Distance Learning Plan | Overview
Grade Level Learning Plans
Learning plans for each grade level appear on separate webpages updated weekly at noon each Friday. Each learning plan contains all instructions and links to documents, pictures, videos, etc. that a student needs to complete required assignments. In an effort to maintain consistency and simplicity, there is no secondary or supplementary source that must be referenced during the week to complete assignments.
Parent Partnership
We remain steadfastly committed to partnering with parents during this time of distance learning. Admittedly, more responsibilities will fall upon parents than is typical in our normal learning environment. However our teachers want to do all that they can to prevent parents from becoming exasperated. Through consistent availability and timely feedback via email teachers are ready to offer parents all the help needed to navigate weekly learning plans. Please do not hesitate to ask for help.
Managing Your Weekly Schedule
Managing your weekly schedule at home could become a bit challenging. For this reason, we have created sample scheduling worksheets that you can use to lay out your week. They are available in the “Printable Resources for Distance Learning” section of our Distance Learning page. Also note that learning plans may include a suggested pace at which students move through individual assignments but these are only suggestions. Students are welcome to move through assignments at their own pace and distribute their work for the week in a strategic manner fitting to their own family’s routines and schedule. Finally, remember to protect your weekend. Learning plans are crafted with the intent that they can be completed in a span of five weekdays without encroaching upon your Saturdays and Sundays. Be sure to get some rest and enjoy quality time with your family.
Prioritized Core Content + Enrichment Opportunities
Distance learning will prioritize content that is fundamental to each subject or course and foundational to future success. Required assignments will be posted to each grade level learning plan at noon each Friday and students will submit work to be graded no later than noon the following Friday. In addition to completing required assignments each week, students are encouraged to engage in one or more of the recommended enrichment opportunities also listed in the learning plan. For example, between completing math and language requirements, a student may choose to compose a work of art, enjoy listening to music, or complete an exercise routine.
Regular Support via Email
All teachers are committed to offering a timely and personalized response to all students’ questions and requests for additional support received via email during regular school hours. Regular school hours for all teachers are Monday through Thursday, 8:00 AM – 3:00 PM as well as Friday, 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM for teachers of grades 3-12. Emails received outside of these hours will be responded to at each teacher’s earliest convenience. Each grade level’s teaching team is listed along with links to email addresses at the top of each learning plan. All teachers will default to copying at least one parent on email communications to students. Parents who hope to prevent an inbox from becoming overloaded may reply to a teacher email with a request to opt out of this practice. Teachers will honor the parent’s request and correspond directly with the student instead but will be sure to save copies of correspondence for school records.
Optional Class Meetings via Zoom
In addition to enjoying the individualized support teachers offer via email, students may also choose to join their classmates in various online video conferences hosted by their teachers via Zoom throughout the week. In these conferences teachers are available to field students questions and facilitate meaningful discussion amongst classmates regarding the big ideas of each week’s assignments. Through live video conferencing teachers also hope to maintain a sense of class community, using the time to offer words of encouragement, laugh together, and even pray together. A schedule of optional zoom meetings along with corresponding links is provided at the top of each learning plan. If you have not already downloaded the Zoom application to your computer desktop or smartphone, you will be prompted to do so when you attempt to join your first meeting. To eliminate any delay in joining a meeting it is best to already have the application loaded on the device you are using. Smartphone users can search the app store for “zoom.us” to download the application. Computer users can go to https://zoom.us/download#client_4meeting then click the “Download” button for “Zoom Client for Meetings.”
Online Etiquette
Students are experiencing new learning environments within which certain classroom management and school decorum norms still make sense (ex. don’t interrupt a classmate on a Zoom meeting) and others do not (ex. no neon socks allowed). While new norms will undoubtedly be established as our distance learning plan progresses, from the very beginning we want to remain strongly committed to demonstrating mutual respect to classmates, parents, and teachers as well as the content itself. Any teacher observing inappropriate or a pattern of distracting online behavior from a student will be sure to contact parents to express their concerns and devise a plan for correction.
Online Caution
Some learning plans will include links to videos recorded by teachers via a platform called Loom but plans may also include links to videos already online (ex. YouTube). While teachers have previewed all of the video content they are linking to they cannot prevent advertisements from appearing on certain webpages. For this reason parents may choose to supervise students accessing content outside of the CCS website.
Student Support
Your Student Support Team at CCS seeks to provide a few helpful resources to all families as we transition into this Distance Learning (DL) environment. We understand that rigor of expectations within Distance Learning will impact each student differently, those with Student Support Plans and those without. If your student is constantly struggling with the DL requirements, we encourage you to reach out to your student’s teacher directly. Student Support will work closely with teachers to identify how best to aid students and families in this new learning experience. Students having difficulty with the complexity of literature assigned can find audio versions of most of the curriculum’s literature on YouTube (free) or Audible (fee required). Please be sure to search for the correct translation. If handwriting for your older student is laborious and often illegible, having them type their assignments is a practical strategy. Students unfamiliar with the keyboard are encouraged to engage in enrichment activities related to typing. Typing.com is a free resource where parents can sign up their students to participate in lessons on typing. Students who struggle with typing and or handwriting expectations can utilize Google Doc’s Speech-to-Text dictation feature. This feature allows for students to speak directly into the microphone on their computer, eliminating illegibility and reducing the time spent typing. Instructions on how to use this feature can be found here.
Submitting Student Work
Any work that a student submits for the week must be submitted directly to the corresponding teacher no later than noon each Friday. In an effort to lessen the burden of submitting work, teachers include specific directions in their learning plan on what work actually needs to be submitted. Sometimes students will complete work at home that will not need to be submitted to teachers. Work should be submitted via email and email attachments. For specific instructions on how to send various kinds of attachments (DOCX, PDF, MP3, MP4, etc.) please refer to the Technical Support and Instruction section of our distance learning plan homepage.
Grading and Teacher Feedback
Teachers will award either a participation grade or assessments grade to items submitted at the end of each week. Grades will be loaded into RenWeb so that parents can regularly view their child’s progress. In general, most work that is submitted will earn a participation grade whereas assessment grades will be awarded approximately once every three weeks. While all required assignments will earn a grade, teachers will use their discretion to offer individualized feedback via email on selected work. For example, a teacher might simply record a participation grade for a student who completes an assigned reading but email commentary back to a student who submits an essay. In all cases, please email teachers directly if you are seeking clarification or wanting additional feedback on graded work.
Covenant Classical School
1701 Wind Star Way
Fort Worth, TX 76108
817-820-0884
info@covenantfw.org