H1N1 Closure - How are schools handling?

[shri]

pixel - no, I'm a parent and we get plenty of feedback from our neighbours and also from other parents through our geokids.hk and geobaby.com networks.

I'll be making a PDF of what we were provided and also will be checking with other parents to see what they were provided to allow a proper comparison.

[jayinhongkong]

I know Chinese International School has set work for their students. Delia has done it online and Marymount Primary School has put packets together. I haven't heard of any kids getting off completely scot-free--they're all complaining about how much work they have to do and how much they miss school.

[shri]

I've posted a detailed list of what we got in year 2, in Kennedy on GeoKids.HK.

Would appreciate if some feedback could be provided on this thread.

ESF H1N1 Suspension Activities - GeoKids Forums

(GeoBaby / GeoKids logins are different from GeoExpat .. you might need to register again).

[timklip]

interested to know what your expectation of kids 'being kept busy' means....surely not working at home each day for the equivalent number of hours they spend in school each day?

from my perspective (and I teach 7-8 yr olds) some of the small sample of work posted was probably a bit too heavy for Y2 without guidance from the teacher/parent (habitat research, eg), while the cloze/wordsearch work, tho requiring little forethought/prep, could probably suit a large range of abilities we find in many classes in HK...

in my case, i sent some of the workbooks we study in class home with them on the last day of school, then posted every day one of the following:

1 assignments/guidance notes online relating to units in the books;

2 scanned to pdf and uploaded reading books with comprehension quizzes;

3 assigned work in an online reading program we subscribe to

additionally, two days a week:

4 scanned to pdf and uploaded pages from their math textbooks with assessment work;

5 same thing with social studies;

...all in all, probably 1 hr of work per day...this was consistent with what my colleagues were doing...after about 3 days, we started getting calls complaining about TOO MUCH work being given out...

in my case, out of a class of 19, i had on average 7 students actually submitting work, and NO explanation from the other parents....

Oh yeah, all while marking final exams (they were written on the day school closed), completing reports, producing/uploading lesson plans each day and closing up the classroom...

I'll say it again, most parents will never know how difficult it is to plan e-learning on a moments notice for two weeks, catering to multiple ability levels, with only written guidance available for students (if the parents can't/don't get involved), no in-class discussion among students, on top of having to attempt to please every parent who has different expectations for their kids...

now if i could just find that grass skirt...

[shri]

Hi Tim,

Compared to what you've posted, I don't think we got 1%.

What are our expectations for keeping kids busy?

Well, we expected the following:

- Some amount of guidance on what the kids would have done during their time, while school was in progress. The kids are in school from 8:30 to 3PM. Surely they follow some plan or structure.

Given the absense of any curriculum or textbooks or newsletters, we have no clue what the kids would have learnt or how we should have followed up with them for the two weeks.

- Some guidance in terms of resources to use. I so wish we had textbooks to follow - then we would know what lessons needed to be done, what the kids would have learnt and have had the option to follow them or not.

I'll say it again, most parents will never know how difficult it is to plan e-learning on a moments notice for two weeks

The ESF should have had plans and the work loads could easily have been shared across teachers and schools (assuming that the principals talk to each other). They have had a closure last year and the swine flu issue was known a few weeks in advance. There should really be a plan on how to deal with this issue as a norm and not as an "oh my god I have to do extra work emergency".

The problem I see here is that the lack of standards across various schools and even within the school across classes leads to every teacher having to create bespoke e-learning materials. I see no reason, why, if there was a solid curriculum that was followed across all schools, your lesson plans for example could not have been used across all the systems (I'm not even sure if you're with the ESF.. just putting forward an example).

Online teaching takes a lot of effort - as it requires some amount of precision and planning, which is not normally required for classroom based training. Congrats to you for being able to manage what you did!

[gilleshk]

Hi Tim,

Compared to what you've posted, I don't think we got 1%.

What are our expectations for keeping kids busy?

Well, we expected the following:

- Some amount of guidance on what the kids would have done during their time, while school was in progress. The kids are in school from 8:30 to 3PM. Surely they follow some plan or structure.

Given the absense of any curriculum or textbooks or newsletters, we have no clue what the kids would have learnt or how we should have followed up with them for the two weeks.

- Some guidance in terms of resources to use. I so wish we had textbooks to follow - then we would know what lessons needed to be done, what the kids would have learnt and have had the option to follow them or not.



The ESF should have had plans and the work loads could easily have been shared across teachers and schools (assuming that the principals talk to each other). They have had a closure last year and the swine flu issue was known a few weeks in advance. There should really be a plan on how to deal with this issue as a norm and not as an "oh my god I have to do extra work emergency".

The problem I see here is that the lack of standards across various schools and even within the school across classes leads to every teacher having to create bespoke e-learning materials. I see no reason, why, if there was a solid curriculum that was followed across all schools, your lesson plans for example could not have been used across all the systems (I'm not even sure if you're with the ESF.. just putting forward an example).

Online teaching takes a lot of effort - as it requires some amount of precision and planning, which is not normally required for classroom based training. Congrats to you for being able to manage what you did!

I think that some of your expectations are a bit unrealistic. Teaching is a lot more(or should be) than just dispensing materials and not everything that goes on from 8-3 can be dispensed online.

If it's strictly about work, I'd say two hours a day would cover most of the material. Also keep in mind that a class of 15-25 would go a lot slower than a moderately bright kid working hard without distractions from his/her peers.

It's unfortunate that this situation may outline that none that much "work" is covered during a school's day yet so much more is done that is unseen or unmeasured by parents.

Materials/textbooks also can't always be given to parents. They are often shared across classes to be more efficient. It doesn't make sense to buy 100 large textbooks when 25 will do just fine if classes time their lessons appropriately particularly if those are not used extensively.

As to ESF, I share your frustration. The level of cooperation between schools is minimal and there's hardly any guidance coming from the head office. Instead of functioning like a board with curriculum consultants trying to standardize/offering support. Each school is basically an island in itself offering even using different textbooks and even computer systems.

Things seem to be changing slowly but there's a legacy of not cooperating with a distinct lack of leadership at the top that makes it difficult to overcome.

The other thing is that online learning may appear easy for the outside observers but you have to realize that for some teachers(and administrators), emailing is cutting edge technology. Using scanners, multimedia, web pages, pdf files etc... is not second nature to many.

The people that dispense proper online learning have had years of learning/training to hone their craft and you can't expect a school to turn around in a few weeks and become very good at it. It's a makeshift situation and it's absolutely not surprising that it will look and feel chaotic.

At the end of the day, missing a couple of weeks of school at the end of the school year is not going to to make a huge difference for most students.

At the end of the day, it's really not that big a deal to miss a few weeks of work though and it's not going to make a big difference

[pixel]

I hope it OK to add here that we teach a class (es) of individuals. It is unrealistic to expect all children in one Year 2 class in one school to be at the same level doing the same work, let alone across a school or across a system.
This year I taught 330 different children across my secondary school. I set the same (time) amount of homework for them that would match the missing class time, eg. one hour for ICT, 2 or 3 hours for maths. It was not what we would have done in class - that requires explanation and discussion and well as teacher feedback. The work set was work I thought my students would be capable of doing at home and I sat online the whole week to supply instant feedback and answer questions.

I feel that if you have concerns about what was set, you should feel confortable with raising it with the school's headteacher.

Edited to add:
I have read the posting as requested and I do understand your concerns. I suggest seeking information from the headteacher.

[gilleshk]

I hope it OK to add here that we teach a class (es) of individuals. It is unrealistic to expect all children in one Year 2 class in one school to be at the same level doing the same work, let alone across a school or across a system.

I agree that it's important to address the individuality of each student yet they are part of the system which means that the same curriculum is or should be covered at a given level and therefore they should be performing similar tasks. Sometimes accommodations need to be made but at the end of the day, the system means that if you've completed year 2, you have met certain expectations in order to go on to year 3.

In a perfect world, students would have IEPs(individual education plans) but a perfect world it isn't...

I think it's very realistic that each level be doing similar things and in order for teachers to do a better job, it's often beneficial to work in groups at given levels. That allows teachers to come up with more creative activities and hopefully also means that teachers can benefit from other people's expertise and experience.

A lack of cooperation and coordination is the worse thing that can happen in a school and students are always better off when teachers can cooperate and work together. This has to start at the administrative level by providing time and support to better able teachers to coordinate their efforts.