Tag: Remote Learning

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2019 – 2020 School year

Yesterday we found out that all Maryland schools will be closed for the remained of the 2019-2020 school year. We have been out since the end of the day on Friday March 13th.

Friday the 13th was the last day I saw my students before being quarantined.  Friday the 13th was the last “normal” school day of my career.  Things are so different , and will be from now on.

Virtual learning is the name of the game.  A few years ago, I had the idea things would be digital sooner or later… but never did I imagine it happening like this.

Today was my first day meeting with my students after learning we aren’t going back to school. The students will be receiving a pass/fail grade for 3rd and 4th marking period, as well as for their final grades for the year. As of right now, we do not know how we are going to assess them and decide who passes or fails. I couldn’t imagine any students failing in this crazy unsettling time. There are so many students who do not have the support they need to succeed during this crisis.I have so many questions, I can only imagine how my students are feeling inside. How will we go on? How will this affect us in the long run? What will happen in August and September? These questions run through my mind, without any sure answers in place.

Today we reflected on what we are grateful for, using this time to remember that even in the face of uncertainty… there is still always something we can find to be grateful for.

On a brighter note, this week is teacher appreciation week… some of my students sent me messages and really pulled at my heartstrings.

 

 

In all of this uncertainty, one thing that’s for sure… is how much I love and miss my students, my classroom, and our school community.  Absence does make the heart grow fonder. I truly hope I am able to see everyone again and show them how much they mean to me.

If I can give one piece of advice in this time, its to KEEP CREATING!

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Youth Art Month

So March was Youth Art Month,

I’m a little late on this blog… but in light of the current pandemic and quarantine situation I thought why couldn’t every month be an art month!

So here is my youth art month post to recap that art that has been made by my students through March and April!! 

Youth Art Month, TAKE A JOURNEY THROUGH ART mural

 

8th grade Point of View projects!

 

7th grade Plaster Choice projects!!

 

7th grade Collaborative Expression projects!

 

Remote Learning: Constraints Theme

 

Remote Learning: Choice Board projects

 

Man I miss my students!

<3

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Art Art Class Education Most Popular

Remote Education

Wow. Yesterday was tiring.

Between doing my own work, and getting Landyn and Element to do their work…. whoa. Element was more interested in the magic she found from dangling her pen from a strand of hair, then creating a word math problem. We took a few breaks, made rice crispy treats! Their work is to complete online packets, sent by their teachers through Google classroom. They go to school in SYCSD in Pennsylvania. It’s interesting to see the different between the two school systems approaches. I had to stop and take some deep breaths a few times.

Overall, the professional development BCPS created for us was easy enough. There were a few things I had to figure out on my own that could’ve been described better, however it wasn’t that difficult just a little time consuming.

The county has created a streamlined remote learning template for all BCPS teachers to use on their class pages. We were asked to put all of our previous materials in a folder labeled “Previous Q1 Q2 Q3”, and then create a few new pages and folders to reflect the BCPS default layout. Once those folders and pages were created in one class, I was able to easily copy each of them to my 9 other courses. There’s a weird glitch in Schoology when I try to copy folders to all of my other courses at once, some of the courses don’t receive the folder so I have to go in and copy it again individually.

All of my classes have been set up to the default template, and I am awaiting our art teacher meeting on Wednesday so I can see what lessons we have available to upload. The Visual Arts office and a team of awesome art educators have created lessons for us to use, so if we do not have the ability to create our own we do not have to. What’s nice is that we have the ability to alter or create our own if we want to!

I just finished setting up and creating my first Google Meet so that I can meet with my students!! I am so excited to see them, I’m going to send out an email to all of them to see if they want to meet up to say hi!!

I have to say this morning was a lot smoother than yesterday.

At 1pm today we had our first virtual faculty meeting! We used Microsoft teams. It was a good meeting, learned a lot about the expectations we have as teachers…

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  • Upload 2 mini-lessons by 8am on Monday morning, with a due date set for that Friday by midnight. Each lesson should be about 20-25 mins in length,
  • Have a live virtual meetup for 30 mins with each class… I will only be teaching my students on Thursday and Friday mornings between 9-11:30.
  • Maintain 2 hrs per day of office hours for student and parent questions and concerns.
  • Provide students with feedback at least once a week.

This all feels a little better now that I know the expectations!

Happy day 2!