4/3 - Distance Learning Updates

HELLO CORE CLASS COMMUNITY!!! I MISS YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Below I am copying an email I sent to your families. I would encourage you to read through it to get a sense of where we are heading next week and beyond. 

On Monday we will come together as a community digitally at 10:30 for a community circle through Google Hangouts Meet. I am excited to see you all there! I will send out a link to this via email and on the blog Monday morning at the latest. 

In the meantime, continue to take care of yourselves and check out the Michael’s Class - Daily Distance Learning document. 

Michael's Class - Distance Learning Updates - Email Sent 4/2

Greetings Room 211 Families,

I hope this finds you all as well as you can be right now.

As PPS and SES transition into "distance learning" I'm writing to update you all on what to expect for our core class in the coming week. 

First of all, if you haven't filled out the SES Needs Assessment Survey yet, please do so. It is confidential and will only be reviewed by the SES administration and  school counselors team. 

With that assessment in mind, we are going to be reaching out to you all individually in the coming days by phone to check in, see how you all are doing, and to get a sense of what we can do to best support your family right now. You can expect to hear from either myself, Amy, Alix, or Robin. Gillian, our school librarian, is also going to be supporting our core community during this distance learning process. 

Starting next Monday, April 6th we'll be coming online with a more robust digital learning experience for students with the goal being to re-connect our community as best we can given the circumstances, get students in conversation and relationship with one another again, and offer various learning opportunities to practice essential skills and engage minds. We will begin and end our week with an all-class digital community circle that I will facilitate through "Google Hangouts Meet." In addition, throughout next week and beyond students will have different opportunities to engage their minds and connect with other classmates and adults. Students will placed in "advisory groups" and will meet digitally with those classmates 3 times a week. We will be offering "office hours" during which students can check in with a teacher one on one about their learning, and more importantly, about how they are doing. Robin, the other Year of the Mountain teacher, Gillian, Amy, and Alix will be supporting our core class community with those "office hours". Our goal is to work to make sure each student can have one on one facetime with a teacher at least once a week. 

I will be sending out another email this weekend with the link to that first Google Hangouts community circle on Monday, April 6th that will include further details about the week and how to connect with available teachers during those office hours. 

Additionally, 8th grade families please know that more information will be coming in regards to how we plan on supporting and helping facilitate the 8th graders with their 8th Grade Portfolio. 

In the meantime, I would encourage students to continue to spend time with this Michael’s Class - Daily Distance Learning document. Though I will soon be having to transition away from the class blog and into Google Classroom as a part of PPS distance learning expectations, this document will be on the ses211.blogspot.com class blog and I will continue to keep it updated.

Thanks for the engagement, support, and flexibility. I am very much looking forward to reconnecting and seeing students' digital faces next Monday in our Google Hangouts Meet community circle!.

Take care!

-Michael