Your School's Plans/Expectations To Continue Teaching During an Extended Closure?

[Fred Bartels]

The recent H1N1 pandemic scare has caused a lot of schools to think about how they might keep functioning academically during an extended closure. Some schools already have well-developed plans in place. Many schools are in the process of developing plans.

Please use this discussion to share your school's plan, the process you are using to develop your plan, and any other interesting stories related to this new and challenging subject.

[Jenni Voorhees]

At Sidwell, we met as a department (Libraries, Technology, IT) to set up plans that would offer some means of continuing school to teachers with all levels of technology experience and comfort levels. The list we created was sent out to all faculty by the Head of School during the week when everyone was fearing the worst. Prior to that message, the divisional technology coordinators spoke to faculty in their divisions about coming up with plans and taking steps to be prepared. I have attached the .pdf we developed. We will continue to add to this document as good ideas are put forth (in places like this!)

At Lower School I asked each grade level to discuss some activities and interactive lessons they could continue to deliver remotely should we be closed. I also asked them to upload files from the school network they thought they might need and to consider carrying their laptops home each night. (Not everyone agreed to do this...) The range of plans was from PK and Kindergarten teachers who thought they could email reading lists and project ideas home, to 4th grade teachers who asked all their students to email them once the next day to assure that they had contact with them, and who began to plan for activities they could upload to the class pages on our website.

We are pleased that nothing came of this scare, but it has made us more aware of what we need to teach the faculty in preparation for this kind of event. Fortunately, it has also made our teachers aware of what they need to learn, and it has caused them to pursue training with renewed interest.

[Fred Bartels]

Thanks Jenni! Lots of good ideas. Because this concept of keeping school going during an extended shut down is so new it is really helpful to share ideas.

[Page Lennig]

Jenni -
Thanks for posting this resource. We had similar discussions at our school. Our message to teachers was to "get prepared" to do "something online" - whether it by email or through our class pages that we have set up through our website (Whipple Hill). These class pages are good - they provide "channels" that support news, assignments, discussion board, and photos/videos.

In the Lower School, teachers were asked to "reacquaint" themselves with their class page (if they were not actively using it). I met with several teachers to go over the features they might use.

In the middle/upper schools, teachers we asked to think about how they would continue their curriculum if school were closed for 1-2 weeks either through class pages or email or other avenues.

I agree, just the thought of having to teach online got many teachers thinking about these tools. I'm hoping to capture some of that energy in summer workshops.

[Demetri Orlando]

Jenni-
Thank you for sharing your document above! I adapted it for an in-service I delivered yesterday. I'm attaching the modified file here. If others have more ideas for adding to this document, I'd love to see them. For purposes of collaboration, I've also reposted this content to this wiki page:http://twt.wikispaces.com/H1N1+Online+Plans. I hope others will collaborate to add to this page.

[Adam Kenner]

Horace Mann School in Bronx, NY closed for 3 days at the very end of the school year, extending Memorial Day weekend to 6 days.

The decision to close was made during on Tuesday morning after school was open. We followed regular dismissal procedures on that day except all after-school activities and late buses were canceled. Email communications were prepared and sent by 11:30 AM to parents, students and employees. Follow-up email sent in the evening with helpful links, including Remote Learning resources posted earlier for this very possibility. A press release (pdf) was posted on the front page of our website. Closing and all communications went smoothly.

Work-at-home activities are posted for PreK-8 on our Moodle site. Students and faculty in grades 9-12 use existing Moodle courses or communicate via email (these would be exam review days for these grades).

Communication about cancellations and schedules for the remaining school days is continuing via email to all groups in the community.