KPMS Faculty/Staff
Update
March 29, 2020
First, thank you for all the work that you have been doing to help support our students while the school buildings are closed. This has been such a challenging situation in so many ways (e.g., such an abrupt change in how we teach, finding a new meaning of home/work/life balance). In the next few days, the district administrative team will be sharing some guidelines as we move into the extension of the school closure (until May 4th). In the meantime, I wanted to preview some information with you, as many of you have read the Commissioner’s letter to districts and have sent me questions. Again, guidelines pertaining to KP will be shared with the teaching staff in the upcoming days.
- The well-being of our students and families are our top priority.
- Remote learning cannot replace our in-school experiences with our students. With this said, we absolutely understand that we will not be able to finish the full curriculum for our courses this year.
- As we move forward, we need a way to monitor whether students are participating in the remote learning opportunities that you have shared with them. There should be some type of learning outcome(s) connected to the work we are providing – so that we are able to show that students have engaged in the activities. Additionally, teachers should be providing feedback on what students have worked on. [Note: we are looking for a way to issue credit for students’ participation in these learning activities. With that in mind, we will also need to be flexible with students. We need to consider access and capability of students for remote learning. We also need to keep in mind that remote learning is new for you (teachers). We need to meet our students where they are – and how you can.]
- Students should be engaged in meaningful learning for approximately ½ the length of a regular school day. This is about 20-25 per course per day – or just under 2 hours of work per course per week. Note: this is a slight increase on what I had shared with teachers prior to this week.
- Not all remote learning should be online – there should be options for students to work offline. Although we are working to get devices out to students who do not have any, several students share devices with family members. Also, we should still be mindful of the amount of screen time for our students.
- Reinforcing and deepening skills and content already taught is recommended, but there is no restriction on teaching new material. If you do cover new material, teachers should consider access and capacity of students for remote learning – we need to be flexible. In the end, we want students to stay engaged in learning any way that they can.
- We need to offer special education and 504 students accommodations, modifications and services. Although services may not look exactly like what is on a student’s IEP because of our unique situation, they must be aligned with their IEP. We will continue to work with special educators on how this will look.
I hope that this information helps and at least gets you thinking about what the next stage of remote learning may look like for us. Again, more information will be coming soon.
Reminder: Access to the Building on Monday, March 30
Team News - Sharing Great Ideas!
Online Faculty Meet-ups - Week of March 30
Join us for a faculty meet-up next week!
We can touch-base, discuss updates, and just enjoy seeing and hearing from each other! Attendance is voluntary.
Thursday, April 2, 1:00 PM (30 minute meeting)
Ending Trimester 2
Now that the school closure has been extended, we will be closing out 2nd trimester. The grading window is now open so that trimester teachers can post their grades. The grading window will remain open until April 10 (11:59 PM). This will allow trimester teachers the time to reach out to and collect work from students who still owe assignments. Students will receive an email to let them know that we will be posting grades for 2nd trimester by April 10 and that we will be officially moving on to 3rd trimester classes as of April 1.
Supporting Families with Organization
One idea is to send a weekly team email or to send a remote learning daily log/weekly calendar. (I shared a link to an example from my daughter's middle school.)
Resources for Staff and Families
Families: Frequently Asked Questions for Students and Families
Staff: Frequently Asked Questions for Staff
7-12 Learning Resources for Students & Families
Warrior Weekly Newsletter (for KPMS Parents/Guardians)
If you'd like to see what I shared with KPMS Parents/Guardians this week, please see the
March 29 edition of the Warrior Weekly.
Please follow the King Philip Regional School District on Social Media!
King Philip Middle School
Website: https://www.kingphilip.org/MiddleSchool
Location: 18 King Street, Norfolk, MA, USA
Phone: 508-541-7324
Twitter: @KingPhilipMS