Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Mississinawa announces plan to make up calamity days online

UPDATE: Lisa Wendel appeared on the MSNBC show NewsNation Tuesday afternoon to discuss the pilot program (see hi-tech screen grab to the right).

Mississinawa Valley will test a new pilot program this year allowing students to make up snow/calamity days online. The program is being tested in response to the reduction of calamity days from 5 to 3 for the current school year.

The pilot program is similar to a bill introduced by Jim Zehringer. The text of the bill is here. Zehringer, who has coordinated with MV Superintendent Lisa Wendel on the project, said today: "It has been great working with Dr. Wendel on this issue. The staff and school board at Mississinawa Valley share her vision and the students will be the overall winners. Mississinawa Valley is leading the nation in this concept."

The story has been picked up nationally - with articles on ABC, Fox News, Washington Post, the Columbus Dispatch, and eslewhere. WHIOtv.com also has some additional details here.

10 comments:

  1. How will this work if all students don't have a DSL connection? I am willing to bet not all do.

    There are plenty of bugs to work out on the idea, but it is not bad.

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  2. Students will have 2 full weeks to complete the eDay assignment. This allows for students to complete the assignments at school during study hall, before school, or after school.

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  3. Thanks for clarifying. Hopefully that word gets out because I have heard several people comment in a similar way wondering how a rural school district expects all their students to have internet at home fast enough to have "class" online.

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  4. I said this a while back about online schooling.That is the only way that the state will be able to keep funding the school system

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  5. No problem. There has been at least one Daily Advocate or Early Bird article covering it and it was included in our first newsletter of the year that is sent to all families in our district. I'm sure we will publicize the idea further as the snow gets closer. I'll mention your comment to our adminstration to ensure that all in the county are aware of the details. Thanks!

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  6. I wish Greenville would try this! It sounds like a realy good idea! I'm very interested to see how it turns out.

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  7. Come on folks lets not get bambuzzled. This is just another way around the system. Until they offer a regular online learning experience that MV proves has structure and content there is no way this will provide the same eduational experience as the student being in the classroom. 3 hour delays and on-line offerings to avoid being in school are the latest fads.

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  8. Honestly, I think 6:11 p.m. may be right. Why would a student have two weeks to make up an assignment missed because of a snow day? If they waited the full two weeks, wouldn't they be significantly behind? And if every student waited, wouldn't the teacher have to have the lesson in class, anyway? Further, the bill is confusing - having to designate lessons at the beginning of the year to be put online? How will a teacher know where at in the lessons he or she will be in order to say "yes, the topic of sine and cosine will be online at that time."? And what is to stop a teacher from lesson-planning some extra time to get ahead so that there won't be anything to put online?

    I am sure there are plenty of things we aren't quite aware of yet in how it will work, but there are plenty of issues I see that could pop up.

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  9. @7:06: I'm sure the nature of the lessons provided for make-up days would be identical to the generalized sub plans that teachers leave in the sub-folders on their desks.

    Typically, when a teacher misses a day, she will simply adapt what was originally planned for the day for the sub. In this way, no time is lost and the students can continue forward with relevant work. However, there are rare occasions when a teacher's absence comes about at the last minute from an emergency. In that situation, the teacher picks out several generalized activities that can be plugged in on any given school day without connection to the flow of the class. The assignment may be a thought-provoking writing prompt or a mind-engaging math puzzle. These are placed on a folder on the desk, and the sub knows to look for that folder in the event there is no other plan left behind.

    I'm sure what will be uploaded in preparation for the calamity make-up days is similar.

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  10. As a parent in this district, I am glad to see us start somewhere. Sure there are bugs to be worked out, but the possibilities for progress far outweigh the bugs.

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