March 29, 2020

Greetings All, By now, it is our hope you have read the email from Mr. Adams regarding expectations for staff, as we move to our next phase of Remote Learning.  Tomorrow, the schools will be open for staff members to gather items that are necessary to move learning forward. It is not mandatory for you to come into the building and you should only come in, if it is absolutely necessary.  Building Schedule for a 1 Day Opening on March 30, 2020 - STAFF ONLY 8-9 English Math  Wellness 9-10 History World Language Counseling 10-11 Science  Unified Arts Library 11-12 Special Education ELL Please only utilize the following entrances for each building when you arrive and leave. Pittaway- Main door Warren- Main door Mindess- Main Entry and Exit doors (Main office and Auditorium)  AMS- Main Office Doors AHS- Main Office Doors (do NOT fob in to other doors) Custodians have been charged with cleaning all doors that have been touched and we are trying to minimize the work they will have to complete. Do not enter and exit using classroom doors that lead to the outside, unless you have been given an exception by your principal. See Mr. Adams' message below: The custodial staff has asked that each of us limit touching to as few surfaces as possible. We will have the main doors and classroom doors open so staff does not need to touch handles, etc.  This will assist them in their cleaning. Please DO NOT use side entrances or exits.    Please see another excerpt from Mr. Adams' message. I understand that some educators may want students to retrieve additional resources, such as new novels or textbooks. I can not guarantee if I can make this happen, but if that is something you need to be done, please let your building principal know. If the retrieval of textbooks, workbooks and journals is not absolutely vital to moving our students forward, we would prefer we refrain from having students come to school to gather these materials. The thought of organizing hundreds of students to safely gather these materials is not only overwhelming, but also not conducive to keeping students socially-distant. Please be cognizant of this when planning activities. Mr. Adams also wrote the following: I honestly do not know if we will be back in school this year. If in 5 weeks we need to pivot again, we will. We will still need updated copies for those who do not have the technology and if you can not get everything printed, give documents to the main office or your building principal and we will solve this problem.  Our ultimate goal is to become as paperless as possible.  We understand that many students may still need paper copies, however we want to keep these numbers as low as possible. With this said, we recognize it is a monumental task to have paper packets ready for pick up tomorrow. Additionally, we want you to spend as little time as possible in the building. Nor, do we know when we will be in the building again.  Please create “digital packets” by adding any paper resources to the respective Google Folders/Drive we will be creating in a shared drive by Wednesday. If paper packets need to be created, administration will work to provide these packets to students. *see below- if you know all of your students are accessing your Google classroom and do not need paper copies you do not need to add anything to the drive. As we move toward remote learning, we need to understand how many students are not able to access our curriculum digitally. In order to do this, please make us aware of any students that are not accessing the online resources that have been made available.  Administration will be creating an electronic log to track students that have not accessed the remote learning opportunities. This will be shared with you on Wednesday. Please complete this information by 3 PM on Friday, April 3. We will utilize this information to determine what students need paper packets. Additionally, many of you have contacted us regarding students who now need Chromebooks. If a student contacts you, regarding the need to borrow a Chromebook, please provide them with the following information. If additional students receive Chromebooks, this too can mitigate the number of packets that are necessary for pick up. Again, only provide this information if a family reaches out to you to request a Chromebook. Chromebook Requests 1. Click the link below to fill out the request form. This form MUST be filled out completely.                          Click Here : Chromebook Request Form    2. The Technology department will take requests until Wednesday April 1st. @ 12pm 3. Pickup will be Friday April 3rd between 10am - 2pm  at the Technology Office located at the Ashland Middle School. 4. These dates and times are firm. Chromebooks will no longer be available after these dates 5. Any questions feel free to call the Technology Office 508-881-0195 Thank you and stay safe, Sara Davidson Pete Regan Mike Caira Dave DiGirolamo Kelley St. Coeur A note about Special Education: Special education teachers and ESPs should be added to the Google classroom as a co-teacher when requested. They will be reaching out to teachers to request the classes they should be added to. Special education teachers/staff and general education teachers working together to ensure equity and access is part of this transition. Determining what works to keep communication open with co-teachers, liaisons, and support staff is crucial during this time. Mechanisms that should be considered are email, phone, Zoom, or reviewing Google classroom documents.  Special education teachers and ESPs need to see what work is being completed so that they can support teachers and students with accommodations and/or modifications as needed. Let Deena or I know if you have questions about this! Here is an excerpt from George Couros' most recent email: 1. If you want to join the Facebook book study on "The Innovator's Mindset," there is still time. Just join here on Facebook.  Having the book is suggested but not necessarily needed. 2. I wrote a post, "4 Ideas to Consider for Online Learning," that provides ideas for educators to think about as they move to remote learning. 3. AJ Juliani, Katie Novak, and I are hosting a free webinar this week to provide some ideas and thoughts on leadership through all that is going on. This is from AJ: There are so many educators doing amazing work now, but in the midst of uncertainty and change, we all have questions. We want to do a different type of webinar this week. One that answers your most pressing leadership questions - and takes time to address the ones impacting schools right now. Next Wednesday at 8 PM EDT we will have a first webinar where the subject will be focused on your needs right now. We would love to have you, so if you are interested, please register here: Opportunities for Learning and Leading in a Virtual Space

A few quick things from others: 1. John Spencer wrote a great post on "Taking Distance Learning Away from the Screen" that reminds us that not all of the "remote learning" opportunities have to involve technology. I especially appreciate this table from John focusing on similar ideas in different and combined spaces.

2. This is an awesome post from educator and author Catlin Tucker on "3 Ways to Use Video Conferencing with Students Learning Remotely." This visual created by Catlin is also very helpful.

3. Finally, check out this  "Step-By-Step Guide To Project-Based Learning in Virtual World" created by Ross Cooper and Erin Murphy.