First and foremost, I would like to thank you all for your patience and understanding. Arriving to school today, it was so strange to walk the halls with none of you in them! As teachers we barely knew what to do with ourselves.
Instead of classes today, your teachers gathered with Ms. Hassan to begin discussing how to continue to provide you a quality education amidst the school closure. Mr. Saleh and I spent the morning creating our first online assignment which has been posted to Google Classroom already. Once we were up and running, I cleaned up my classroom and shut it down for the extended time off. Then, I had to leave to pick up my own children and find out what I need to do as their parent to maintain high standards for their education. It has been a very long day full of tough conversations and big changes for everyone involved!
Some of you have been feeling panicked because the information is not getting to you very quickly. I just wanted to thank you for your patience on this matter. All of your teachers are completely reorganizing what we planned to do for you over the next month and coming up with ways to deliver it to you without being able to “teach.” A lot of the things we would say and do with you, you’re going to have to read and do yourself! It is definitely going to be a challenge.
Let’s start off with the basics… Contact information and classroom resources:
I will be posting regularly on this iBlog to keep you updated. You should check here every day for new posts and it would be a good idea to subscribe just to make sure you don’t miss anything.
I will be checking my e-mail regularly during school hours in case anybody has questions… but please also understand that I’m not just your 8th grade teacher but also a parent and I will be working with my own two children on very different learning materials. I have to help Jeffery be a kindergartner and Nora be a ninth grader for the next few weeks. I will e-mail you back as soon as I am able to sit back at my computer and read my messages. That is a promise.
I will be sending e-mails to my students occasionally. Check your student e-mail when you sit down to start your school work for the day.
I will be using Google Classroom to deliver lessons to you for now. Later on, we may use iLearn to post assignments, and if that does happen I will post instructions for signing up at that time. Right now my iLearn is not being used.
You can expect to see 2-3 assignments per week and each assignment should take you about an hour to complete. I know it seems like a lot, but you need to pretend like you’re at school. You spend 5 hours with me during a usual week! So two assignments that take you 2 hours to complete is still less than the usual amount of work.
Google classroom codes are here: 1st hour: i6r4vrh 2nd hour: qomfgx3 3rd hour: 22rwh6w 4th hour: xvehe77 6th hour: brzjguh
Aside from these basic issues, I know you have a ton of questions. I can answer a few things here and others I will address in separate posts or by e-mail.
Late Work for Q3: I will accept late work in 2 ways. First, if you have the original paper that I printed and gave to you, you can take a picture of that or scan it and send it to me. Second, you can start a Google Doc and type up your answers. Please put your first and last name and the assignment title on the document so that I can find it easily and match it up to the work.
Binder Checks / Quizzes / Unit Test: I am excusing the binder check for Q3 under the circumstances. We will have a Q4 binder check in a couple of months. Quizzes and tests will most likely be put into a format I can send over Google Classroom or iLearn when it comes time for them. I am tackling one issue at a time. 🙂
It is quite a surprise to find out last night that our state’s governor has proactively shut down all Michigan schools. Pro-action is very important in a situation like this because our ability to handle this crisis as a society depends on the healthcare system’s ability to keep up with the higher demand for health care. Please understand that panic and fear can have a negative impact on our outcomes and take the time to make informed choices about when and where to go out in public, when to seek medical attention for possible symptoms, etc.
As we talked about in class, it is important to consider the source of all information you are using to make informed decisions. Not all sources are publishing information that is in your best interests! I can say that Dearborn Schools has been doing an absolutely wonderful job of filtering through the large volume of information about Coronavirus to provide families with up-to-date and valid information whenever they can.
All students are able to pick up their belongings today from school but otherwise there are no classes today or for the next 3-4 weeks. We don’t have all of the answers yet and we are all just following through with the motions right now. We appreciate your patience while we all work through the confusion!
Today, while you have the important discussions with your family, please also begin talking about how you will adjust to this change. All staff members will be collecting to discuss how we will continue to provide your child their education during these trying times, and as I get new information I will make that available to you here first, as this is the main source of information I have provided to students and families from the beginning of the school year.
However, as we move forward, I will also be expanding my online presence to accommodate our new situation. I have already created a Remind for the ability to communicate quickly and easily with everyone. I will post information about all new online resources as soon as I have them ready and available, and as soon as I get direction from our wonderful administrative staff at Woodworth as to what will be expected from students and staff moving forward.
Again, thank you for your patience! We are going to figure this all out as quickly and efficiently as we can. Most importantly, STAY SAFE!
Students worked on a 3 page packet regarding forecasting and monitoring earthquakes and hurricanes. They needed the following slideshow to gather data and analyze the information to answer questions in their packet.
Pyroclastic flow up close – Pyroclastic flow is hunks of magma, dust, gas, etc. that explodes out of stratovolcanoes with extreme force. Towards the end of the video is especially spectacular!
Collecting a lava sample from a Hawaii volcano
Scientists have sent pressure-proof submarines to the bottom of the Mariana trench
Today we did a mini-lab to explore continental and oceanic crust and how they interact at plate boundaries in various ways. If you were absent for the lab it would be extremely beneficial for you to stay after school to do the lab. It is quick but a great visual for plate tectonics!
We watched the following videos to summarize some of the motions and their results:
V. Lesson 5: Forecasting Where Natural Events Will Occur A. How are earthquakes caused?
Earthquakes are caused when rocks slide past each other on either side of a fault or plate boundary.
As tectonic plates shift around Earth’s surface, stress builds up within rocks. Like stretching a rubber band, the stress builds potential energy inside the rock.
Most earthquakes happen along or near plate boundaries because there is more movement along them than other places on Earth.
Tectonic plates move in 3 ways relative to each other: – away from each other (divergent) – towards each other (convergent) – sliding past each other (transform)
It has been a while since I’ve updated my blog… it seems like a long time but because of a quiz, midwinter break, and snow days, there wasn’t a ton of new assignments!
Feb 10: Finish Frayer Models & review definitions / concepts for quiz later this week Feb 11: #51 State Research (see previous blog post) Feb 12: We worked on Assignment #50 boxes 2-4, due at the end of the hour. Feb 13: Lesson 3-4 quiz (grades posted, retakes start March 5)
Feb 17-21: No school, midwinter break
Feb 24: M-Step Practice & Discussion Feb 25: #52 CER Matching activity (See follow up blog post for the sentences printed on the cards) Feb 26: Snow Day, No school Feb 27: Snow Day, No school Feb 28: # 53 Lesson 5 Introduction & Earthquake Demo
March 2: Science World Magazine with Substitute Teacher March 3: 8.6 Lesson 5 Part 1 Notes