Dear Birch Families: 

We are entering our third week of distance learning. Our students have been doing their best to adapt, and parents are also facing their own hurdles in the process.  Some things have been successful and others continue to need improvement.  

Our focus these weeks has been on offering familiarity and continuity for students facing a new daily routine. We feel that our daily community meetings and face-to-face classes have provided that for students. It is obvious when we get together in Zoom meetings that students appreciate maintaining their connections with the Birch community.  As many things are lately, this is a works in progress.  We are seeing that some things are working and others need to be altered.

WHAT WE HAVE BEEN FINDING:

We have been careful not to introduce too many new things at the same time. We have been working with material that should be easy for students to grasp so as not to add to frustrations. We have prioritized tools that students are already familiar with and that we have used in school regularly. We are lucky because many of the systems we use translate easily to a distance-learning format.

That being said, we also experienced frustration with technology and processes.  Many students need reminders of their login information and passwords. Some needed help getting oriented to the tech tools. New schedules are difficult to adapt to.  We struggled with methods of assigning work that makes it easy for students to follow.  We have solved some of those problems, and we are still working on fixing some problems.  

We are seeing that students are managing the new normal in different ways, some more successfully than others. Sometimes our Zoom classes are more social meetings than classes, with students just wanting to connect with other students. And we teachers also miss being with them in person, where we can gently steer, motivate, and mentor students. The physical distance makes that much more difficult.  We are working on developing ways to bridge that gap.  

FAMILY NEEDS ARE DIFFERENT REQUIRING DIFFERENT FOCUSES

In some families students are working independently.  Parents are working from home or away from home, or caring for other siblings. In that case we want to offer easy to follow directions, a lot of teacher support, and a relatively robust schedule that keeps them engaged.

Other families are spending time together, and want the independence of completing work when it’s right for everyone. Some students have taken advantage of the ability to sleep later, and their day begins at different time. Others rise early, and like to get their work done early so the day is open.  Some families want a minimal schedule and other want a full schedule. 

Our goal is for the program we offer to be “just right” for each family. To do that we are offering schedule suggestions, as well as “recommended work” and “optional work”.  In all cases it is up to you as a family to decide what is right for your student.  If you are concerned, want suggestions or have questions please reach out to us so we can all be on the same page.  We don’t expect the same thing for each student, we can be very flexible and accommodate all needs.  

ZOOM SESSIONS ARE SHORTENED – OFFICE HOURS FOR TEACHERS

This week we will focus on meeting with students for about 15 minutes at the start of the class period to explain the activities and take questions. Then we will ask students to sign off and do the work on their own. We have also scheduled open OFFICE HOURS where students can drop in to teacher’s Zoom Rooms for individual assistance and support. We encourage all students to take advantage of this time to get their needs met. In this format it is important that students self-advocate and reach out to us when they are unsure, need support or want to check-in.

MAILED PAPER PACKETS FOR SOME STUDENTS 

Some students were mailed paper packets of material.  (Don’t panic, it wasn’t sent to all)  This work will be gone over during the Zoom Sessions with teachers, and then assignments will be given from there.  YOU DO NOT NEED TO DO ANYTHING WITH THE MATERIAL UNTIL TEACHERS DISCUSS WITH STUDENTS DURING THE WEEK.  Please remind students to have the material available nearby when the meet in the zoom classroom this week.  

SCHEDULES FOR THE WEEK ARE POSTED – WITH RECOMMENDED and OPTIONAL ACTIVITIES

We recognize that each household is managing a variety of different (and new) challenges during this time. In order to assist planning and coordination with this we have posted schedules for each group for the whole week. The schedule is color-coded.   The blocks that you see that are BLUE are OPTIONAL.   The blocks that you see in WHITE are RECOMMENDED.   In general we are offering facilitated learning in the morning, with additional support and options in the afternoon.  As we mentioned before, it is up to each family to decide how they want to interact with what is being offered.

The website at www.dash.thebirchschool.org is the central communication location.  All announcements, schedules and news will be posted there. 

Please let us know what questions, concerns, complaints, you are have so we can be responsive.  Thanks for your understanding, patience, and support as we all navigate this together.

Kate and The Birch School Team