With less than three weeks to go before the start of the school year, the structure for remote learning has become more clear in Salem.
Superintendent Dr. Stephen Zrike hosted a Facebook live this week with Assistant Superintendent Kate Carbone and Horace Mann Laboratory School Principal Ruben Carmona to answer questions and give families a better idea of what to expect when remote learning starts on Sept. 14.
Although Salem recently dipped back into the yellow COVID transmission designation that would allow a hybrid model, the district is still moving forward with a remote model to start the school year. Educators have recently returned to school and have been at work structuring the remote model.
“We’re excited to talk about our model because we think it’s really well conceived and has a lot to offer our children,” Carbone said. “What we’re striving for is to ensure that there is balance across (live and recorded learning). We’re looking and striving for a 50-50 split. Our teachers are in session now and we have 11 days of planning, which is probably not enough, but it’s certainly a gift at the same time that we do have that extra time to do planning.”
Most of that planning is deciding what parts of learning are most suitable for live and recorded instruction. The original introduction of new content will likely be done in a recorded session by teachers while the processing and reviewing of that content will take place in live teacher-student sections on Zoom.
Those schedules will also differ for different grade levels, Carmona said.
“The block looks a little bit different for kindergarten than it does for first grade and upper elementary grades as well,” Carmona said. “I think it is designed with a developmentally appropriate lens so kids can actually do the work that needs to be done and also gain the skills that they need to gain. As soon as the schedules are completed and have gone through all the revisions teachers are supporting us with, they will be ready to be shared.”
As planned, grades pre-K through five will use Google Classroom, while upper grades will use Schoology as a learning platform via Zoom.
Parents and guardians will have opportunities to learn to use these programs through tutorials available at the Salem Learns website, a live Zoom workshop and individual workshops and assistance through online forums and a help desk number available in both Spanish and English.
Attendance and participation will also be of high importance for the district. While synchronous learning is an important part of that participation, there will be opportunities for students who miss a session to catch up.
“There will be times during the day with synchronous teaching that will be better received when it’s live,” Carmona said. “Having said that, some lessons created will be recorded as well so families can access them. The challenge is that as lessons are created and videotaped, there will be a little lag (to access) because teachers are still working with kids throughout the day and won’t have time to post those lessons into a different format. There will be a lag, but there will be a system so kids who cannot access the content will be able to do it at some point during the day.”
If a student does fall behind or struggles during remote learning, there are also outlets and plans to assist them.
“One of the structures we have in place is the student support team,” Carbone said. “Every school has a group of educators, city connects counselors, adjustment counselors, guidance counselors, grade level teachers and coaches. A group of people who can look at student needs from a lot of different vantage points. This is a place where teachers can bring students who may be beginning to show signs of slipping and struggling with the remote model.
“They’ll look at data, bring family in as a partner, to help figure out what the root cause is,” Whether it may be social-emotional learning needs or it could be something unrelated to learning that’s affecting them.”
Zrike, along with Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll will host a Town Hall to answer questions and provide more information Wednesday, Sept. 2 at 6:30 with details on how to join coming in the following days.