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Incoming 3rd Grader Open House Video

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they're doing some good things have really had a lot of neat features lately I think I'm going to go ahead and get started we appreciate everyone's time and I just wanted to welcome everyone here my name is Tim Strickland on the principle of the carnival virtual show me I have here with me Michelle Johnson she's our vice principal the Virtual Academy Miss Susan Willis that and Miss Elizabeth low there are third grade teachers here at the Virtual Academy just wanted to kind of have an open house have you had you can ask us some questions but also just to give you an idea of kind of what the Virtual Academy offers for students so you can see and it cuz it's a really good option for students who want to just kind of weird out there so that you can see what what. Carver schools has the offer and what the Virtual Academy has to offer it will give you time at the end of dance to ask me questions and I'll answer them the best we can and you know we really appreciate your time and I'm going to turn it over to miss low he's got a presentation for us yes good evening everyone first thank you for tuning in this evening just to give us an opportunity to share with you what we do eat can everyday okay so again my name is Elizabeth Lowe I teach third grade English language arts and social studies and my truck when does partner is mrs. Susan Willis the teachers third grade math and science and you just met mr. Strickland our principal and Miss Johnson our wonderful assistant principal so the first thing I would like show you is just a quick video that just kind of gives you an idea and helps to paint a picture of what kind of a Virtual Academy is about myself just to make sure Carville virtual Academy's mission is to provide students with high-quality instruction in a flexible learning environment while creating a positive learning experience for students succeed and feel a sense of community table blend of synchronous and asynchronous learning opportunities at CBA are designed to deliver instruction that is focused meaningful and impactful for all the children have become more self-motivated they take ownership of their learning I'm able to learn at my own pace and all of the teachers are available to help us any time that we need help I think I'll see what's the best part about it is that you can go at your own pace so he he really learned how to manage his time which I think is more like for him to college experience will be how do you budget all these different things that you need to do yet the staff was extremely approachable and extremely responsive the student are engaged they are listening and hanging on every word that we say our classes are still challenging and interactive we are actually in class we have lots of applications where sometimes we could stay we have like Crustaceans they have all the same classes that you have in person conversations it's delivering the content of course but then taking time to slow down and then talk about it and really learn it deeper I felt like and more and not that they weren't just learning the basics they kind of dig a little bit deeper as teachers they talked to them it's not like it's just a video that you watched and then bam here's your homework there's communication and they know your students and talk to your child I really like my teachers feel like nice and like fast for some help like help me with no help you out a lot of nice teachers and we could've asked the more responsive than they were selling point for ceva the students know each other to see that I feel like I know my students more because of the smaller Me classes that we have you really quickly develop relationships with them and get to know them we laugh together we cry together we we do all the things just like you would expect to see in a normal car those are happening right there virtually I like the community I like how I'm able to talk to everyone how supportive everyone is of one another I truly like enjoy going to school and her name because it is it's a great environment kids love it and slide it reach out to people who are in it all right just a small glimpse into what life is like here at ceva what can we offer to your third grader first and foremost the very same skills we is to the same curriculum the same Tennessee state standards that all the other Collierville schools do including the specialist classes are PE and also to meet the needs of all of our students including english-as-a-second-language we offer our Apex classes for our gifted students we have resource classes for our students with special needs develop individualized education plans when needed for certain students so we offer all of the same things that our in-person schools do I think it's very important to share that we meet with students like online every single day this daily synchronous instruction instruction synchronous meaning that we are live online every single day it's like students are going to school every day there's doing so from their home and we record all of our lessons so if a student misses a concept or is absent for whatever reason they can always go back and watch the recorded lesson or if parents are curious about what their child's learned that day they can always go back there welcome to go back and watch those recorded lessons from any day organization and time management our students follow a daily schedule so our third graders know they are supposed to meet with their first. Teacher at 8:30 a.m. every single day they know on Monday Wednesdays and days at 10:30 a.m. they're going to meet with that one of their special is teachers for art class or for virtual PE which they love they know at 12 p.m. their meeting with their second. Teacher at 2 in the afternoon the schedule varies but each student knows where they're supposed to be at 2 p.m. we have an intervention block where students can either attend from classes for my special teacher like ESO English as a second language or speech therapy or resource or enrichment or sometimes students will simply meet back with her homeroom teacher or a certain subject area teacher to get reinforcements in a certain except maybe we have a small group of students that we feel need some reteaching or some extra practice we had a 2 p.m. time allotted each day to meet those needs we also have scheduled office hours at 3 p.m. each day where we can again meet with certain students that we feel need the extra help or at the time slot where parents can meet with us to for us to answer any questions or help can work through anything from from the virtual side that they would need what else can we offer to your third grader Advanced online communication skills we live in so many companies now are doing these Global video conferencing I feel our students are going to have an advantage in that world because they're already learning the online. Dialog the etiquette that's required to exchange dialog virtually okay social interaction to me that can sometimes be a concern if you're thinking they're not going to school in person they're attending virtually every day are they missing that so important social enter we provide opportunities for these students to interact with each other all the time daily online we can put them into small groups or the small breakout rooms or chat rooms the students love being in a small chat room with two or three of their peers that they can work on an assignment with or they can study for quizzes and do flash cards or ask each other questions or they project-based learning in in build and work together on projects they love getting in these small grooves to where they can interact and talk to each other we have regularly scheduled in person at 2 we try for at least once a month for some sort of on in-person meet up we've had picnics in the park we've had a bowling field trip the students have come into our school building for winter holiday parties and Valentine's Day parties and they come in regularly to take in-person benchmark assessments so that we teachers can get a true picture of where they are academically and then adjust and plan our instruction moving forward from that so they do get the social interaction see VA offers several clubs so as an extra circular outside of the school hours they can join a club and it's just another opportunity for students to get to work together play together get to know each other and and really get that much needed Social Development what can we offer to you as a parent probably my favorite thing about virtual teaching and learning is the complete transparency up all of it carrots can see exactly what is going on and taking place in the classroom every single day that is not something that we have traditionally been able to say parents send their kids off to school I really don't know exactly how that instruction is being delivered or what's going on in the classroom each day but with virtual learning you can see it everyday and it's also the recorded and you can tune in to 2 whenever you would like we post an agenda every single day that lets the students and their parents know what supplies are needed what they're going to be learning for that day and exactly what a sinemet will be submitted that for that day we use platforms to administer assignments test quizzes and for the students to submit their work through and in those platforms it will give specific instruction for each assignment along with us of course teaching it to the students virtually but they'll also have due dates and times and any other information or resources they need to complete things all in one noodle place through these educational platforms bu schoology classic these are just a couple I mean parents always have access to report card grades in PowerSchool the transparency of it all Tamiya is is just one thing that makes CBS special what is it look like well the students tune in every single day we do the man that they have her there cameras turned on and that they are engaged we interact with them we ask them questions we have them raise their hand and answer things here I'm sharing my screen but I am showing them exactly what they need to know and do in order to complete their assignment for the day so we can go over every single a sign and we teach them everything they need to know and it is extremely interactive that is so nice for me as a teacher because it allows me to get to know these students just but I would if I had them in person and so to laugh with them and learn with them and enjoy them and I believe they they feel my presence there every day and my I support and encouragement and confidence in them everyday interested hopefully please please please check out our web site there is on your screen Collierville VA that's for Collierville Virtual Academy. Collierville schools. Org if you simply visit call your pool schools.org there will be a link to CDA under schools and the at the top left corner is that transfer information that's where you would apply to to get your child enrolled but that website alone RC VA website has tons of information putting a promotional video that I showed at the beginning so questions to ask the questions you can you can simply unmute yourself for asking if you want put it in the chat we can definitely read it from the chat as well the chat is in the top if you look at us a show conversation and you can type in a question there yes I meant to say that at the beginning that we do welcome any questions that you may have and that we are Fielding questions in the chat hello this is a sequin Timothy Jackson how are you I'm doing well thank you cooking dinner to class sizes like what's the typical class size me and also just kind of like third grade is kind of a transitional period anyway for the kids so how to how do we make that transition better for the kids we actually have two Rising 3rd we have twins well to answer the class size question first currently I have 18 students and Miss Willis has 18 in her homeroom as well and so across-the-board I think that's a larger class size for the most part we follow the same class size that the in-person students would have but our class sizes are very much on the smaller side and mustard hey this is actually the largest class sizes that I have most of them are in there around anywhere from 12 to 15 students in a class in this low did you get that okay the today about third grade being such a big year such a transitional year you know moving from the lower lower elementary grades into the Upper Elementary grades and the demand of class work and school work increases with with these students growing their the academics are growing well what did you want to say anything on but I would like to say something on that I would say that we help them transition because we are there 100% for them where they are. They are last time we every morning we log on and we chat for a little bit so they get to know each other and they bond together really really well I volunteered to be a virtual teacher last year before I jump ship and came on permanent and the one thing about it that surprised me the most was how much I bonded to the kids and how much they bonded together I mean they may not be in the same room but they are buddies and they are friends the transition to third grade in it is a big grade I'll talk first second and third at we're just there to support them 100% socially academically in any way that they need and it's amazing to me how much we can read our students from this little picture on the screen if we see somebody is struggling we can take them to a workout room and say hey what's going on today what can I help you with what can I do for you that will help you you know get through the day or something like that so we were there for them not only a chemically but emotionally as well another thing was that communicating with parents and end this goes you know from when we were in person but but also certainly he's over in into virtual third grade with the academics stepping up and becoming more rigorous it is so important for teachers to communicate with parents what is coming up in the the skills that are needed to be successful I think parents need to know what those skills are that are coming up so that they can reinforce and support things at home at the dinner table or or whenever whenever they can so the the communication between us teachers and parents not only the daily agenda but you know even a syllabus of of what's what's to come just laying out those skills hey though 3 math facts or whatever is coming up it just needs to be practiced at home can really bump a child up and can really boost their confidence in the classroom so all of those things take place 2 Annette has asked the question what does classroom management look like virtually I would say that classroom management virtually is obit similar to in the regular classroom when we start out our year we kind of lay down our expectations and our guidelines and we go back and go over them and review them and remind them frequently there are some things that we require them to do to be a virtual learner and one of those is to be on camera to be in class and on camera so that we can see what they're doing and it's amazing but I can gauge from just looking at you know their body language looking at their body language I would say that we don't have a lot of behavior issues like you would be in a regular classroom and I will say that I've seen as an administrator cuz I was in a ministrator to middle school for ten years before I moved you to this role is the level of engagement on the students part is in is very much a an increase and what you would see so therefore you get through more content without having the small though. So here and there to do you need to get back in your seat I can come get your paper get the stopped on paper wads or whatever it happens to be you see that the focus is on the learning and the kids get that pretty quickly as well so the classroom management piece is it it it is just really sending out those expectations like Miss Willa said at the very beginning this is what it looks like to learn virtually and and the kids just follow suit because they get it it's a time thing for them a lot of them all understand pretty if I waste my time I don't have the time to get my work done in and that's one of the things that kids kind of really figure out is that they can they can they spend their time wisely and it seems to help them on that yeah I think that they also understand that they're going to be with me for 2 hours I'm going to do a brain break or two in those two hours I'm going to let them go take a restroom break and then we're done with math and science for the day so they will we get in we get it done and we're we're move on to the next thing also along those lines and I won't reiterate too much of it but we have noticed that the instructor Tom is so much greater than in person when you're not lining up to go to the restroom and you're not passing out materials and things like that we have found that our teachers tend to be a little bit ahead of the in-person teachers not because they're better not be but they actually you have more instructional time so it's it's amazing when you take away like mr. Strickland said the to sharpen your pencil and line up and everybody stop talking and all how much more instructional time we have so that give teachers the opportunity to to enrich the students more or pull them back for small groups for the remediation there's just a whole lot more time in the day for for actual instruction in this setting any other questions I see maybe we had a couple okay do Miss Jackson asked what's the biggest challenges let's hear and I say that as far as the classroom I'm going to let the teachers tell you what they see is the biggest challenges for students and I think they'll be the one I'll give you more information than what I can give some I will say the most important thing ends up at the end of the day did the student complete their assignments and get them submitted they do them correctly so I've noticed that the students that were shown on the front end from someone at home I learning coach or a parent at home at the very beginning just show them how to tune in listen and get your works just turned in those that were shown that in the first week or two I feel like those students now are extremely independent and they don't need the the Hands-On to to get them to turn their work in the students that were very relaxed I guess at the beginning of the school year and didn't quite have the structure and didn't have a quiet environment at home they all had noise everywhere and they just really didn't take the instructions seriously I think those students struggled to catch on to our daily routines and getting their work completed and turned in so you know the biggest challenge at 4 me so far has its it surrounded with getting work turned in those students that are turning their workings are doing great those they're struggling to get their work done it's it's the challenge to to get them on board and so we create a daily agenda we've created checklist and we've encouraged mom or dad print this out each day and the student cross out as they're submitting their assignment let them bring their device to you and just show you Mom this is where I turned it in you know something to get them into the habit but again those students and those parents that took just a little bit sign at the beginning of the year those the students have been great yeah out I would just agree with all that Miss low just said I know that's one of the things that that we talked about it it's not a silly a biggest challenge but it is something that is an advantage of a virtual learning is the fact that we have those recorded lessons so that's a huge piece that students dang it I can come back it will say that someone is traveling or someone is a sick there's something I can remember when I was in school and I said this was playing times and the teachers and I miss Johnson when you're in school when I was in school and I was in 5th grade we know we were just sick you would be learning fractions will you come back to school everyone at learn fractions and you hadn't and it's like somebody we walk into a math class and everyone speaking a different language than you but those are things that are an advantage for CPA because all the lessons are recorded so they can just simply if they didn't understand it can go back and review it so that's that's kind of one of our one of the good things that that kind of helps in here some it's not Mister Strickland somebody is asking about transitioning back to traditional learning if that is possible one of the things that we ask for for transferring to see VA is that you're committing for the entire school year so that is one of our requirements that if you were to come to the Virtual Academy you would be transitioning into the virtual learning for the entire school year it helps us to keep our staff School appropriately staff as well as the in-person schools appropriately staff without having students passing back and forth one of the challenges that we she is that because we have more time to focus on the academic side of it sometimes the students will be at different points in the academics and that can be a suppose a little bit of a challenge when they are wanting to either come here or if anyone transitions back there in a different spot than everybody else so that was one of our power requirements is very to be for the entire you do anyone else have a question I don't know what they did I would like to add that I think it's just important for those listening as your you know taking a look at your family and your children determining the best learning setting for them we want you all to understand that when the Virtual Academy first started last year it was a response to the pandemic and and that's why in across the world you know the school's you began to either more because parents had had reservations about sitting there skit their kids in person around a lot of people but and that's certainly a very valid reason even now or maybe next year hopefully hopefully not for for too long how to make that decision but we want y'all to understand is the Virtual Academy is a permanent School we're here forever where the 10th School in Collierville schools we're here for we meet the needs of so many students we have some students who just have social anxiety just walking into a school building is too much for them or they've experienced bullying or they have medical needs there so many different reasons that people and students can come to this setting be successful so as you're thinking about this and you're thinking well you know covid seems to kind of be diminishing some you know we may not have an interest for that like mr. Strickland said we have some students that are athletes they travel on athletic teams there are to go and travel gymnastics different events and and they can do school because they can do that so we don't ever dictate where students are physically while they're learning are we have some students who are currently in India at the Moana imagine that attending the CVA you do have to be you know about enrolled in Carterville schools obviously I'm to be a part of this program but what we want you all to help us to get the message out and help us to help you all understand is that this is not just a response to the pandemic can the Virtual Academy is not a a watered-down version of of the in-person setting we we have so much we're going on in these classrooms we pop into these teachers classrooms daily to see what going on in and they are rocking it out and it's a perfect setting for so many students is it the best setting for everybody no it's not I mean some students need to be in person but as your am answering these questions in your head having these talks at home with your family just understand that this is not just because of covid and honestly this is the ways of the world and if you look around at other school districts in Tennessee outside of Tennessee are neighboring District this is what people are moving words and you know it it may be a small school but it has a whole lot to offer and we're just excited we'd like for y'all to consider this option if you get off of this tonight and think well maybe that's not for me to share it with your friends we are now open students outside of Collierville schools enrolling in this program because we can do that when we don't have to worry about the number of seats in a classroom and all we can do that but like I also like mr. Strickland said we are bound by the Tennessee State BP numbers and counts as far as students teacher ratios go so it's never going to be the kind of thing and if you happen to have been a part of this the last year the state did have a waiver there where the virtual classrooms could be I think it was up to 5% higher than in person that was concerned and it should have been for teachers and for parents that is no longer the case so your class sizes will be just like they are in person we have to fall the same guidelines but there were just so many opportunities easier for your students which is why it says that space is limited because we're not trying to open it up for just yet you know dozens or tens of dozens of of people here we just want to make sure that the people understand that Carnival I will have president or have a step up in the application process so there they get first priority on our priority list some Miss Jackson is asking about extra we do have them some of them are virtual some of them were in person they occur after school those are kind of like those clubs we'd mentioned but we also try to do we try to have field trips and try to have it it's we do them sometimes during the school day that helps as well so that you're not trying to get will have some events that happened outside the school day maybe on the weekend we're talking about maybe even going to Redbirds game here at the end of the year trying to make sure that the kids have a chance to see each other and to just be kids and experiencing things that is just fine. That's that's one of our priorities as well as that social emotional learning piece is a APA a big piece we have a full-time counselor that does guidance lessons for the kids and the kids love her though here and so it's fun it's kind of one of the ways I've described it is when I was growing up I had cousins that I wouldn't see very often and it's kind of like when they come and see their friends in person that they see on screen all the time it's like meat seeing those cousin that you only see her x i really cherish those those times that they are together so they get to have fun and be kids and do that so it's it it's unfair you know it's that sometimes the the familiarity of being in his class together all the time I jinxed you caused a lot of conflict but the kids just really get along when they when they're here together and they have fun the teachers really kind of anytime there in person they give have some activities for them to do that's just fine it's just fun things to do so Jackson I was going to add to that instead we're open to suggestions we have parents email as all the time and say hey have you all thought about doing this or what about that we get input from students we've done several survey saying what would you like to see in the out of school and what would you like see extracurricular we actually just formed our first PTA so we have a parent teacher student pts a social organization all those things that you would see in person and like I said this is not a Ito s rate program let me just sit back on the computer and and not be involved it's there so many things to offer but as far as extra-curricular we we've implemented a lot of things but we're open we are this is partnership I just I can't reiterate enough how much we listen to our parents we listen to our students and you know we're kind of Paving the way here so it we don't have all the answers and sometimes will try to implement something and and you know apparel Reach Out this is how that went and will back up and say let's try something else so it's a true partnership and then we're open to suggestions and we want parents to be involved we want students to be involved but they're just a lot of a lot of awesome opportunities here are the fourth grade math teacher and I had just started a perennial math club which is a competition all math club where the kids get together and they solve higher-level problems and hopefully we're going to get to go to Italy Swan competition virtually before the year's over but next year we will get started right off the bat so if you've got a third grader coming up who loves math then that would be perfect for them and we're going to meet virtually we're going to meet one wake virtually at this point you know we might bring them into the building at some point we just wait and see answer the timelines about enrolling for the upcoming year or we are window is open now in we open for at least a couple weeks so I would say at least by March 9th is where we're looking to have decisions made by we may extend it a little bit I just depends but that we're looking about the March 9th. but like you said Mr Strickland I think it's important to understand that that's part of the purpose of this meeting and future meetings that we're going to have we won our Collierville families to have first dibs here and we would have met you all aware of what's going on and let you know the opportunities are so you know you've you may want to get on and do that if it's something that you're you were interested in you'll probably want to get on and fill out that application again and I'm sure we are going to say this at the end but we're a phone call away we Emma Strickland I spend all day on the phone with parents were various things I'll just call and check in hey how's your child doing and what can we do to help you and if we get off of this meeting and and you have questions that you didn't ask how we are just a phone call away if you go to the website you are numbers right there call me directly, so strict and directly we can answer any of your questions it out so I've told the teachers he has a weird the best-kept secret in Collierville right now and I just really feel like we fit Wii Fit a a a niche for for pants that are looking for that quality education that is academically focused and we're just appreciative of you coming tonight to the at your open house if you have any questions I will stay on for another minute or two but it seems like I don't want to take up your whole night and we really do appreciate you anyone outside okay alright I think that people are kind of getting off so listen thank you for coming we appreciate it thank you everyone have a nice night if we can do anything for you thank you good night

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