If we enroll in FLEX, do we keep that Chromebook? Turn it in?
Q: When the student schedule goes out in early September - will we be notified of our cohort. (I.e. Mon/Tues vs Thurs/Fri) are the cohorts determined alphabetically?
Q: Will subjects such as math have video instruction each day? Also, can you publish an example schedule of what the day might look like? Will Spanish be offered?
Q: My son will be in 6th grade this fall (new to Conestoga). Do we need to apply/enroll to do the CDL/hybrid option?
Q: We have not turned in the chromebook we borrowed from Nancy Ryles last year, can my son still use the same chromebook or is it a new issue since he will be with Conestoga?
Q: How will choir/advanced choir be run? This seems like a high risk class if done in person at some point. How about in CDL?
Q: Will extra synchronous time be given at the beginning of the year to help students form connections with teachers and classmates?
Q: Does that mean they will be assigned to one main teacher for the entire year?
Q: Is there going to be any type of "orientation" for incoming 6th graders, even if it's virtually?
Q: Will the classes be recorded in the event a student is not available at the scheduled time, or would like to review the material?Q:
Q: Have instructional hours (i.e., time students will receive teacher led instruction) been established for the middle school age group?
Q: Assuming a 50/50 split, how many hours a day (I'm assuming a 5 day week) will the students be expected to be engaged in class activities? Are we talking four or five hours of class work each day?
Q: You said students will have 6 classes per day for 30 minutes each and 5 days per week? Will the students then have homework assigned? I’m just wondering about the schedule throughout the day and if there will be long breaks between classes or what it will look like?
Q: When the help desk will be available or is it available now?
Q: Will Teachers be proactive in meeting with students or do students have to seek Teachers out for help etc...? Are there any set expecatations you have for Teachers and individual meetings with students?
Q: When will student schedules be available? Can we submit a request to change an elective if our student is placed in an elective they don't have an interest in?
Q: In video presentation, Principal mentioned students would be assigned to cohort groups when they return to school, will those groups be established for the virtual part of the year as well?
Q: Will there be any say in which students are in a cohort together so that there can be some friends together and/or thinking about families that may be in isolation groups/learning pods together.
Q: Will students in same household be assigned the same attendance schedule?
Q: Is there a reason Spanish will not be offered next year? Assuming everything turns to normal the following school year, will Spanish be offered then?
Q: Will the students who selected Spanish as their elective have an opportunity to select something different, or will that be decided for them by the school?
Q: When can we expect to receive the kids’ schedules / school supplies list / class allocations?
Q: Asking to know if I'm understanding correctly: attendance groups and cohorts are different. Attendance groups are being chosen by the district and cohorts are being chosen by the schools?
Q: How will the rigor of cdl compare to flex online. Will one move faster than the other or more thorough?
Q: I have an incoming 6th grader who did horribly with the online learning in the Spring. He does not handle screens well at all (our family limit is 2 hours a week). I am thinking of pulling him and doing homeschool. What options can you offer for this? I would like to keep him enrolled for many reasons, but I also know that it would be quite detrimental to his mental health to have more than 30-60 mins a day of screen time
Q: If students can not be in the virtual class, but still access the lesson at a different time and complete the required work, will there be any sort of penalty for missing the live virtual class? I have heard that attendance will be taken, but I am trying to figure out how it will work. If my student misses zoom classes, but views the class recording in canvas and completes course work, is that ok?
Q: It sounds like CDL will be more synchronous learning than the Flex program. Within that will there group discussions, break out groups for kids to do partner work or small group activities? Also, in that vein, will lessons be recorded if they miss the live class, so that they can work asynchronously? Then, when we are able to go back to a hybrid model, how will classes be managed for those families that decide to remain CDL?
Q: Why are the hours so late in the day? 10-4 as expected instruction time? Also, I have been ready through the questions/comments, and there seems to be conflicting answers. On one hand, it says live instruction will be at certain times (synchronous learning) and other replies say that all lessons will be posted on Canvas. Will the lessons that are on live sessions be recorded/posted if needed to review later, or will it just be the assignments posted to Canvas?
It is true that all lessons will be posted on Canvas, but during the synchronous lessons teachers will refer to the activities on Canvas so that students can access them. Similarly, examples that are presented in class will be posted in Canvas as well. I anticipate that some lessons could be recorded. They could also be prepared “before hand” in a flipped classroom structure. We will be working to deliver this kind of instruction when it is appropriate and most-effective.
Here a quick link I found that describes this: https://teaching.berkeley.edu/flipping-your-remote-classroom
We will be learning about this... (link Below)
I’ll be honest.. I just looked it up to provide a quick idea of what it could look like. SOME students will thrive with this kind of instruction... others not. We will need to vary our lessons, methods of instruction and delivery of content to help meet kid’s needs.