This should have been only Day 19, but both Saturday and Sunday were filled with work, attempting to connect new teachers to class lists so that classes could begin today. We were partially successful - but there are still many classes without a teacher, despite efforts by our team over the past two weeks, without … Continue reading School Online – Journal – Days 19, 20 and 21
School Online – Journal – Day 19
It's Friday, and our fourth day of Online School. There are still classes without teachers, and teachers without timetables, and students and families who are awaiting emails. With more than 11,000 students and more than 500 teachers, there are few processes that successfully make the transition from traditional secondary schools to our mega online school. … Continue reading School Online – Journal – Day 19
School Online – Journal – Day 18
Our classrooms have changed..... It's day 3 for our online classes, and there remain several classes who don't yet have teachers assigned. We have no system to communicate to students and their families, so as their anxiety grows, so does my inbox. My morning was spent teaching online: two classes of 38 students each, with … Continue reading School Online – Journal – Day 18
School Online – Journal – Day 17
The calm of the morning in Sunny Slope Finally, a day when I managed to get to the end of my inbox, and step away for a moment or two! I am hoping that this means that our teachers are settling in as well. There is still confusion about our timetable, from both teachers and … Continue reading School Online – Journal – Day 17
School Online – Journal – Day 16
Today was the first day of school for our students. As they were online, we really don't have a good idea of how many showed up. Since our student information system hasn't yet been modified for our schedule, we have only paper records with each teacher. So I think they showed up, but I have … Continue reading School Online – Journal – Day 16
School Online – Journal – Day 15
So, this post will be short. Not because of lack of material to write about, but because I am exhausted after almost 14 continuous hours online. The logarithmic curves in my quilt reflect my past couple of weeks. Today was where the curve accelerated "north". This morning I checked in with my email, to see … Continue reading School Online – Journal – Day 15
School Online – Journal – Day 14
It's Sunday, and I'm thinking about how I would prepare for Tuesday, if I were one of our Online School teachers. I have now experienced an online "first day of classes" three times in my own teaching. My classes were all with pre-service teachers, so they were students who were a little older than ours, … Continue reading School Online – Journal – Day 14
School Online – Journal – Day 13
Day 13? Saturday? For our timetable team this is now Day 9 without a break, and there will be a Day 10, and maybe a Day 11. When I was offered this position it was described as a part-time role, along with five other part-time Principals and four full-time Vice Principals, under the leadership of … Continue reading School Online – Journal – Day 13
School Online – Journal – Day 12
Today was a whirlwind. Our guidance counsellors in all of our "bricks and mortar" schools were given the list of "conflicts" and began to resolve them to ensure that all students had timetables. Our communication team had announced that the timetables would be sent to students today, so there was a hard deadline. I was … Continue reading School Online – Journal – Day 12
School Online – Journal – Day 11
It's Thursday, and I know that our teachers' anxiety is growing. We will see students next Tuesday, and no one in our Online School has yet been told what they are teaching. This afternoon a virtual meeting took place with the guidance counsellors from all of our "bricks and mortar" schools. They're getting ready to … Continue reading School Online – Journal – Day 11
