14:55:56 From Christina Rajo : Hello from Miami, Florida. Looking forward to hearing from you!
15:00:19 From Marsha Stewart : Thanks Christina. I am optimistic about the Fall.
15:07:08 From Natalie McKalip : Our teachers contacted parents weekly.
15:09:35 From Jane Martellino : As a school librarian, I started daily read aloud which families said was very comforting and then I use Talking Pet app to make daily #SEL messages from our new library dog which is actually my dog. Overwhelming response from families. Over and over again they said those messages were the glue that held everything together. https://janemartellino.wixsite.com/maggiesmessages/blog
15:10:46 From Marsha Stewart : Wow Jane, great idea. Can I steal it?
15:11:57 From Deborah Chabi : Thank you Jane! I just downloaded that ap!
15:11:58 From Natalie McKalip : Testing was addressed at my meeting yesterday. We are limiting testing this year.
15:13:47 From Natalie McKalip : Hot Spots are being located in areas of need and K - 12 students will have a device to take home.
15:15:01 From Marsha Stewart : Self care has been difficult. Being there for the kids while being in every demographic affected by all these crises have left me exhausted.
15:17:02 From Natalie McKalip : Single parent families have changed the institutions of education.
15:17:39 From Marsha Stewart : Also families with multiple kids are struggling.
15:18:47 From Natalie McKalip : I agree!
15:19:26 From Jane Martellino : In our middle to upper class school, probably 50% engagement because parents had to work and school work that had to be overseen by parents just had to be put aside.
15:19:32 From Sue : We are being given a view of how schools function so we can really analyze how they are working. You refer to the strong hierarchy that goes unacknowledged and seeing, "Hang on until we tell you what to do," points out the structure that exists. We need a revised structure, as you point out.
15:21:10 From Marsha Stewart : When you are a librarian or music, art, pe, language educator, you just get moved around like chess pieces and sacrificed like pawns.
15:21:33 From Christina Rajo : We have a ‘Morning Brew’ every Wednesday morning at 9 a.m. . Teachers come in, we talk about their fears and turn them into action items. That’s how we are working on building into the unknown…
15:22:01 From Sue : You are talking about the grass-roots organizing that is not so much "old-fashioned" but a means of reducing complacency and everyone being involved. We need this as a counter action to the structures developed in work places since the Industrial Revolution.
15:22:02 From Jane Martellino : Out state just issued a 50 page guide for schools and not ONE mention of the school library in the re-opening doc. Felt like we don’t even exist!
15:22:16 From Marsha Stewart : I don’t want an answer, I want a seat at the table. How do you get your administrator to hear you?
15:22:52 From Deborah Chabi : The whole beginning of the school year should be focused on students' social-emotional needs. There will be a lot of mental health ramification of this pandemic. To have the students come back and make them feel like they have failed in any way will fail them.
15:23:18 From Marsha Stewart : I agree
15:23:31 From Deborah Chabi : Love that idea for the morning brew!!!!
15:23:35 From Sue : Exactly. This is not a coincidence. We need the paradigm shift you are talking about to improve as a society.
15:23:45 From Natalie McKalip : Thanks for the notes.
15:23:50 From Rusty May - SchoolToolsTv : rusty@schooltoolstv.com
15:25:01 From Christina Rajo : @Marsha + @ Jane: Librarians are important! Our librarian is working on ways to turn this around but she is having trouble figuring it out as well. You are not alone.
15:26:25 From Deborah Chabi : Librarians are very important!!! Books!
15:26:40 From Sue : I hear you saying that administrators are focused on meeting the directive of teaching the standards whereas teaching and learning requires the priority of Engagement as the highest value in UDL - Universeal Design for Learning. How do we get Engagement? Just as you say - Emotional Engagement and from there we will move ahead.
15:26:49 From Natalie McKalip : I had to comfort parents more than students. Our parents needed more technology support than anything else.
15:27:25 From Christina Rajo : We are making our families sign a waiver (Private School).
15:28:40 From Sue : Not just did you follow the guidelines, but if schools make it not mandatory, then the choice was there for those students to attend or not. There is the way out, legally.
15:29:09 From Natalie McKalip : We are offering virtual and in class learning for our year.
15:29:57 From Sue : I think it is double, at least, the workload. Exactly, Rusty, But there is no recourse for teachers.
15:30:24 From Christina Rajo : Agree with @Sue
15:31:03 From christopher little : and the challenge for hybrid learning is the ones who do on-line learning will have, with the typical classroom teacher, a much less effective experience than the ones who do face to face
15:31:06 From Natalie McKalip : I have done double and sometimes triple time during virtual teaching.
15:31:45 From Sarah Rich : Most schools I am working with are planning for any environment whether, in person, hybrid, or fully virtual. I think it’s important to put the blended models aside at first and arm them with strategies for learning, SEL, engagement, etc. We are forever changing.
15:31:52 From Natalie McKalip : Jobs in education come at a high risk.
15:32:21 From Marsha Stewart : That’s not going to happen. Where does the money come from? There are staff who retired that we may not replace.
15:33:08 From Natalie McKalip : Class size is more of a conversation now.
15:33:15 From christopher little : it is a good sign that most of the colleges are redefining what they want in their incoming classes—less standardized test scores, more focus on what students can do outside the classroom, and putting less emphasis on grades from this past spring
15:34:16 From Marsha Stewart : Some of our kids who were invisible inside school became stars during remote learning.
15:34:40 From Christina Rajo : We are finding that to be true as well. Also, our attendance was better virtually as well.
15:34:42 From Natalie McKalip : Virtual learning opened a new line of communication to our students... voice.
15:34:43 From Sue : I have seen that with two special ed students of 20 students. Had a routine. Online first thing every morning.
15:34:50 From Jane Martellino : This is why we need to reflect on what worked well and why and bring that into all environments.
15:34:58 From Sarah Rich : Yes!!! Raising my hand:)
15:35:05 From Marsha Stewart : How do we get some of these kids involved in helping us teach?
15:36:00 From Sue : Kids who have done well seem to have internalized a strong work ethic. They get their work done and will be reliable workers, aside from their level of cognitive strengths.
15:36:02 From christopher little : We’re having our upper level and alum language students develop video and audio materials for our lower level and speaking classes in Spanish
15:37:17 From Marsha Stewart : So kids get to do deeper dives into the subject instead of constantly having to deal with the fits and starts of the school day.
15:37:25 From Sue : I agree. Providing work they can do, at their individual learning level. Often, teachers not able to respond to data in a learning management system that can direct students to an individualized learning plan, or module progression.
15:38:57 From Christina Rajo : Project-based assignments worked well. Our coaches incorporated “Life Lessons” with their workouts. This included setting the table, making a meal for their family, taking out the trash, having a conversation with an elder in your family, tidying up, etc.
15:39:11 From Sarah Rich : Yes we are focusing a lot on PBL too
15:40:43 From Marsha Stewart : Helping kids with organization, how to access resources, and strategies for getting stuff done is really important.
15:41:39 From Eleanor Ennis : do all students have to come to school from 8 -3:00? can some come from 11- 5:00.
15:42:00 From Sarah Rich : I’ve been collecting anything that might be relevant here in this doc. I am constantly updating it. Feel free to take a look. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zPol5lUv_cF6AVh7Qw_0XJNFT-2Dfqoj7tO6HJqbwEg/edit?usp=sharing
15:42:24 From Eleanor Ennis : can some retired teachers teach one class or 3 hours a day?
15:42:30 From Sarah Rich : @Eleanor yes many are think that or having certain days kids come and making Friday an extra help day
15:42:34 From Marsha Stewart : Do we finally acknowledge that tweens and teens need to start later in the day?
15:42:38 From Sue : Thank you for clarifying that, Rusty. What an opportunity for us to look at that reality. More career interest assessments? Channel them into their interests? Students with IEPs have the avenue of being helped to transition to work after school. Why not mandate helping everyone to reduce those who lose interest?
15:42:42 From Sarah Rich : 24 hours that’s awesome!
15:43:25 From Sue : Great thinking on 24 hours/day, perhaps less, but we now have data showing how many students log in during evening hours.
15:44:19 From Marsha Stewart : What about parents being involved in the 24 hour staffing so that teachers can stager their teaching times?
15:46:11 From Marsha Stewart : Educating our parents has always been left out of the equation.
15:47:25 From Natalie McKalip : How are you addressing screen time in class?
15:48:54 From Marsha Stewart : If kids get 6 hours of live face-to-face everyday, why can’t kids have at least 3 hours a day of live remote learning?
15:50:22 From Sarah Rich : Happy to share these resources I’ve been collecting too:) Anti-Racism… https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hDuWkqnr48ZPCwVkqBLBYbwBBflzzb2WSgZFp8wlWQU/edit?usp=sharing
15:50:29 From Marsha Stewart : There will need to be some hard conversations w/in school staff before we address BLM in curriculum.
15:50:44 From Deborah Chabi : Thank you Sara.
15:52:11 From Sue : See History about the myths of Declaration of Independence and includes a riot in NYC after Declaration signed. Riot result had statue of King George torn down. Familiar.
15:52:40 From Hellen Harvey : Exactly! I so wish we get a do over. I want to get to why we educate and not - it’s all about the test. I fear that it will all be about testing.
15:52:47 From Marsha Stewart : That’s why I love history.
15:53:08 From Rusty May - SchoolToolsTv : https://learningrevolution.com/groups/the-connected-classroom/forum
15:53:14 From Deborah Chabi : https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09518398.2012.673025
15:53:19 From Sarah Rich : Oooh thanks!
15:53:43 From Sarah Rich : I heard this is amazing to watch. Haymarket books hosted an incredible webinar last week on Abolitionist teaching with Bettina Love, Dena Simmons, Brian Love & Dr. Gholnecsar (Gholdy) Muhammad.
15:54:02 From Deborah Chabi : Haymarket has amazing webinars!
15:54:05 From Sarah Rich : Link: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/blogs/179-abolitionist-teaching-and-the-future-of-our-schools
15:54:31 From Sarah Rich : Great reminder!
15:54:55 From Deborah Chabi : The Podcast called Pod Save the People is great!
15:55:01 From Sue : Thank you so much.
15:55:15 From Natalie McKalip : I appreciated joining this morning. Forward Thinking and Self Care will be my focus this year.
15:55:36 From Marsha Stewart : Thanks so much. I really needed this discussion today. I feel better already being able to say this stuff out loud.
15:56:10 From Sue : https://www.history.com/news/9-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-declaration-of-independence
15:56:20 From Natalie McKalip : Relationships Matter!
15:56:43 From Christina Rajo : Thank you so much!
15:56:45 From Sarah Rich : Thanks, this was great!
15:56:51 From Jane : Thank you!!
15:56:56 From Randy LaBonte : Thank you for the dialogue this morning. It was helpful.
15:57:00 From Jane Martellino : Thank you everyone.
15:57:18 From Sue : Look forward to joining you again. Thanks!
15:57:22 From Teddy G. : Thanks Rusty. See you next week.
15:57:24 From Deborah Chabi : Thank you this was empowering.