Berkeley High Advice for incoming freshman
Does anyone have advice on how to weather online teaching next year for incoming freshman. We are at a little bit of a loss about how to start Berkeley High with the new post-COVID world.
May 25, 2020
Does anyone have advice on how to weather online teaching next year for incoming freshman. We are at a little bit of a loss about how to start Berkeley High with the new post-COVID world.
Parent Replies
My hard-working, high-GPA 9th grader somehow failed to turn in any work for several weeks, so we are scrambling to catch up enough now to pass.
Problem one: technological issues are a challenge to our non-techie household. Some of her work seems to have gotten lost via tech problems.
Problem two: insufficient supervision by parents. Distance learning requires skills (self-discipline, scheduling, etc.) that most 14-year-olds lack.
Problem three: SIL-induced mental vagueness and brain-fog. I suspect our kid sincerely thought she had done some homework that she hadn't.
Next year will have an added challenge, that the kids will never have met their teachers in person.. Our kid LOVES her BHS teachers, and that feeling is an important motivator.
What we have instituted, which seems to help, includes
- a tighter daily schedule meant to mimic the school day, including breaks;
- removal of cell phone during school hours (studies show that even the presence of a turned-off phone on the desk cuts into attention; the phone has to be completely unavailable)
- parents go over homework before it gets posted, to be sure it's completely done (otherwise there would be a lot of skipped answers).