REPORTS TO THE BOARD

Woodland Middle School Report

To: Michael Green

From: James Johnston

Date: 9/14/20

Re: WMS September 2020 Board Report

Woodland Middle School staff are off and running for the new school year!  The following topics are explained in more detail below:

• Intake Conferences      
• First Week of School
• District Directed Professional Development (DDPD) Days

Intake Conferences

We are excited to announce that 97.5% of parents signed up and came to intake conferences, which is amazing. During these conferences, the following occurred:

• Individualized canvas bags with the student’s schedule stapled to it, and the supplies for each of their classes were distributed.  
• Students were able to get pictures, pick up their Chromebook, and meet their homeroom teacher (minus a few exceptions where the counselors filled in or we used Zoom).  
• Homeroom teachers were able to discuss the new system and walk families through the schedule.
• Note-At least 85% of families said they are planning to have their children come back to school full time.  Another 5% were undecided or said it depends on plans and variables such as safety measures, siblings, dislike of vaccines, and mask policies.
• The overwhelming attitude was positive, and multiple parents expressed that they were pleased with the intake process and felt better after they left.  Some stopped by the office to compliment.  One even said they liked it better than lunch and lockers. 

First Week of School

We had approximately 95% of students engaged in live classes during the first week of school.  We individually contacted all of the students who had not logged into live lessons to assess needs and discuss how they were engaged asynchronously.  This totaled about 35 students, and multiple verified that they were watching recordings and completing classwork remotely.

District Directed Professional Development (DDPD) Days

We focused on some key items in staff development to get staff ready for the online learning launch this fall.  They are summarized below:

1. Infrastructure (Schedule, expectations, grading practices, meetings, communication, health attestations, the transition to hybrid, etc.)
2. Google and Remote Platforms

• Posting of course materials [Google Classroom]
• Stream: social hub of Google Classroom. This is where announcements can be made by the teacher
• Classwork Page: The Classwork page is a clear list of expectations, including “non-digital” assignments.  Teachers are expected to post assignments and materials to this page
• Assignments:  Assignments can include documents, videos, presentations, links to websites, or apps
• Grade Book: Gradebook in Google Classroom gives teachers and students a way to track and display grades for assignments. Skyward is the official grading system
• Creation of multimedia course materials 
  • Screencastify
  • LucidChart/Press
  • FlipGriD
  • Google Slides Hyperdoc
  • Google Chrome Extensions
• Communication: Google Meet, Asynchronous online discussions through Google Classroom, Collaborative projects, and Interactive learning experiences 
• New features coming or with extensions
  • Hand raising
  • Meeting attendance
  • Breakout rooms
  • Q&A
  • Polling
  • Additional moderator controls

3. Best Practices tied to remote learning

• Anita Archer/John Hattie Explicit Instruction done remotely
• Weekly planning for remote instruction
• Building relationships with students during the first week(s)
• Building rapport & trust
• Including and accommodating English learners, students with IEPs or those having Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)
• Assessing and Addressing the social emotional needs of students

4. PBIS/Incentives Remotely

• Online Classroom Management
• Student recognition
• Social Emotional Learning Remotely
• Care Plan for kids /What can we do? 
• Mental Health for students and staff in distance learning
• Trauma Informed Practices