BTES Staff Updates
March 21
If you need to reach me, my cell is 732-644-3147
Virtual Schooling Plan
As of today, this is the plan as we go forward. Week two will continue to be review and retain. If as a professional you feel you can better serve youre students then let the instruction begin. All information should be located on the 'Teacher's Homepage'. Our main platform will be Google Classroom and all staff members should begin to explore Hangouts Meet with their students. You should anticipate spending at least two hours daily with your students. The actual time frame will be decided later next week. I have heard on many occassions from professionals that they are 'life long learners". That being said - this is our time to shine and show that we are ready. We got this!
Virtual Schooling Tips and Tricks By Joe Reid
Take a look.
Curriculum
We do not need to reinvent the wheel, we need to focus on what we are good at. The programs that we have in place are our areas of strength. We will continue to use them all via their online component.
Google Classroom
Google Classroom is the District's main platform for virtual instruction. Your Google Classroom link should be on your 'teacher's webpage' and all instruction should be disemenated through this resource. For the staff members who are extremely comfortable with this format, please continue to assist whoever might need guidance as they begin exploring the Google world. If any staff member needs assistance Mr. Waldron and I are also somewhat profecient with Classroom as well. We are a team and we will get through this.
Schedule
When we begin week three I would like to see some type of pacing guide / schedule. Students and parents should know what they are responsible for each day of the week and their daily expectations as well. As of now we are asking that you provide at least two hours of work daily. Work will need to be graded and tracked - Google Classroom makes this real easy. This should be a combination of multiple subjects and should continue from where we left off on Friday, March 13, 2020. I will share examples this weekend.
- As a reminder we cannot hold kids accoutable at this time if they do not go online. There are too many possible scenarios at home that we are not aware of and we would prefer not to add any more stress to our families at this time.
Hangouts Meet
This time last week none of us were using Hangouts Meet. One week later we are all beginning to explore the many cool features that this app offers us as educators. Some of us are already considering ourselves somewhat of an expert - nice. My suggestion would be to continue to explore this app - practice with colleagues, students and whoever will join your Meet. Press all the buttons, read online about all the tips and tricks and become profecient in dealing with our new virtual world. I would also suggest, if you can, to download this app to your phone. It is extremely easy and user friendly. I was very impressed when someone shared with me that they had a 'pop-up' meeting today with their colleagues. This is what educators do when faced with uncertainty - they band together and figure it out.
How to use Google Hangout Meet
Shared by Mrs. Ofsanko.
Communication
Communication is extremely important during this time. Families are feeling uncertain and this creates stress. I know we all have stress, but if we can alleviate the stress on our students and families I have a feeling it will benefit us as well. Our primary way of communicating is email and Remind. My thought is that our communication with our parents should fall between the hours of 9:00 to 2:00. That means you are expected to call, email, and respond to all of their questions during this time. “Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today.”
- If you are having difficulty contacting certain students, continue to call, and enlist some of your students to help as well. I'm willing to bet that they can help with this.
- Let parents know that they should pick up unlisted numbers on their phone during the hours from 9:00 to 2:00 and check their spam for emails that may not have made it through.
- I will be sharing this information with all the families as well.
- If you want to use Remind for your students, I am not opposed as long as you share the code through their parents and tell them they can share it with their children. Also, please read the following document.
Specials Meeting
We will have a special's meeting at 9:00 a.m. on Monday morning. Gifted and Talented along ith Guidance will be part of this schedule as well. Our goal is to give all of your direction and to help guide you through this process as well. Mrs. Fierra will be setting up a Hangout Meet on Tuesday for all special education teachers - time TBD.
Special Education
Please continue to work together with each other. As a team you guys are unstoppable and I have confidence that we can not only reach our most challenging students, but we can help them move forward as well. System 44 / Read 180 is still something that we are discussing daily. We are very much interested in getting this up and running and I have a feeling once we get the Chromebooks distributed we will be able to move forward with this program.
Chromebooks / Internet
The administration spoke today and is creating a plan that will help get Chromebooks to some of our students within our District who do not have access to a device. You all are to be commended for your hard work in gathering all of this important information. Our goal is to have these Chromebooks distributed by the end of next week. This is contingent on the state and their safety recommendations in the near future. Our primary focus are students who do not have any access to devices or only have access to a phone. We are continuing to look into options for internet access for the small population that does not have this resource. The distribution of Chromebooks is not information that we want shared at this time.
FYI
- At the current time there is no end date for our school closure - this will be determined by the State.
- No Standardized Testing - President mentioned this today.
- Report cards are open.
- I will be sharing these details with the parents this weekend. If you have any questions or concerns, now would be the time to reach out and discuss them with me.
- I will redo one of your teacher webpages to show you what our expectations later this weekend. Less is more - we need to streamline.
- We will have meeting either Monday or Tuesday to clarify.
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