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
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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
School Online – Journal – Day 10
This morning I met via MS Teams with my Principal colleagues, in our monthly association meeting. The meeting was structured around questions we had for our Associate Directors, System Leads, and others with central responsibilities. Many of the concerns will also be relevant for us when our students begin online next week, so it was … Continue reading School Online – Journal – Day 10
School Online – Journal – Day 8
Days 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 will be spent in a real "bricks and mortar" school, filling in for a Principal who will be working to build our School Online timetable. With more than 10000 students and more than 400 teachers, this is an unprecedented task. That word "unprecedented" is on my list of … Continue reading School Online – Journal – Day 8
School Online – Journal – Day 7 and a half….
Well, you know we are in a "new normal" when emails are sent out at 4:37 on a Saturday, to respond to changes since Friday. Our teachers received an email, ahead of the posting of a letter to parents on our board's website, letting them know that our online population has grown from 54,000 to … Continue reading School Online – Journal – Day 7 and a half….
School Online – Journal – Day 7
Isn't technology fun? Maybe, or maybe not. Here are some snippets from my Friday: Welcoming new pre-service teachers to Ontario Tech University Adobe Connect was new to them. Several didn't have earbuds or headphones, and so any audio from their speaker went back out their mic, creating a disconcerting echo. I'm hoping that they'll have … Continue reading School Online – Journal – Day 7
School Online – Journal – Day 5
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, … Continue reading School Online – Journal – Day 5
School Online – Journal – Day 4
After the long weekend, we teachers expect to head back to school, meet our students, and embark on the new school year with excitement and optimism. This year is different. Teachers in "bricks and mortar" schools in our district are spending this week orienting students to the new reality of COVID-19. Today they welcome Cohort … Continue reading School Online – Journal – Day 4
