When and how should we open schools?

[MacMadame]

Yes.

That's too bad. I've been to small conferences/webinars with polls and I really liked that and it kept me engaged.

But we did other things too. There was a Google page we could add comments to, for example.

Doing things grabs my attention.

 

[Prancer]

I've done Google surveys and such, too.

 

[MacMadame]

I've done Google surveys and such, too.

Your students are a hard case then. Maybe a cattle prod?

 

[once_upon]

I talked to my grandkids on Thanksgiving. I asked about their classes. One thing that I never expected an 8 year old talk about was doing his writing exercises and uploading them for his teacher to review.

 

[Prancer]

Your students are a hard case then. Maybe a cattle prod?

I'm not really interested in having them answer yes/no or multiple choice type questions.

 

[million$momma]

I'm not really interested in having them answer yes/no or multiple choice type questions.

Have you tried Google extensions like Pear Deck, edpuzzle, Jamboard, and Flip Grid?

 

[Prancer]

I've done Pear slides and Flip Grid. Also some other things.

 

[PrincessLeppard]

@Prancer you should create a rubric. Then they'll know your exact expectations.

 

[Theatregirl1122]

@Prancer you should create a rubric. Then they'll know your exact expectations.

Oh are we giving basic teaching advice today? Try grading participation! Because grading something else is what everyone needs right now!

 

[PrincessLeppard]

@Theatregirl1122 Oooh, yes, participation grades! And rubrics! And repeatedly bringing up learning targets! And focusing your essential questions!

I hear group projects are very popular as well.

Also, @Prancer have you thought about thinking what you want your students to learn, and then basing your lesson plans on that? I find that very helpful.

 

[Prancer]

@Prancer you should create a rubric. Then they'll know your exact expectations.

I have to use a rubric (which I did not create) to assess all terminal assignments. I haven't noticed much difference. But I am sure that's because I am resistant to adaptation.

Oh are we giving basic teaching advice today? Try grading participation! Because grading something else is what everyone needs right now!

Do I give them credit for appearing on Zoom in the form of a black rectangle with a name on it? Then we are golden!

Also, @Prancer have you thought about thinking what you want your students to learn, and then basing your lesson plans on that? I find that very helpful.

Gosh, I hadn't thought of that. You are SO creative. I'll bet you could get paid a lot of money to go around to schools doing presentations on this idea.

 

[jeffisjeff]

Do I give them credit for appearing on Zoom in the form of a black rectangle with a name on it? Then we are golden!

We were just warned about this and similar services: https://beulr.com/
I don't know whether to or !

 

[Theatregirl1122]

Do I give them credit for appearing on Zoom in the form of a black rectangle with a name on it? Then we are golden!

Every once in a while you gotta say "if you're still paying attention, raise your hand" and then give them a point if they do! Also keep track of everyone who talks to you the whole time.

Have you tried giving student choice in your assignments? We're all about student choice these days. I dunno how I get the student choice into math, but apparently if I do, it'll be MAGIC

 

[missing]

New York City schools are planning a phased reopening starting December 7.

The first school buildings will reopen Dec. 7, de Blasio said Sunday. City officials plan to reopen public school buildings in a phased approach, starting with 3-K, Pre-K and K-5 students. District 75 students of all grade levels will get the opportunity to return to the classroom a few days later on Dec. 10.

The city is reopening schools in phases, in part, to make sure enhanced testing resources will be available for returning students. The mayor did not offer a timeline of reopening school buildings for middle and high school students, saying the city was not ready yet to open every school.

School buildings returning to in-person learning, wherever possible, will transition to classroom instruction five days per week, the mayor said. Before the suspension of in-person instruction, students attended school one to three days a week.

When the schools reopen, weekly ******** testing will be in effect for students and faculty.

 

[MacMadame]

Here's an article on RI. Their governor is prioritizing opening schools over bars and gyms. What a concept!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/heal...ail&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_headlines

We were just warned about this and similar services: https://beulr.com/
I don't know whether to or !

What happens when you get called on??

 

[GarrAargHrumph]

We were just warned about this and similar services: https://beulr.com/
I don't know whether to or !

LOL OMG Capitalism at its best. I love the name!

They're also developing a bot there that will allow you to video yourself, and then they'll log in for you and run the video, so it looks like you're actually there.

What happens when you get called on??

They say they don't recommend their service for classes that require participation. So if you get called on, you're sh*t out of luck, basically.

 

[Prancer]

We were just warned about this and similar services: https://beulr.com/
I don't know whether to or !

Inevitable. But risky if you have a professor who abides by the "don't lecture the entire time" advice.

I wonder if the apps can get past registration. I make mine register for sessions so I don't have to take attendance.

 

[jeffisjeff]

They say they don't recommend their service for classes that require participation. So if you get called on, you're sh*t out of luck, basically.

Yeah, I am pretty sure that the Director of our Learning and Teaching Center showed us this app to try to shame the faculty into requiring some kind of interaction in our remote-synchronous classes.

 

[Prancer]

Teaching in the *********: ‘This Is Not Sustainable’​

In more than a dozen interviews, educators described the immense challenges, and exhaustion, they have faced trying to provide normal schooling for students in ********* conditions that are anything but normal. Some recounted whiplash experiences of having their schools abruptly open and close, sometimes more than once, because of ***** risks or quarantine-driven staff shortages, requiring them to repeatedly switch back and forth between in-person and online teaching.

Others described the stress of having to lead back-to-back group video lessons for remote learners, even as they continued to teach students in person in their classrooms. Some educators said their workloads had doubled.

“I have NEVER been this exhausted,” Sarah Gross, a veteran high school English teacher in New Jersey who is doing hybrid teaching this fall, said in a recent Twitter thread. She added, “This is not sustainable.”

An argument for giving kids open-book tests during the ********* (and after)​

Educational psychologists have been researching the effects of open-book vs. closed-book tests for years. Perhaps surprisingly, many of these studies find that test format produces little difference in learning or assessment outcomes. In addition, psychologists report, open-book exams come with some distinct advantages. They generate less anxiety in students, for example — an important factor to consider at a time when the ********* is already imperiling young people’s mental health.

Properly constructed, open-book tests can promote the development of higher-order thinking and problem-solving skills over the rote memorization of factual information. And, of course, they render moot the temptation to cheat, reducing the incidence of unethical behavior.

I have always given open-book exams, but I CAN give open-book exams. I don't know if it's possible for everyone. And it's not like there won't be students who will cheat anyway. But I think that all the methods people are using online for preventing cheating are both ineffective and require far too much attention from teachers. We need a better way.

 

[overedge]

One of the local universities is investigating 100 cases of cheating in an online final for a math course

From the discussion on Reddit, it sounds like the course instructor put a very difficult question in the exam, and then posted an incorrect answer to the question, with the calculations included, on Chegg. Everyone who cut-and-pasted that answer into their exam was reported for academic misconduct.

ETA: Some instructors also give different numbers on every question on each exam, i.e. each outline of the exam has the questions numbered differently. So if someone writing the exam goes on Chegg and posts the entire question, the instructor can tell whose exam it was from the question number. I've also heard that if instructors contact Chegg about an exam question that was posted on the site, Chegg is quite willing to hand over the ISP that the question was posted from.

 

[MacMadame]

This is the bottom line for me:

perhaps surprisingly, many of these studies find that test format produces little difference in learning or assessment outcomes.

Also, it doesn't seem that surprising. You can't do well on an open-book test if you don't know the material IME.

 

[Theatregirl1122]

This is the bottom line for me:

perhaps surprisingly, many of these studies find that test format produces little difference in learning or assessment outcomes.

Also, it doesn't seem that surprising. You can't do well on an open-book test if you don't know the material IME.

We've switched to open note for several of our classes because we can't control it anyways, so by saying it's not open note, all that happens is that the kids with integrity get punished because they're the ones who won't use their notes.

We're having a lot more trouble with kids cheating off of each other.

 

[jeffisjeff]

^Or using services like Chegg where you can get some guy on the internet to solve your exam problems for you, in real time! But, based on what I've heard from faculty who've caught cheaters using Chegg, they seem to have an issue with quality control.

 

[Susan1]

People on my city page are wondering if school will be back to in-school next week. One guy posted a "study" of how the ***** isn't killing that many kids. AARRGGHH It's the teachers, staff, principals (one of our grade schools), bus drivers, cafeteria (the high school) workers who are getting sick and/or exposed. Drive your kid to the school building and pack a lunch and maybe they can be babysat by the older kids, but they won't be getting an education if everybody else is out. And maybe they won't take the ***** back home to you or their grandparents.

 

[million$momma]

People on my city page are wondering if school will be back to in-school next week. One guy posted a "study" of how the ***** isn't killing that many kids. AARRGGHH It's the teachers, staff, principals (one of our grade schools), bus drivers, cafeteria (the high school) workers who are getting sick and/or exposed. Drive your kid to the school building and pack a lunch and maybe they can be babysat by the older kids, but they won't be getting an education if everybody else is out. And maybe they won't take the ***** back home to you or their grandparents.

We have schools in session with very little *** and have since Sept. 14th. Just a case here and there, no school spread so far. Students wear masks. Teachers wear medical masks and face shields. Classes are in one room only, with a maximum of 2 teachers entering besides their homeroom teacher. Lunches are brought from home and eaten at desks. Physical distancing measures are in place. Hall monitors are present and monitor numbers in the bathroom. Recesses are 1/2 the usual number out at a time and classes are assigned an area to play. Hand sanitizer or a soap and water wash is mandatory before entering the classroom and immediately before leaving. Busses have assigned seating and are running at 1/2 capacity with only siblings sharing a seat. No parents are allowed in the building at all!

It is hard work to enforce all of the different measures in place but the kids are happy and learning.

 

[clairecloutier]

This article suggests that, in the U.S., the second prioritized group to get the vaccine will likely be essential workers, including teachers:

https://wapo.st/3fYbbGf

 

[clairecloutier]

My kids' school announced today that they're suspending in-person learning until after New Year's. I am bummed, but completely understand. Given that we had 6K+ new cases yesterday in Massachusetts, it's not a surprising decision.

 

[Theatregirl1122]

After two weeks off because we couldn't staff the schools, we're being sent back. I'm not pleased. And I'm so tired.

 

[tony]

Monday was the first time all semester I was actually required to show up to campus for a (reduced capacity) class. What do you know? The school is using contact tracing and I got an email a few minutes ago advising me to quarantine for 72 hours because someone I likely came into contact with has tested positive.

So yeah, good luck with reopening schools to full capacities any time soon.

 

[Susan1]

I put this in the News thread this morning - "Miamisburg just extended full remote learning till Jan. 11 and parents are complaining because they will have to miss work. School = babysitter? I mean, really, they didn't think about preparing for this? What do they do when the kids are off in the summer normally? And others have been complaining because they have been getting too many texts and emails. While there are people posting asking if there is school, what do they do about lunch, when do they go back, arguing about how not that many kids are dying. They were only in school last Monday and Tuesday, if they had not already chosen remote. Out of 7 elementary, the middle and high schools and a multi-room pre-school, as of 11/27, 130 students were quarantined, and 28 teachers and staff. They were already remote this week. Knowing how many were probably exposed over the weekend, they extended it. Two weeks of that would have been Christmas break anyway. What were these parents going to do for a babysitter then?"

Somebody just posted the email to parents - "Remote learning can create challenges for working families with young students. Miamisburg City Schools is pleased to announce that we are partnering with Hope4Miamisburg and churches in our community to offer Safe Centers. Churches throughout our community that will provide supervision and support with schoolwork as well as breakfast and lunch during the period of remote learning. This Hope4Miamisburg program will be available beginning Monday, December 7. Families who need this support can indicate their desire to participate by completing the following link: Safe Center Interest Form
Families who apply will be contacted by Hope4Miamisburg regarding details including site locations, days and times and needed materials."