I would think that at least for current juniors who will be doing college apps next fall (and subsequent years), there would need to be some kind of supplement to the school profile to describe this spring’s distance learning program and grading practices.
@cinnamon1212 thats exactly the approach DS’s school is taking and @CTMom21 that is the impression we are getting, too. That’s why we told DS to bust it so the answers to this questions will be favorable.
@cinnamon1212 is this policy only for juniors due to the importance of their grades for college admissions or is this policy the same for the entire student body?
@voxnihili the policy is for the entire student body.
@cinnamon1212 Thanks for providing the information regarding the school’s policy. It seems this policy would be the most sensible approach with everyone suddenly having to adapt to new online learning systems with some natural variability in the adjustment. I do have to hand it to all the schools that are able to transition to online learning so quickly even if there are some bumps along the way. Incredibly swift response on the part of daughter’s current school who has been doing online learning for two weeks now. One case of possible exposure on a Tuesday and by Monday the school was up and running online without even a spring break to adjust while the public schools in our area were scrambling.
Excerpt from the Cate update email yesterday:
“Many of our students are finding themselves with a host of responsibilities at home and lack control over their schedules. Some are caring for siblings or grandparents, have limited access to technology, or are living in time zones that do not allow ready access to synchronous classes. All are dealing with confinement of one sort or another and a new and frightening threat to health and well-being.
So what is our responsibility to our students in this new context and in this moment? With our attention still focused on student growth, we are mindful that such growth this trimester may well come in different forms, some of which do not lend themselves to quantitative assessment. No student, therefore, will be numerically disadvantaged by the current circumstances. GPA’s will not go down.”
They are finalizing the grading plan next week. Fwiw, I am really comforted by how analytical, methodical, and ultimately hopeful the school is. I also like how they are trying to find ways to maintain their community even though they aren’t residential at the moment. They started the senior talks back up again via zoom! They have dorm meetings! They still haven’t committed to the kids not coming back to finish the school year, but at the same time are looking at alternate dates and methods for commencement activities.
Per kiddo re: the online learning experience: “they nailed it.” But then, that just could be that he is happy he doesn’t have to set an alarm on Tuesdays.
LOL, per usual, already have assignments (school doesn’t start until Tuesday but we have chapel on Monday?)
I think online learning is going to be stressful. We have the bad luck to have one of the “one bad teachers” in the whole school and one of the “so brilliant he’s hard to understand” teachers. Thinking I will call in reinforcements and set up math tutoring via brilliant family members in advance.
Total aside: how is it that I took advanced math, in college even, and am unable to understand what my kids were doing by geometry? It is so embarrassing.
DD has been online schooling with her LDS for the past week. Everything was going pretty smoothly until she realized yesterday that all of her assignments transmitted blankly and her teachers gave her zeroes.
She redid the assignments and still they came across on the teachers’ side blank. The third time—in tears, she finally came to me and explained what was happening. None of us could figure it out, so we took screenshots of her work and emailed them.
Technology is great - when it works.
I think many of the boarding schools are going online for the first time this week. Thanks everyone for sharing your stories and suggestions from the your experiences so far.
DS starts tomorrow but they haven’t shipped his books/supplies yet. He got an email last night telling him they’d ship today. Apparently, the school had a hard time getting big enough boxes.
This will be an interesting week!
DS starts Wednesday. He is SO ready. On a Zoom call this afternoon they said this first week will largely be about settling in and making sure everything works. Everything we’ve heard so far makes me optimistic. For grading, so far they are planning on sticking to business as usual but will re-assess based on how things are going after a few weeks. Rock ensemble meets Wednesday afternoon, so now I am trying to borrow an amp!
Interested in examples of how specific schools are broadly handling courses.
At the highest level, is the daily class schedule that would have normally existed being roughly maintained?
Are most classes meeting virtually via Zoom (or something similar) at the regular scheduled times (and recorded for kids who can’t make that time) or are students participating in an asynchronous way with no regular schedule and completing assignments on their own and checking in with teachers individually?
Andover is set to resume classes tomorrow and so far the communication has been sparse and basically just conveyed that learning will be asynchronous without Zoom-type classes and that each teacher will communicate when and how students should engage in the course. Strangely sounds like independent learning, but I’ll keep an open mind and hopefully learn more and see things evolve.
My sense is most boarding schools are roughly keeping the course schedules and meeting via Zoom (or something similar) and recording for students in far away time zones if they can’t do it real-time (and making some accommodations for students in other time zones). That approach makes a lot of sense to me (because it will maintain some degree of interaction/continuity with peers) but curious to learn if most schools are actually doing that.
So far the online learning has been much better than expected. My younger one ( who is not yet in BS) attend a private school and they had all teachers up and running within two days of being off. They have held fairly normal class period ( though shortened). The school was always heavily dependent on technology ( used to really bug me but in this situation made it really easy for kids to transition).
The BS my oldest attends has decided to finish this Quarter out with grades. Yeah! For next semester they’ll decide if it’s P/F, grades or by student choice for the last semester. I wrote a note to the “powers that be” stating my student’s preference for grades while also underscoring empathy for kids who are in a tough situation. The student who stayed with us over break is still in quarantine for one more day with no paper and no books!! Try doing Calculus without paper. Yikes. Also a few families have sick family members and that is sure to grow.
I did get some good feedback around what the school is thinking regarding grades. Best outcome IMHO would be choice. Don’t know if that will work. Many parent’s mentioned during an online call that they did not want to move to P/F. This is especially true for Juniors.
Teachers are required to post info by Sunday afternoon, I think 6PM EST. I think this is great to keep kids from waiting up to get next weeks info. There’s always that one teacher.
Classes are shorter and teacher meeting seems to have been given a lot of time. Not enough data yet to assess. I do think that APs will be tough. Teachers are still guessing what they are likely to look like until the College board publishes infor 4/5.
This should be a unique semester. Just said to my spouse that it could look a lot worse, if it had happened 4 years ago. Many people have gotten high speed internet to accommodate videos which can now be used for Zoom. Without fast bandwidth, there are definite issues.
So far, so good.
In the interest of keeping spirits high, I am offering one of my “freshly minted” CC poems:
‘Twas the first day of “Online”
And all through our house
My kid was in PJ bottoms
But on top was a blouse.
The workspace was staged
Cleaned up with great care
Knowing that
Zoom classroom soon would be there!
For the first time in weeks
The morning is quiet
I have time to go jogging
And work on my diet!
My kiddo is happy to see friends
From boarding school
Watching the teacher from home
Now that does sound “cool”.
We told kiddo,
“Remember, whatever your goal-
Keep your eye on the donut,
Not on the hole”.
Starting this new path of schooling
One day at a time
Focus on the positive
It will turn out just fine!
TIL: my kids are LOUD on Zoom. I prefer them on reddit.
^^ DS has already forewarned us that he “gets going” in some classes, and that those 8 am discussions are going to be very loud.
@Golfgr8 — great! Thank you!
I thought someone must be breaking in my house at 530am this morning when my dog started barking uncontrollably and I heard footsteps in the hall. Turns out it was my college freshman daughter getting up and ready for her 6am class. It is intensive Greek and they meet everyday at 6am pst and 950 pst.
DD continues to have issues of all of her work deleting when she sends it (her school is using Google classroom ). We continue to have tears and occasional meltdowns. I finally lost it and asked her why she wasn’t typing everything up in word and saving it before cutting and pasting over. I mean, first time - shame on them…every time after…shame on you. My response (rather heatedly) of “This is what you call problem-solving. It’s a life skill” was probably better left unsaid, but that horse was out of the barn.
Hoping for a better day today.
@buuzn03 , that sounds rough but I agree with you. Dealing with these kinds of tech issues is simply living in the world today. At any age and regardless of a pandemic. It’s a life skill. But it’s frustrating for sure. Hang in there!
I am not entirely clear on how the class schedule works, but kiddo has 2-3 classes per day. If he has an open period, then no class, and sone classes meet less frequently. I think it follows his regular school block schedule, but the class time is abbreviated. For some reason he doesn’t have classes on Tuesdays? I think? He has more homework, though.
What are schools doing for athletics?