Dear Parents and Guardians,
We welcome you into a glimpse of the work that is going on behind the scenes to develop structured, integrated and high-quality learning experiences for your children. Our teachers and educational support staff have mentally started to adjust to the big story going forward by praying, planning and beginning to imagine themselves as teachers in a dramatically changed context. The staff at JKCS have woken up to a new reality that is full of exciting opportunities.
Over Spring Break we chose our core platform-delivery tools for the development of our distance learning scenarios and prepared the guidelines that teachers will use to develop grade-appropriate curriculum coverage approaches.
We will use guided teacher collaborations as foundational to getting the balance right when it comes to pacing teaching goals (week one, week two, week three) and setting curriculum content.
Teachers will be planning to provide learning experiences that have:
- Clear daily schedules
- Consistent Lesson Structures
- Well-designed learning tasks
- A blend of synchronous (when students and teachers are online at the same time) and asynchronous (when students are accessing posted lessons and resources) instructional times
- Whole class, individual and small group work scenarios
- Assessments that are appropriate to each grade, and
- Instructional Cycles that create routines for both teachers and students.
It is likely that one of your first questions is, “What is the timeline for the role-out of our distance learning program”?
This week the collaborative preparation and implementation structures are being developed so that teachers and EAs can begin their planning within a structured and well-guided process.
After spring break we had our first all-staff meetings over a virtual meeting platform. We introduced our teachers to our technology-support platforms and to the processes we will use to collaborate on the development of teaching materials for Grade levels and subject areas. Together, we integrated the planning of teaching delivery routines, platforms and schedules, not only through the lens of teaching schedules but also through the lens of our families, many of whom have multiple children enrolled in different grades.
This weeks’ work was especially critical because we want to avoid the pitfall of creating chaotic curriculum delivery experiences for our families and students.
The pre-delivery planning timeline to parents includes the following targets:
- Guidelines about how to prepare in-home learning spaces for your child.
- Instructions about when and how you may be invited to pick up school resources, (i.e., hard-copy learning packets for younger students, or a school-owned laptop for families that have a critical need in this area).
- Concrete learning schedules for each of their children.
- On Monday, April the 6th classes will resume according to the schedules that you receive.
And then the adventure begins.
Please keep us in your prayers as we take stock of where we are now and move with open minds and hearts toward creating learning experiences that are brimming with hopefulness, practical wisdom and excellent learning outcomes. Celebrate the opportunity we have to keep Christ and His priorities at the very centre of our teaching and your child’s learning.
Most sincerely,
Wendy Perttula, MEd
Director of Curriculum