Which makes more sense to you regarding Back To School Night?
1) The online version of what we've always done. We'll have 10-minute "class periods" in Zoom in the evening, with 5 minutes in between classes, and parents will show up online to hear our spiels.
2) Record some kind of video presentation for parents that they can watch whenever. These will be collected and the links put in one place so they can be found.
I honestly don't see how anyone could prefer method 1, but that's what's being gently pushed; option 2 will be allowed. I didn't even mention some of the "catches" for option 1, catches that will make that process even more difficult for parents.
I understand our administration's desire for parents to see a real person instead of a video, but given only 10 minutes per class, with people trickling in, and having connectivity problems--or having 2 kids at the same school and thus not being able to see both kids' 1st period teachers, for example--I have to believe that accessing a video, on their own time, would be preferable for most parents. My plan is to make a video for each of the 3 courses I teach. My primary goal during normal BTS Night is to convince the parents that their kids are in good hands when they're in my class, and that will be my goal here as well. And if such a video takes more than 10 minutes, then so be it--I won't be shoehorned into that 10 minutes.
What do you think? As a parent would you rather see option 1 or option 2 at your child's school?
Update, 9/1/20: I am posting videos, one for each course I teach. If you'd like to see them, they're on my YouTube page. As of the moment of this update I still have to make one for the 3rd course.
10 comments:
My school is currently thinking about it. In option 1, if you have a waiting room, then you have to speak and then let people in, speak for more and then let more people in, and so on. If you don't have a waiting room, great possibility of you being zoom bombed.
I think a video is fine; parents can do it on their own time and go back if necessary.
Option 2. I would be able to view the video on my own time schedule, and watch it multiple times later if I preferred. I almost always had more than one child in school at a time, so there were occasions when I just had to choose which teacher and/or class I would have to skip in order to get to another, more "important" one. I wish we could have had this option back then.
Having the option to do either 1 or 2, like you are doing, is a good thing.
As a parent, having the option is good for me and the teacher both.
if I have time and availability I can do #1.
But if I am unable to, then I have the option to review it later in my own time.
I would like to see a combo of 1 and 2. Set up the videos a day or so before the event so that parents can take some time and look at the video presentation. Then have a zoom call so that parents can ask questions if they want.
Unfortunately, my school district is choosing none of the above. It doesn't look like there will be any back to school night at all.
Don't have kids in school anymore, but I have been watching other parents scramble. In our district, many families have had kids assigned to different elementary schools for distance learning. I'd go with the video because logistically it would be a whole lot easier!
What parents actually want from the teacher is the chance to ask questions. The schools our kids went to sometimes went out of their way to make sure that was kept to a minimum.
My favorite parents' night was when our younger was in 4th grade. The school used the horrible Everyday Math program, and the parents with older kids who'd already done 4th weren't having any of it. The teacher got up and said how "lattice method" for multiplication, which EM spends way too much time on, is really a good method!
We countered with a simple question: how do you multiply with numbers to the right of the decimal? The teacher was stumped, and one of the parents started to tell her the answer. We broke in and pointed out: "Yes, we know how to do it, the point is she didn't know!"
Mic drop.
Video is fine if you answered the common questions. For here that would be 1. is this an included section? 2. what's the weekly schedule?
ie how much review are you going to be doing to acccomodate the socially promoted and how much of the content is going to be omitted...are you teaching the minimum needed for 'the pass' or are you teaching the entire course.for example if AP, can the student earn a '5' on the AP exam solely from the coursework?
I always liked a chance to ask questions of the teacher. If you don't afford me that opportunity, I would feel slighted as a parent.
Possible do a hybrid of 1 & 2. Make your recorded sessions and have them online as soon as possible. Then have three sessions of ~30 minutes (for the three subjects you said you teach) where all parents could drop in and ask questions. The expectation would be that they watch the recorded session so you do not present during the 30 minutes, only do Q&A.
Of course my videos would cover the common questions I've gotten after 17 years *in the same classroom*.
After that, as I can't know when parents would be available--and here's the kicker: parents would have to access their kids' logins in order to access a Zoom with me in our district--I'd just have them email me with questions.
Our school went over the top. One of our staff members saw this bitmoji thing and we went with it. Now as the schools tech coach, I was busy for a week straight helping the principal put it all together.
I think it turned out great. And we basically said, make a video :-)
https://sites.google.com/wvusd.org/whsbacktoschool2020/home
Post a Comment