Good morning, parents and students:
Last week, as you are aware, we began the process of moving our course content to an online platform so as to minimize the instructional time lost due to this time of social distancing.
We started our literature circle unit, in which students are reading novels and focusing on specific skills each week, under the direction that we should be attempting this shift towards online learning by taking one of our preexisting units from our usual semester curriculum that was easily adapted to the online format.
However, with the recent press release from the Michigan Department of Education and comments made by Governor Whitmer, we have been directed to change course. As it stands right now, this online learning does not count towards graduation or required instructional days. While Governor Whitmer is claiming to want to address this issue in the coming days and weeks, this requires us to take a break from introducing new course content and skills until everything gets settled.
That being said, the learning doesn’t necessarily stop there. Our principal, Mr. Martin, has now directed us to focus on “enrichment” — essentially, we should be strengthening skills that have already been addressed previously in the classroom.
This “enrichment” work is not going to impact their grades in the class; however, they will still receive feedback from their teachers, which will be valuable and is the best we can offer to help them continue to grow during this time.
We will return to the literature circle unit at a later date: whether this will be online once more or returning to the classroom remains to be seen. This past week is useful, though, in that it provides us with some important information on how we can best make such a substantial unit work online and improve on the current system. Also, students will still receive feedback on the work they completed last week.
Thank you for your understanding, and feel free to reach out if you have any questions or concerns. We will each be updating our blogs and Google Classroom/iLearn to communicate the new weekly routine shortly, so be on the lookout for that.
This is a stressful, confusing, and difficult time for all of us. We appreciate your patience as we adapt to the constant changes in expectations and directives placed on this online learning, and we hope that you and your families are remaining healthy and hopeful.
Best Regards,
The 9th Grade Language Arts Team
Please continue to check Google Classroom daily for new posts and assignments.