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College and Career Readiness through Blended Learning

Online Learning

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JFYNet staff report on the new COVID-19 normal.

Hero Educators Abound

by JFYNet’s Blended Learning Specialists: Eileen Wedegartner, Greg Cunningham and Cathie Maglio

Eileen Wedegartner

In a COVID-19 update April 2 Governor Baker apologized for not being able to name a specific date when something had happened. “I feel like March 6 to today has been one long day,” he mused. “I can’t keep track of it anymore.”

I knew what he meant. These last few weeks have been a whirlwind when life as we knew it drastically changed. Seemingly overnight, the streets in Boston fell silent and New York, the city that never sleeps, fell into a coma. Baker ordered all schools closed for three weeks and then extended it even longer, to May 4. District leaders, school administrators, teachers, parents and even students are mobilizing to try out learning in different ways. As I watch my own children navigate classroom meet-ups on Zoom and Google Hangouts, I am thankful for the efforts teachers are making to fill the void we in the community feel without school.

During this time, I have been able to connect virtually with the Higginson- Lewis K-8 School in Roxbury. I was supposed to be in the school the week of March 16 introducing teachers to our online program that would prepare students for the upcoming MCAS exams, when the ground suddenly shifted beneath our feet. Since then, teachers and school and district leadership have worked hard to engage students remotely. While everyone hopes to be back in the classroom May 4, I am deeply impressed with the efforts to ensure that students do not lose ground. From learning to navigate online meetings to crafting appropriate enrichment and practice materials that students can use either online or off, it is amazing to watch the teachers I work with help students navigate these new challenges in a world turned on its head. I sat in a virtual meeting recently with teachers who shared their techniques for implementing programs to help students keep up with their work. While our extraordinary doctors and nurses turn their hospitals into battle stations to defend against the viral onslaught, our educators are doing heroic work to ensure that students can be resilient and continue to thrive in the face of adversity. Their efforts during this shutdown will pay dividends when school comes back into session and students have to re-confront accountability.

EILEEN WEDEGARTNER, available TUESDAYS, 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM. Click here to email Eileen.

Greg Cunningham

Madison Park: During the first two weeks of the shutdown, about half of the students previously registered with JFY logged into our software from home. Many teachers are continuing to use our math software to reinforce skills as well as bolstering reading skills with our ELA program.

We were proud to learn that Madison Park made a donation to Boston Medical Center to help protect medical staff on the front lines fighting the virus. Over 5,000 pairs of gloves, 1,000 gowns, 200 masks and 200 foot covers, which the school had intended to use for its training programs in health technology, medical assisting, dental assisting and cosmetology, were donated to BMC to replenish the hospital’s diminishing supplies.

Dearborn STEM Academy: Math teachers at Dearborn have opted to use JFY’s math software to reduce gaps in student learning. Students will focus on skills in which they have demonstrated low competency in order to strengthen their math abilities. More than 100 students registered for the first time with JFY during the truncated first two weeks of the shutdown. We anticipate many more, as teachers plan to work with JFY for the duration.

BMC Durfee (Fall River): Students in the Bridgewater State University dual enrollment courses continue to work and receive instruction supported by JFY during the school shutdown. In early March, BSU switched to remote learning for all courses and has provided instructors with resources to maintain continuity of instruction. JFY’s Blended Learning Specialists have assisted Durfee students in gaining access to coursework and keeping pace while using these resources. Understanding that many students have limited or no access to technology at home, instructors have been flexible with due dates for assignments in order to ensure maximum participation and credit.

GREG CUNNINGHAM, available THURSDAYS, 1:30 PM – 3:30 PM. Click here to email Greg.

Cathie Maglio

It is not easy for teachers or students to shift from traditional face to face education to remote. I applaud all the teachers I work with at East Boston High, Burke High, Revere High and Northeast Metropolitan Regional Vocational for adapting so quickly to this new way of teaching and learning. I also commend teachers I have worked with in the past at other schools who are now at New Mission High and Hennigan K – 8 for reaching out to re-connect with JFY for online curriculum and teacher support as they transition to remote. I also cheer for students at all these schools who are making the adjustment to this different style of learning.

Teachers are now using online communication tools to teach and stay in touch with their students, and the students are responding.

I also want to laud Northeast Metropolitan Regional Vocational High School for donating face masks and other medical supplies from their training resources to Melrose Wakefield Healthcare.

CATHIE MAGLIO, available WEDNESDAYS, 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM. Click here to email Cathie.

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Remote Learning with JFYNetWorks

Education is a culture-defining and socially unifying process.

First and foremost, we hope all our friends and colleagues are managing to weather these extraordinary circumstances with patience, fortitude and a dash of humor.

Here at JFY, we are working hard during this period of shutdown and social distancing to guide and support our partner schools and their students in making the transition to remote learning.

JFYNetWorks has been providing online academic support to schools since 2000, but we can’t think of a time when our online curricula and teacher support were more vital. It’s almost as if the past twenty years were preparation for this rocket launch from classroom to cloud.

We were able to hit the ground running by immediately extending our blended learning methodology to a fully remote modality to help teachers continue instruction using the same online material they’ve used all year. We are continuing to work closely with them via email, text and video conference to keep track of student activity and make curriculum adjustments, as we’ve always done face to face in the classroom. Our online enrollment has been growing steadily in the two weeks since school closing. We’ve even welcomed new schools, as teachers and administrators realize the value of our structure and support. We are currently working with ten schools and anticipating continued growth as school strategies and student digital capacity develop.

Our comprehensive online curricula are aligned to the state curriculum standards and national college readiness standards. Students in grades 5 through 12, with their teachers’ guidance, can log right into the lessons they need. Our software offers many accommodations for students who need specialized help, including speech-to-text, highlighting, read-aloud options and other features. As always, we track and measure student activity and provide teachers with frequent reports on class and individual progress. Our standards-based structure is flexible enough to support any course curriculum in English, math or social studies that teachers might be following.

Whether or not MCAS, Accuplacer or SAT are administered in the next few months, students need to keep up with their grade-level studies in order to be prepared for the next grade and eventually for college and careers. Our focus has always been on developing the skills represented by those long-established standard assessments. Since all our curriculum is based on these state and national standards, we support required skill development regardless of testing.

As schools adapt to the fully remote modality, we are compiling a repository of resources and strategies that can support teaching and learning remotely for the time being and transition seamlessly when we all return to the classroom. Here are some examples:

  • In addition to frequent email and text exchanges with teachers, each of our blended learning specialists has established virtual office hours on Google Hangouts for one-on-one or group conferences with teachers to answer questions or provide additional curriculum support. These virtual conferences also enable teachers to share their best practices with one another across classrooms, schools and districts.
  • A dedicated YouTube channel offers on-demand videos to assist students in accessing our curricula and preparing for online exams.
  • A new web page of resources for extra study includes webinars and podcasts.
  • Our latest guest podcast taps one of our favorite higher education gurus for sage advice on conducting remote classes.

Our staff are adding new resources to the toolbox virtually every day. Our website is the best source for keeping up with our activities.

But even as we focus on skill development, we should keep in mind that education serves more than a utilitarian function. Education is a culture-defining and socially unifying process. It establishes norms and values as well as practical skills. Aristotle considered education the most important function of the state because it forms the character of the citizen. A few centuries later Jefferson advocated publicly funded education because he knew that an educated populace is the foundation of democracy. In this time of social fragmentation, now aggravated by enforced social distancing, online communication performs a convening and bonding function that may be even more crucial for our post-virus recovery than academic skills. Digital cohesion may offer an antidote to the alienation of social distancing.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions—and especially any ideas– that might help us navigate this strange new terra incognita. In these uncertain times we are more appreciative than ever of the wisdom and commitment of the extended community of educators, to whom we send our very best wishes for health, safety, and unflagging creativity.

Gary Kaplan

 

 

 

 

 

Gary Kaplan
Executive Director

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From face-to-face to online classes with Dr. Michael Marrapodi

Tips and Strategies for Teachers Transitioning to Online Courses

MARCH 2020 PODCAST – Today’s podcast will provide some tips and strategies for teachers transitioning to online courses. It features Dr. Michael Marrapodi, Dean of Online Programming at Cambridge College. This podcast was created by JFYNetWorks, a Boston-based nonprofit provider of blended learning programs to schools. JFY’s blended instructional support programs build skills and help raise individual and school performance measures. JFY brings online assessments and curriculum into the classroom and works with teachers to provide individualized instruction to help students achieve measured skill gains.

In response to the current crisis, JFY is now offering its online curriculum and teacher support remotely to help teachers sustain instruction during the shutdown. For more information on JFYNet‘s Remote Learning contact Greg Cunningham.

Teachers often wonder whether an online course can be as effective as a face to face course. As Dr. Marrapodi explains, the potential is absolutely there.

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