COVID 11 4/3/30

Awesome COVID video

I wish I had this time and talent. Check this out.

Meal Delivery

In addition to the city-wide initiative in providing meals to all BPS students, the district is also

supporting meal delivery to students who currently receive door-to-door transportation as part

of their IEP services. Outreach was conducted last week to our families and if you receive any

inquiries from families, please advise them to email mealdelivery@bostonpublicschools.org as

this email is being closely monitored by OSE and responses are issued daily. In addition, this

may change as the situation evolves.

I have heard that this is still very much an imperfect science.  

Teaching and Learning Expectations

Please find the Lee Academy expectations for teaching and Learning here.

Some Thoughts for Finding Balance

We are only in the beginning stages of making this work for ourselves and our school community. 

Thank you for your patience and grace as we navigate through this unprecedented time together. I have been finding that I could literally work on "school stuff" 24 hours a day between learning new stuff and keeping up with the day to day learning, needs of our families, and problem-solving. 

When I start to do this I am not fully present for my husband who really needs me and my son who still needs me even though he is 18. I can only imagine that this is exponentially worse for those of you with school-age children

Here are a few tips that my colleague Emily Bryan shared with her staff that I thought I would pass on to you:

• When working on a virtual platform, manage your time and availability by communicating specific ‘support hours.’ For example:
• Notify students and families that you will read and respond to emails between 8-9am and 7-8pm.  
• Create a block of time when you are available for Zoom or phone support.
• Avoid creating an expectation that you are available 24/7.
• As much as possible, schedule your ‘work time’ around your personal needs. Consider “chunks” of work time vs. long stretches.
• Let go of perfectionism.  Just dive in, get started, and learn alongside your students and colleagues as you do it.  Mistakes are inevitable and a necessary part of this process.

Remember self-care you and your families come first. Our students need you but if you are not taking care of your own needs you can't take care of theirs!

Model Google Classroom Set-Up

Later today I will send you an invite to join a Lee Academy Google Classroom. This is a sandbox that I am playing in to practice my skills. I think that the best tip I came up with while I was playing is is to set up topics (Reading, writing, math, science, etc) The stream can get overwhelming without it.

Chromebook Updates

Based on what I heard during my call with the Superintendent today, I will have a big update on Chromebook distribution on Monday.