Dear McCall Parents and Guardians,
I hope this message finds you well. During these past two weeks, some of you have reached to out to my administrative team and me to ask questions about the asynchronous learning as well as remote learning activities that the McCall teachers have been assigning to their students. Therefore, I would like to take this opportunity to clarify a few things regarding these aspects of both the Hybrid and Full Remote Learning models of instruction.
The first important information to remember is that during the At Home Days for Hybrid students (or the days when Fully Remote students are taking World Language and Exploratory classes), academic learning is not limited to the World Language and the two Exploratory classes students are assigned to take. During those two days of the week, teachers are also assigning Asynchronous assignments for students to complete when they are not receiving remote instruction from their World Language and Exploratory teachers. Your students should expect to receive about 30-35 minutes of Asynchronous assignments from each of their Team (i.e., Math, English, Science, and Social Studies) and World Language Teachers to complete for each of their At Home days. In other words, your students have academic tasks they are required to do between 9:30 am – 3:07 pm (i.e., a typical school day for this school year) of their At Home Days when they are not taking their remote World Language and Exploratory classes.
In addition to the Asynchronous work that your students are expected to do for their Team and World Language classes, those teachers are assigning about two to three nights of homework per week for your students; Exploratory teachers are giving about one night of homework per class per week to your students.
I strongly suggest all parents do some digging if you are noticing your students are taking part in little or no academic endeavors outside of attending their scheduled remote classes. When that happens, it would be helpful for you to ask students to show you what their teachers are posting on Google Classroom and to check with the students to see if those assignments have been completed. Even though most students have fifty minutes of Support Block per In-Person day to work on their assignments, it is highly unlikely students would be able to complete all their Asynchronous Work and their after school assignments during those two fifty minute periods of times per week.
Secondly, some parents and guardians have inquired why students are not interacting with their teachers during the entire period they are scheduled to be attending remote classes. I encourage all parents and guardians to remember that effective instruction at the middle school level does not often involve teachers talking to students during the entire class. Subject matter that are taught in all of our classes involve students learning by doing or discussing with their classmates. This is particularly the case for our Exploratory classes such as Art, Music, and Technology and Engineering. Therefore, parents and guardians should expect to see teachers delivering direct instruction to students during part of the class and providing students with the opportunity to work independently to practice what they have been taught or explore what they have been instructed more deeply either independently or with other classmates.
Thirdly, parents and guardians have asked about the purpose of the Wednesday Zooms and why content instruction is not taking place during that day. Students have about 20-26 minutes of meeting time with each teacher on Wednesdays. Teachers may use the limited time they have with students on Wednesdays to do a variety of things which may, or may not, include teaching of new content. They might check in with students regarding the asynchronous work they have assigned, review content that was taught and/or instructions on long term assignments that were given, preview new materials that will be taught, or help students engage in executive functioning activities such as planning for their asynchronous days. Given that our in-person time with students is so limited this year, teachers might also prioritize activities that help them build relationships and a sense of community in the class. These are all essential parts of what middle school teachers do to help students to be successful learners. It is unlikely students will be able to be learn new content effectively if teachers do not spend time on these activities.
In addition, it is also important for everyone to remember that students are spending pretty much their entire school day on screens on Wednesdays. Zoom fatigue is real and does negatively impact students’ physical and mental well-being if we do not make a conscious effort to manage it. Therefore, McCall teachers’ decisions to have students spend time away from Zoom and other screen-related activities is not just to ensure instruction is being delivered effectively, but they are also made to ensure teaching and learning are not happening at the expense of everyone’s physical and mental health.
The shift to Hybrid and Fully Remote models of education fundamentally changed how we deliver instruction. However, it did not change McCall teachers and staff’s commitment to delivering quality education. It is inevitable you are going to see education being done differently, however, that does not necessarily mean quality of teaching is lesser than before COVID hit us. I hope everyone will always keep in the back of your minds that the McCall teachers and staff’s priority is the education and well-being of your students, and the decisions we make are always made with that priority in mind.
Thank you,
James Lin
Principal
McCall Middle School
