Day 5 for both our “bricks and mortar” schools, and our new Online School!
In person, our teachers are welcoming Cohort B of Grade 9 students, combining COVID training with our traditional welcome to secondary school. I can’t imagine what it’s like for our teens, heading off to “high school” in such a time.
Online, we are still awaiting creation of our timetable for almost 9000 students. Did you know that software developers have never considered this eventuality? So, there have had to be a lot of last-minute software tweaks, and many tasks have had to be “redone”.
Since we have no solid timetable, we haven’t yet been able to assign our teachers, so they are out there in limbo. As an administrative team we are working to define our jobs. We need to support our students and our staff, and ensure that the needs are met by a team of Principals and Vice Principals, some of whom are working part-time.
So what are the roles of Principal and Vice Principal? We are thinking that the Vice Principals might take responsibility for a group of students, probably according to the placement of their last name in the alphabet. Our Principals primary work could be to support teachers and liaise with parents. So they may be grouped according to subject areas, in order to create smaller communities.
However, some of these departments will be very large. We estimate courses for students in a year to be 7.5. and teachers each lead 6 classes of anywhere from 22 to 31 students. So our 9000 students will require somewhere between 450 and 550 teachers. Tomorrow night is the deadline for students to opt to join our Online School, so our number of teachers may grow as well. For English alone we are looking at 50 to 60 teachers.
It is hoped that teachers will know their assignments as of the weekend, and will have Monday and Tuesday to prepare before classes formally begin on Wednesday. But since this is still a tentative plan, the communication is awaiting confirmation, and our teachers’ anxiety is growing.
My role as a Principal will be to allay their fears, find out what my teachers require, and figure out how to get it to them as soon as possible. They will be learning to use an LMS (Learning Management System), refine their use of Google Meet or Microsoft Teams, collaborate with others who are teaching the same course (many of whom they will never have met), and then connect with their students (whose anxiety is likely similar, as they sit at home!)
Since we still have two more days this week, and there may not be much news, I’ll take the next couple of blog posts to consider how I might support my teachers and students, beginning next week.
How will I build community with my teachers?
How will I support teachers to utilize research-based, student-focused instruction and assessment strategies?
How will I support the Mental Health of my teachers, and their students?
More questions than answers right now!
Terry Whitmell, PhD 