Dear Parents,
Grade 8 has always been a year of transition for our students, but I don’t think any of us anticipated that our youngest pupils would be transitioning to online schooling in their first year at MRSS. We recognize that this change creates significant challenges for both our students and their families. I wanted to write to let you know that our staff are working hard to make sure that they are providing learning opportunities while not overwhelming students and families. This is an inexact science and many of our staff are learning on the fly so it might take some time to calibrate things correctly. The hope is that students will be able to do most of the work independently and that parents will not have to take on the role of teacher. However, we know that every student is different and that while some students require supervision and guidance to complete work, others are more able to work independently. As educators, we’ve found out that we’re not much different from the students and some of us need more support than others to make this work.
I’ve included a few answers to questions that I’ve been hearing from Grade 8 students:
- How much work should I expect?
The district gave the directive of 1 to 2 hours of learning opportunities a week, but we’ve been stressing that even 1 hour per week per teacher means 8 hours of independent work for our students. I’ve suggested to staff that they ask students to let them know how long they took to complete assignments as it’s not always easy to predict. - Should I be worried about my marks?
All MRSS staff are very sensitive to the fact that a sudden transition to online schooling means that not all students will be equally prepared to handle the situation. For example, some students have open access to technology and some don’t. Some students are free all day and some students are looking after siblings. The list goes on. As a result, MRSS teachers have agreed to keep these things in mind when both assigning and assessing work. They recognize that the present situation requires a student by student approach to learning and assessing. If you feel that your son/daughter is struggling under this model it’s important we know. Please contact teachers directly if the challenges are specific to a class. However, if the challenges are more universal contact the grade counsellor, Mr. Page:sacha_page@sd42.ca or the grade administrator, Mr. Headley: ken_headley@sd42.ca and they will reach out to the necessary teachers. - Are my parents allowed to help me?
The hope, as mentioned above, is that students will be able to work independently but most Grade 8 students are accustomed to having a teacher, and often an Educational Assistant, keeping them on track. We don’t want parents to feel that they have to take on the role of a full time teacher in addition to their other duties so please reach out to the teacher if they’re struggling to complete assignments without significant help from parents. - Weekly Check ins:
We’re trying to make sure that we’re communicating with students regularly so that we can monitor their progress and gauge how they’re feeling about things. Checking in is much more manageable for an elementary teacher with 24 students than a teacher with 200 students so we’re trying to solve what “check ins” look like for high school teachers. At the moment, some teachers are checking in using zoom, Microsoft teams, email etc. This will hopefully become more definite as we get further down the road. Ultimately, we want your son/daughter to feel connected. - Should I have heard from every teacher by now?
For the most part, all teachers should have contacted students by now. The only exceptions for grade 8 students are their rotation teachers. Grade 8 students move through different cycles of classes. For example, they might rotate from art to drama to music to career ed or from sewing to foods to computers to media. I purposefully asked grade 8 rotations teachers to hold back for a few weeks so that the students can get going on their full year classes. Grade 8 rotation teachers will start reaching out to students next week.
Our biggest goal is to make sure that our grade 8 students feel the support of our staff as we face the challenges of this new learning environment. Please assure them that this will pass and that their future is bright.
Sincerely,
Ken Elphick
Acting Principal, Maple Ridge Secondary
Email: kelphick@sd42.ca
Cell: 778-953-1770