(COVID-19)
The Gryphon Door Your Portal to Online Learning Grades 6-10 July 2021
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Your Portal to Online Learning
Table of Contents I. Introduction
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II. Online Learning at Brookes
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III. Tools for Online Learning
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IV. Roles and Responsibilities
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V. Implementation of Online Learning
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VI. MYP Online Learning
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VII. Fees
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Your Portal to Online Learning
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I. Introduction At Brookes Westshore, we are proud to deliver our high-quality education and fulfill our mission in the context of our Victoria campus. We are also proud that we will be able to do so under exceptional circumstances that may require lesson suspension due to government directives.
With online learning, students are encouraged to be innovative and creative with their assignments and tasks alongside developing a depth and breadth to their learning.
In such circumstances, our commitment is to provide an alternative means of education in the form of our online learning experience, The Gryphon Door, our Brookes Westshore portal to online learning.
Our students will be empowered to make choices about how they reach clearly defined learning goals; be engaged in [online] collaboration to solve authentic problems; feel safe to take intellectual risks while persevering through challenges; be supported with modeling, differentiation, specific feedback, and opportunities for reflection and revision; and, will continue to be passionate, intrinsically motivated, and inspired to action.
Online learning designates the experience students will have when school remains in session but when students are unable to physically attend school due to suspension of lessons. While online learning does not replicate on-site learning, our teachers can deliver powerful instruction that allows students to meet expected outcomes in an online environment. The Brookes Westshore online learning experience aligns with our Brookes guiding pillars: • Building Character: Character must be cultivated with care especially in this current situation that we are in. Our online learning program strongly encourages our students to be principled and independent. • Connecting Minds: Connecting is a vital tool for understanding, which is the first step to inspiring change. In this time of change and challenge, we need to connect in an innovative way. • Encouraging Creativity: A creative mind can understand, adapt and innovate, and is a valuable asset.
Your Portal to Online Learning
The success of our online learning endeavor is a partnership and is dependent on careful planning by our dedicated academic staff, appropriate student motivation and engagement, and strong parent support for this alternative mode of instruction. The result of such learning experiences will expand student academic progress and attend to student social and emotional wellbeing. While this is a time of uncertainty and challenge, it is also a time that provides us with unlimited opportunities to connect with ideas and with classmates who are displaced all over the world. Our academic staff is prepared for this challenge. Our students are prepared for this challenge. Our parents are prepared for this challenge. Brookes Westshore is prepared for this challenge.
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Brookes Westshore will continue to provide continuity of learning outside the classroom if lessons are suspended due to government directives, or in cases where students are unable to attain a study permit. Brookes Westshore requires all students to continue to engage with effort and good will to continue their learning and complete the requirements for their grade levels. All Brookes Westshore teachers are planning ways to provide continued instruction and learning. This instruction may take one of two forms: • Synchronous learning: real-time instruction through Microsoft Teams meetings. • Asynchronous learning: conveniencebased engagement with resources scheduled, tasked and made available through ManageBac or Teams files. The wide array of time zones will present challenges for synchronous learning with students in Europe and Asia. Although. Brookes Westshore would prefer to conduct weekly synchronous learning, it may not be possible for all students. Any synchronous scheduling of classes will be posted on ManageBac.
Your Portal to Online Learning
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Learning II. Online at Brookes Westshore The purpose of this document is to outline how Brookes Westshore will continue to offer a Blended Learning model, which includes both an Asynchronous Learning Environment as well as Synchronous, real-time engagements via scheduled conference calls using Microsoft Teams. The following Brookes Westshore Online Learning Plan is designed to address the following scenarios: • Asynchronous learning to ensure the opportunity to learn for all students in all time zones; An Asynchronous Learning Environment is a learning environment that does not require participants, Teachers, and students to be online at the same time. • Synchronous learning supports learning and socio-emotional well-being of students through real- time engagements; Synchronous, real-time engagements are opportunities for students to participate in with their Teachers and classmates at an established time to allow for interactions in real time.
Brookes Westshore is committed to monitoring the Brookes Westshore Online Learning Plan and student experience. The tools used for monitoring may include, but are not limited to: • Data on student engagement from digital learning platforms - ManageBac, Microsoft Teams (MS Teams) and other online subscriptions - provide tremendous data on student engagement. • Feedback from students, parents, and teachers to help us understand how the plan is impacting student, family and teacher experiences, and to provide data on what improvements we might make going forward. • Review of ManageBac postings and assessment results as a form of data collection to support Teachers and students in aligning learning to the Online Learning and Assessment Plan.
Your Portal to Online Learning
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III. Tools for Online Learning Online Learning Platforms The following Online Platforms support both Online Learning and academic staff/student/family collaboration to ensure a quality student learning experience when planning and delivering remotely: • Brookes email and ManageBac are the communication tools used to contact and communicate with Brookes families. • ManageBac is the online Learning Management System (LMS) platform used in the School. • MS Teams is the online remote instructional platform used in the Diploma and Middle Years Programmes • A very limited number of Online Subscriptions as educational tools for learning and assessment.
Quick Start Support Resources While Brookes Westshore is making every effort to minimize the complexity of the online learning and to simplify every process down to maximize the actual learning time, we do have some necessary technical requirements for fulfilling online learning. The following tools are intended to help students, parents and teachers to start quickly and have a place to go for basic questions about the platforms we will use. For more troublesome questions.
• Technical Support at Brookes Westshore: gsiemens@westshore.brookes.org • Microsoft Teams help and setup from Microsoft: www.microsoft.com/en-us/education/remote-learning • Microsoft Teams Quick Start Guide: https://pulse.microsoft.com/uploads/prod/2020/03/Microsoft_Teams_Quickstart.pdf • ManageBac Help Centre: https://ManageBac.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/ • Online learning Suggestions for Students: www.northeastern.edu/graduate/blog/tips-for-taking-online-classes/
Your Portal to Online Learning
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IV. Roles and Responsibilities Academic Leadership Team
Subject Teachers
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Develop campus and school plans for Online Learning. Communicate with academic staff/staff and parents. Support academic staff and parents during Online Learning. Ensure effective implementation of Online Learning plan and accountability to student learning. Prepare transcripts and submission of grades to BC Ministry of Education Post a weekly update for parents and students. Post a weekly update for Teachers.
• Collaborate with colleagues to design Online Learning experiences for students in accordance with campus and school plans. • Develop high-quality student learning experiences. • Assess assignments by providing feedback online in a timely manner. • Communicate with and provide timely feedback to students, during the Scheduled Hours for Learning. • Communicate with parents, as necessary.
MYP
Advisors
• Maintain weekly contact with students
DP • Monitor CAS activities and reflections for CAS activities • Monitor and facilitate Extended Essay progress • Maintain weekly contact with students
Your Portal to Online Learning
Language Support Teachers and Educational Assistants:
IB Coordinators (DP Coordinator, MYP Coordinator, CAS Coordinator, Extended Essay Coordinator, Personal Project Coordinator):
Counsellors
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• • • •
Support Teachers in the development of high- quality student learning experiences. Curate and/or develop resources to support EAL students. Provide individual tutorial help to students needing assistance. Communicate with and provide timely feedback to students, during the hours of 08:30 and 16:30 weekdays. • Communicate with parents, as needed.
• Remain in contact with the IBO. • Communicate information from the IBO to Teachers, parents and students, as it becomes available. • Support Teachers in the development of Online Learning experiences, as needed. • Ensure subject Teachers develop and deliver high quality student learning experiences; monitor and evaluate. • Ensure collection of all assessments. • Monitor and support EE supervisors. • Ensure all learning outcomes are addressed through the online learning experiences.
• Support students with mental and emotional health needs through Teams meetings. • Provide and curate support resources for students with mental and emotional health needs. • Provide support and assistance with university applications and grade reporting.
Your Portal to Online Learning
Online Tech Support Team:
Students:
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• Provide timely response to student, family and academic staff requests regarding technology issues.
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Dedicate appropriate time to learning, comparable to a school day and/or as guided by your teacher/s. Check appropriate online platforms for information on courses, assignments, resources daily. Identify a comfortable and quiet space to study/learn. Engage in all learning posted with academic honesty. Submit all assignments via ManageBac (where possible) in accordance with provided timeline and/or due dates. • Ensure your own social and emotional balance by keeping healthy habits - eating, exercising and maintaining appropriate sleeping patterns.
Questions related to:
Contact:
A course, an assignment, a resource
Relevant teacher – use email, Teams or ManageBac message
A technology issue/request
gsiemens@westshore.brookes.org
Your Portal to Online Learning
Parents:
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Support their child/ren in their learning by: • Providing an environment conducive to learning (access to technology, safe and quiet space during daytime). • Engaging in conversations on posted materials, assignments. • Monitoring time spent engaging in online and offline learning, including variables like that of preferred learning times (morning, afternoon, evening) and restricting times to: • For Grades 9-12, restricting online and offline learning to a maximum of 400 minutes per week per course, and for Grades 6-8, restrict screen time to a maximum of 160 minutes per day. • Supporting emotional balance by providing ample room and time for reflection, physical activity, conversation, and play. • Contacting the Teacher with regards to any clarification on tasks and expectations if needed.
Questions related to:
Contact:
A course, an assignment, a resource
Relevant teacher – use email, Teams or ManageBac message
A technology issue/request
gsiemens@westshore.brookes.org
Your Portal to Online Learning
V. Implementation of Online Learning - Calendar Monday, September 2, 2020
• Designated workday for all academic staff to collaborate
with their teams remotely. • Teachers will make contact with students on Monday September 2, 2020 to invite them to the Teams platform and welcome them to online learning.
Tuesday, September 3, 2020 Monday, October 14, 2020 Monday, November 11, 2020 Dec. 14, 2020 - Jan. 5, 2021 January 6, 2021
First day of classes No classes - Thanksgiving Holiday No classes - Remembrance Day No classes - Winter Break Classes Resume
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Your Portal to Online Learning
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MIDDLE YEARS PROGAMME (MYP) - Online Learning VI. (Grade 6-10) MYP students should receive full syllabus delivery through June 12, 2020 or June 19, 2020, depending on the Grade level. Adapted activities, formative and summative assessments need to be ongoing throughout the online instruction period. Units should be covered as if classes are in session as best possible. A. Procedures and Expectations Schooling is always a partnership. In an Online Learning environment. especially at the MYP level, this partnership becomes more important than ever during the need for Online Learning. Over the course of this Online Learning time period, our academic staff will partner with parents to engage students in experiences that stretch their understanding and expand how they approach new learning. Teachers will see an increased and more instrumental role in guiding, supporting, and challenging students to take on new responsibilities and to become excited about new learning. Our families will have options and sources for flexibility that will give them choice and ownership as the Online Learning experience progresses. Teachers will communicate with parents and students through ManageBac, email and Microsoft Teams, along with other limited, Teams compliant Apps, to engage students in rich learning tasks.
Grades 6-10 Subjects › English › English Language Acquisition › French Language Acquisition › Social Studies › Science › Math › Extended Mathematics › Drama › Physical education and health › Design › Visual Arts › Service as Action › Personal Project
Your Portal to Online Learning
B. Role of Parents As MYP students are still developing their independence, a teacher-parent partnership is necessary for students to engage in Online Learning tasks and to access online resources. The designed learning tasks and activities will provide direction and support to families with the understanding that task completion depends on each individual families’ circumstances. For Grade 6 – 8, we recognise that parents may have more than one child to guide, therefore we have framed the support for the learning experience for within one day not to exceed 160 minutes of computer/screen time; time that will both inform and help prepare the student to engage in the learning tasks that the teacher has designed on that given day. For Grade 9 – 10, their computer/screen time can be increased depending on the level of preparation required to facilitate the lesson. We ask parents for the following support: • Read the ManageBac and email updates from your child’s teachers. • Increase your familiarity with ManageBac as our primary Learning Management System: www.ManageBac.com ManageBac is our primary platform for content curation and grading during the campus closure. The ManageBac Application can be downloaded to your personal devices:
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• Increase your familiarity with Microsoft Teams as our primary content delivery and Instruction tool will be through online meetings within Teams. • View the Monday morning Weekly Update on ManageBac or email with your child that welcomes them to a new week of learning. • Read the ManageBac message sent every morning by each Teacher that outlines the learning objectives for the day. • Designate a place in your home or where you are temporarily located so your child can work independently on his/her assigned tasks and complete independent reading each day. • Email your child’s Teacher if you or your child has questions and/or if your child needs extra help and support. All academic staff will be present on-line to help and support within 24 hours. However, if communication is sent by the parent or student between 08:00 and 16:30 weekdays, then a reply should be expected within a reasonable time frame that day.
Your Portal to Online Learning
C. Content and Timing These are the expectations for the schedule of the day – from 8:30 to 16:30 – which has been created to allow students to engage in synchronous online learning experiences in real-time with their teachers, as well as asynchronous, offline learning activities. The schedule of instruction will follow the student’s regular daily schedule; ex. Week 1, Day 1, etc. Teachers will post the schedule to the class team and invite students to the meetings.
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For grades 6 – 8, the length of instructional time should not exceed 40 minutes per block, with at least 20 minutes between each block for a break. For Grade 9-10, the length of instructional time should not exceed 50 minutes per block, with at least 10 minutes between each block for a break. Students are also encouraged to engage in physical activity during this time. They will be expected to report their engagement in these activities to their teachers. Students are further encouraged to read everyday and may want to keep a reading log to share with their teachers.
Your Portal to Online Learning
Block Schedule 8:30 – 9:30
Block 1 class
9:30 – 10:30
Block 2 class
10:30 – 11:30
Block 3 class
11:30 – 12:30
Block 4 class
13:30 – 16:30
Complete learning activities as posted on ManageBac by Teachers, email Teachers with questions, receive support from Teachers Schedule appointments with advisor, meet with your advisor.
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Your Portal to Online Learning
VII. Fees Registration Fee: 2,000 CAD Full-year tuition online learning: 20,000 CAD 6-month tuition with intent of classes resuming offline in January 2021: • 2,000 CAD per month • 8,000 CAD (September-December 2020)
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