Student Support Wednesdays

 

Student Support Wednesdays

Dear Century Families:

Our experience with Distance Learning last spring taught us the need for live/synchronous instruction.  As a result, our distance learning model this fall has focused completely on live, or synchronous, instruction with in-person supports available to our students as needed.

As we continue to provide schooling through our Distance Learning model, we recognize the need to provide both academic and social-emotional support to our students while they learn from home.  In our conversations with students and parents alike, we’ve heard the recurring theme of a need for a day for built-in support with time for reteaching, reassessment, one-to-one support, small group time, and social-emotional support.  We recognize that distance learning is a challenging experience for everyone -- especially our students -- and that we need to build in academic and social-emotional support for our Panthers.

In an effort to provide opportunities for our students to receive focused academic support and receive social-emotional support in a distance learning environment, while also giving our students a chance to catch their breath, step away from their screens, and find balance in their lives, we are pleased to announce a change to our distance learning calendar for the remainder of this semester.

Beginning the week of November 30, Wednesdays will become Student Support Wednesdays.  Wednesdays will be asynchronous days for all Century students.  This means there will be no new/synchronous instruction on Wednesdays for the remainder of this semester.  The rest of the week will continue with synchronous instruction.  Monday and Thursday will be A days and Tuesday and Friday will be B days. Here is the calendar for the remainder of the semester:

Monday A-Day	Tuesday B-Day	Wednesday Async/ Support	Thursday A-Day	Friday B-Day
Nov 30	Dec 1	Dec 2	Dec 3	Dec 4
Dec 7	Dec 8	Dec 9	Dec 10	Dec 11
Dec 14	Dec 15	Dec 16	Dec 17	Dec 18
Dec 21	Dec 22	Dec 23  No School	Dec 24 No School	Dec 25 No School
Dec 28 No School	Dec 29 No School	Dec 30 No School	Dec 31 No School	Jan 1 No School
Jan 4	Jan 5	Jan 6	Jan 7	Jan 8
Jan 11	Jan 12	Jan 13	Jan 14	Jan 15
Jan 18 No School	Jan 19	Jan 20	Jan 21	Jan 22 TWD

Century Student Support Wednesday Schedule

7:30-8:25	Staff Meetings/PLCs
8:25-9:49	Hours 1 & 5 Office Hours
9:59-11:23	Hours 2 & 6 Office Hours
11:23-12:13	Lunch
12:13-1:37	Hours 3 & 7 Office Hours
1:47-3:13	Hours 4 & 8 Office Hours

  Student Support Wednesday Office Hours 

Office hours have been created to provide an opportunity for teachers and students to meet in a setting that provides one-on-one or small group support. Based on the needs of the student, this may include an opportunity to receive specific feedback, complete a reassessment, receive timely intervention, or clarify any work that needs to be completed as the semester continues. 

 Student-Led Request for Support

1. Provides an open link and line of communication for students to meet with teachers. Examples would be to have an open Google Meet for all students to access. This will provide opportunities for students to connect with their teacher even if the teacher doesn’t have a pressing issue or concern with this student.

Teacher-Led Request to Support

1. Provide an open link and line of communication for the teacher to meet with individual students via the Google Calendar Scheduler. This will offer opportunities for the teacher to connect with students who are experiencing challenges in their class (in a confidential setting).

Q. What will Student Support Wednesdays look like?

A. All teachers will be available for academic support on Wednesdays.  Teachers will hold regular open office hours via google meets that students may elect to attend for one-to-one support, small group work, tutoring, project work, etc. Additionally, all teachers will be available by appointment during the day for individual conferencing, reteaching opportunities, and reassessment.   

Q:  Do students need/required to attend all Office Hours that would be their class time?

 A:  No. There is no delivery of new content. However, it is equally important to spend time with teachers and classmates getting one-to-one support, small group work, reassessment, feedback, intervention, and directions moving forward for each class. This is critical to the learning process.

 Q. If my student has two different classes during an Office Hour block, how can he/she meet with both teachers?

 A: The first half of the block will be dedicated to the first class and the second half of the block will be dedicated to the second class.  For example, during the first block (1^st and 5^th period classes), the first half of the block will be dedicated to 1^st period, and the second half will be dedicated to 5^th period.

 Q:  How will students sign up for an individualized conference or one-to-one support?

 A:  Teachers will be trained to use Google Calendar Scheduler. This will be our default tool. However, teachers may work with students utilizing another scheduling tool. 

 Q:  Will the A/B calendar stay the same?  

 A:  No. We will start a new calendar on Monday, November 30.  Beginning that day, Mondays and Thursdays will be A days; Tuesdays and Fridays will be B days.  

 Q:  How long will Student Support Wednesdays continue?

A:  We will offer Student Support Wednesdays through the remainder of the semester.  At that time, we will gather feedback from teachers, students, and parents and decide based on the results.

Our first Student Support Wednesday is December 2.  It’s also important to note that with the revised calendar, Monday, November 30, is now an A day.   As always, please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have questions or concerns regarding Student Support Wednesdays or anything else related to Century High School. I can be reached at chfogarty@rochesterschools.org or 328-5104.

Thank you,

Chris Fogarty

Principal