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epacer · 4 years

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Education

Grades Can Only Go Up: New Details on San Diego Unified’s Online Learning Plan

As officials are rushing to gear up for the “soft launch” of San Diego Unified School District’s online learning plan by Monday, key details are starting to emerge:

● Students grades can only go up, not down, depending on the amount of work they accomplish, said board vice president Richard Barrera.

● Teachers will be able to choose from one of three levels, depending on whether they are beginners or advanced, to deliver an online curriculum, according to emails obtained by Voice of San Diego.

● District officials will create new learning objectives, which are significantly reduced compared with traditional common core standards.

● Officials also hope they will be able to expand the school year by several weeks or at least be able to offer an expanded version of summer school.

● Special education services will not be delivered to the same extent they were before schools shut down.

The new online learning system will officially launch on April 27. That’s when graded work will begin. Until then, educators are expected to be learning the new systems and working with their students to the extent they are able, Barrera said.

“This is really building the plane as you are trying to fly it,” said Mark Schwarz, a fifth-grade teacher at Alice Birney Elementary. “Our No. 1 concern is our students and making sure they get some modicum of instruction.”

Like other teachers, Schwarz is watching online trainings and working to create virtual classrooms on Zoom and Google Classroom. The district will also lean heavily on Canvas and Seesaw, two other online learning platforms.

Minjuan Wang, a professor who studies online learning at San Diego State University, said those are some of the best platforms currently available for online learning. Wang teaches all of her classes online and uses Zoom, among other programs. SDSU will also soon move to using Canvas, which is one of the best learning management systems available, she said.

San Diego Unified is currently in the process of running professional development seminars to help teachers get up to speed on teaching online. But Schwarz said he is also turning to his peers at school for support and feedback.

An email sent to teachers referred to three different models of online learning that will be available to teachers, depending on their experience level with online teaching.

The first level is “recommended for schools and educators at the emerging stage of delivering instruction through distance learning.” Educators at the first level will receive “district-provided instructional materials.” There is also an advanced level for “educator-led blended instruction” and a middle level for “hybrid instruction.”

It’s unclear how much online interaction beginner-level teachers might have with their students and exactly what district-provided materials will be given to those teachers.

District spokeswoman Maureen Magee did not respond to a detailed list of questions about the district’s online learning model. Wendy Rank-Buhr and Tavga Bustani, two administrators heading up the development of the new program, also did not respond to requests for comment.

“I think even Level 1, in order to do this in a meaningful way, is going to require some investment” from teachers, said Schwarz, who is in his 21st year of teaching.

Barrera was unable to provide detailed information on the three models available to teachers. He did say, however, that the district plans to only allow students’ grades to go up from where they were when schools closed. State guidelines include that approach as an option for educators to consider, although it’s unclear if mandating that plan would violate state laws indicating teachers have the final say over student grades.

“The general idea is that no students are harmed, but students can improve,” said Barrera. If a student had a “B” in geometry before the shutdown, for instance, that student would maintain a “B” regardless of how much work they complete, once official online learning begins.

That means seniors whose grades might be slightly below what’s needed to graduate, will have the opportunity to raise their grades enough to get a high school diploma.

Barrera said district officials anticipate fewer students will participate in online learning than generally show up to class every day during normal circumstances. District officials are working on a plan to distribute computer devices with internet to students who need one beginning Monday and continuing in the following weeks. Unlike some other districts, San Diego Unified already has student devices available paid for by past local bond measures. Barrera said the district will provide free internet to all students who need it, but no deal has been struck with providers yet.

The state’s Common Core standards lay out what a student is supposed to learn in a given course during the school year. But it would be impossible to try to achieve the same standards through online learning, said Barrera. District administrators are accordingly working to whittle down the standards to their most essential elements for online learning.

Wang, the online learning expert, agrees this is the correct path to take.

“Online learning is perfect for adults and graduate students,” she said. “But for high school and elementary school students it is too early for them to be completely online.”

Kindergarten through 12th grade students are usually captives to the educational experience, Wang said. Now, they will likely be presented with more opportunities to get out of their work. She juxtaposed that with graduate students and adult learners, who are usually taking online courses because they want to.

Barrera said non-classroom teachers will bear much of the burden of trying to track down students who aren’t logging on.

Teachers still have lots of questions about how online learning will work, said Kisha Borden, president of the local teacher’s union, the San Diego Education Association.

“We are not going to be spending an entire school day on a computer, so what is that going to look like? What are the expectations of time spent?” she asked.

Barrera was not able to provide a detailed answer to that question, but he did say the amount of time spent on the computer will vary significantly between grade levels and the kinds of lessons teachers design. Some teachers might offer full classroom Zoom meetings, while others might assign projects.

“Right now, we are hearing a lot from parents with varying levels of stress, frankly,” Borden said. “I think we have to be cognizant of the impact this is going to have on families as well. Some families are very lucky and have the means to support their children.”

Parents at home and not working “have a lot more time to sit down and support children at home,” said Borden. While “parents doing full-time jobs, working from home, or are not at home and are going out of the house working are not able to help, so that’s going to be very difficult for a lot of people, or people with three to four of their own children.”

How to provide special education for students with physical and learning disabilities will also be a huge problem for educators to figure out. Borden said teachers have not yet received guidance about how they are supposed to handle Individual Education Programs, or IEPs, for students who require special services.

“It’s a matter of figuring out how to provide those services at a distance,” she said.

Barrera acknowledged special education services would be diminished from their usual standard.

“We know for students with disabilities in particular and English learners and a lot of other students, the best of what we can do online will never be good enough,” he said.

Doing nothing, however, would have created even bigger equity issues, said Barrera. Had the district not moved to some form of official online learning, many students who lack resources would have been left behind, as more well-heeled parents found ways to continue their children’s education.

The “ideal” would be for state officials to pay for an extended school year, Barrera said. San Diego Unified would like to extend the school year by five weeks, he said, or at bare minimum be able to offer an extended version of summer school. Barrera said this would give the district the maximum opportunity to make sure no students fall massively behind while California schools and businesses remain closed prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.

But that will certainly cost more money, he said. The biggest cost for school districts is people, by far. And paying to keep staff on for an extra five weeks would be costly. San Diego Unified and Los Angeles Unified have asked the state for an additional $500 per student for districts all across the state. For San Diego Unified, that adds up to about $50 million, and Barrera says it would likely be enough to extend the school year.

Without an extension, it’s possible new costs to transition to purely online learning will be offset by some savings from classroom closures and allow the district to break even in the final months of the year, Barrera said. Utility costs, for instance, will not be as high, and finance staff is analyzing those savings, he said.

So far, state officials have only agreed to increase funding due to COVID-19 closures by roughly $17 per student, according the San Diego Union-Tribune. *Reposted article from the VOSD by Will Huntsberry and Ashly McGlone of April 2, 2020

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memorylang · 4 years

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My First Mongolian Lunar New Year /Цагаан сар/ | #25 | February 2020

Welcome to my first time experiencing Mongolia’s biggest holiday, the Lunar New Year’s better known as Цагаан сар /Tsagaan Sar/ (TsaGAHN Sar)! We celebrated it uniquely, with COVID-19 Coronavirus precautions escalating. Likewise, I experienced the profound fortune of having spent my final week of the lunar 2019 uncovering a rich history I soon found myself part of. With eating more Mongolian steamed dumplings than you thought possible, downed with our deliciously salty milk tea, welcome to Lunar New Year’s!

Like Christmas in February

The Saturday before the holiday’s first day, I returned downtown to meet with one of our Peace Corps summer’s local English instructors, whose birthday we celebrated in October. While Lunar New Year crept closer, I served as logistics coordinator for a mentorship-focused summer camp for disadvantaged children. I had meetings to attend. My friend’s been accompanying me to translate with officials.

After Saturday’s sessions, my friend walked me through the outdoor market, bustling with shoppers. I hadn’t seen it this crowded since August. Now in late February, I got last-minute Christmas shopping vibes. [Fittingly, did you catch this is my 25th story?] My friend explained, most years, it’s far more packed. I tried picturing the occasional empty stalls as completely full. He explained, too, instead of saying usual Mongolian hellos, I can greet people with phrases translating to, “How are you wintering?” and essentially, “Happy New Year.” So seasonal.

We regrouped, and I treated him to dessert, he treated me to hot tea. Following Lunar New Year’s, we’d be able to continue meeting with officials for funding. We also talked personal projects, with quarantine about. I didn’t know my home tour appeared on the Peace Corps Mongolia Facebook Stories! I felt glad. How magical to have immortalized my set-up for others to see. After our session, I returned home, practicing more languages and wondering how I’d spend the Lunar New Year.

Our Holiday Within Coronavirus’ Context

Our Peace Corps Mongolia country director returned mid-February to Washington, D.C. for extensive decision making regarding the COVID-19 situation. Mongolia remained case-free, despite bordering China.

Meanwhile, local and national governments continued moving to limit movement.

Traditionally, Mongolians celebrate the three-day Tsagaan Sar by visiting family, colleagues and friends. Peace Corps Volunteers typically travel home to their host families to spend the holiday with them.

With Mongolia's road closures, Peace Corps Mongolia prohibited us from travel. Thus, we wouldn’t be able to visit our host families this year. Furthermore, my sitemates in the other province wouldn’t even be able to return to ours for the holiday. I felt dismayed, but I assured them if they needed anything I’d do my best.

Still, though we couldn’t travel much, and with public places closing left and right, we could gather in small groups at the few places remaining open. Living alone and so done with my solitude, I definitely took offers I received to be among others. Thus, our story unfolds...

New Adventure with an Old Memoir

The week preceding Tsagaan Sar, I was heavily in my books and involved in meditation. So I rose Monday morning before 5 a.m. for the usual meditation meet-up.

But I got no response from my driver, the philosophic doctor friend. So I decided to stay up, in case he called. I read my final chapter of the 25 days with “Rediscover the Saints.” I felt I’d need to choose new reading. Then a path appeared.

Having found out my thesis would take more revisions, I felt needing an academic refresh and, frankly, a break. I scrolled my Facebook feed (something I scarcely do). I chanced upon, "Mongolian Studies,” a public group.

Now the fun begins. I introduced myself to the group. I described my interest in religious studies. A member suggested I read the recent memoir, “There’s a Sheep in My Bathtub,” by Brian Hogan. Its synopsis detailed that Brian, a fellow American, recounted foundings of Mongolia’s first churches.

So I asked my American couple friends if they’d heard of it, since they mentioned attending a church. In fact, they had the book and knew its author. I felt stunned! I asked to borrow it. They invited me to come by at the speaking group meet-up, 7 a.m.

Having come into town for weeks to hike the mountain at 7:30 a.m., I knew well how to get downtown before sunrise. Hurriedly, I prepped and left for Zaya’s Coffee Shop.

Crossing Worlds in a Coffee Shop

When I returned to the speaking group, my friends said the memoir was by our city’s first Christian missionaries. That blew my mind. Its author helped found my friends’ own church! After we finished our morning’s speaking group, I dove into the story.

I devoured 50 pages the first day (a lot for me). The memoir even began at Tsagaan Sar! That felt too timely. Like me, the family left from Beijing to Ulaanbaatar. I felt awed by their faith.

I spent my day at Zaya’s Coffee Shop. Then I spent there my week.

I read and wrote. I enjoyed the hot water. I didn’t eat much, though. I guess baristas felt concerned or just very generous. I was nibbling a cookie at lunch hour, and she said that’s not food, haha. They treated me to Turkish food a few times. Gosh, I’d love to see Istanbul. Another day, I tried a carrot cake muffin! I felt touched.

Sometimes they practiced English with me. They told me about Swedish missionaries Brian mentioned in his memoir. They thanked me for coming to help the community learn English and Chinese. I loved the shop even had Russian patrons. It felt so multicultural.

I also talked to the shop owners, “Zaya,” who’d served as missionaries in Afghanistan. The siblings spoke of bringing the Gospel to the whole former Mongol Empire. They said Chinggis Khaan's soldiers’ descendants still live in distant nations. Incredible. Like Belle sang, “... our small corner of the world [felt] big.”

My dad served the U.S. Army in Afghanistan, so I appreciated the similarity to my father. The shop owner also made these lovely tan and maroon book covers. I liked the look of them and felt I should protect Mom’s cockled New Testament better. The owner offered to sew a fitting cover, so I gave him Mom’s Bible.

I returned since Monday for many reasons. Tuesday, I discussed transitioning the Chinese speaking group to the owners’ trilingual friend experienced in China and with a linguistics background. Wednesday, I returned for the Americans’ English speaking group. Thursday, we launched the new Chinese speaking group. Friday, we’d the English speaking group and my German volunteer friend’s farewell.

As I left the coffee shop Friday to see my German friend off, the most amazing thing happened. I met a woman mentioned in the memoir I was reading! She was back in town to see her family for Tsagaan Sar. She and they were among the city’s first Mongolian Christians. In fact, she’d graduated from the very university where I teach. She had a Peace Corps Volunteer then, too, a Christian she’s kept in touch with all these years. Wow! When I mentioned no plans or people to spend Tsagaan Sar with, the woman invited me to come spend it with her family on the first day. I felt shocked and awed.

Warm Dumplings at Spring’s New Beginning

Tsagaan Sar began touching every part of my days in the final weekend before Lunar New Year.

Tsagaan Sar celebrates the traditional start of spring. At the Wednesday evening group, one of the doctors (husband to my senior student) wanted the head nurse to take me to ride horses with him in the countryside. So, with my sitemates stranded in the other province, Peace Corps Mongolia would send my helmet directly to my city, Friday.

Evenings that week, after mornings and afternoons in the coffee shop, I visited the American couple’s apartment to play games like Sequence with our speaking group members. Friday night, I attended their usual dinner and discussions. Afterward, late that cold night, I first needed to get my package from Peace Corps. Thankfully, an older widow in our group, the kind English teacher I’d met the month before while promoting an English scholarship program with my innovator friend, lived on that side of town. She invited me to wait at her apartment with her son.

Once we got inside, we called the package driver to ask when he’d reach town. I passed my phone to the teacher. She learned it’d be hours. She started cooking, in the spirit of Tsagaan Sar, бууз! Pronounced /boe-z/, one syllable, they’re circular steamed dumplings, which some Mongolians compare to Chinese 包子 bāozi.

"How many бууз would you like?" she asked.

My mom would ask me that about soup dumplings, I recalled.

When I was little, I usually said three to five. Mom asked whenever she made 汤饺 tāngjiǎo. Though, she usually called them, “dumplings,” “水饺 shuǐjiǎo,” or maybe “饺子 jiǎozi.” If you recognize Chinese food, then бууз are, to me, more comparable to thicker, circular 水饺 shuǐjiǎo steamed dumplings. Chinese 包子 bāozi, on the other hand, are like Mongolia’s fluffy мантуун бууз (pronounced /mahnTONE boe-z/). My church fed me мантуун бууз when I visited ill, on Teachers’ Day, actually...

Tonight I’d no preference. I felt pleasantly surprised by Mom’s memory. I love бууз, anyway. While the teacher cooked, I humored her chatty, young son who told me about conspiracies he saw on YouTube.

Then we ate. The teacher mentioned visiting the U.S. a couple times, as a volunteer translator for Children’s Heart Project of Samaritan’s Purse. In America, my mother became a translator. The teacher offered me to see her photo books and albums. Unfortunately, her husband passed away while their son was very little. I loved their wedding photos.

In considering care for the widow and orphan from the Bible, I wondered if moments like these are part of it. Jesus instructed John to take a new mother and Mary to take a new son (Jn. 19:26-27). Maybe these are how Christ's body mends.

I napped from the meal. Finally, past midnight, the delivery driver came. The teacher walked me out to find him. With her hands in her pockets, my friend seemed to speed-waddle across the ice. I’d never seen anything like it. I’m so bad at crossing street ice.

From the driver parked outside the city center distributing packages, I received my horseback helmet. Then my community friend sent me in a taxi home. She sent me with extra бууз, so I felt fed and fortunate. Tsagaan Sar seemed a great season.

Lunar New Year’s Eve, Битүүн /Bitüün/

Sunday morning, my older friend, my usual driver, picked me up. We checked electronics stores for a Surface charger, since mine fatally kinked, my week writing at the coffee shop. We drove around town trying to find a shop open with the charger, but no luck. Shops closed through the end of national travel bans. My friend said we could check after.

In the meantime, we drove out to see if we could go to the countryside to visit his father, a Mongolian familial tradition. But a line of police cars blocked the road. My friend got out and talked with the officers, but they repeated the government’s word that people couldn’t leave the city because of the Coronavirus. With nowhere left to go, I accepted my friend’s invite to his place for Lunar New Year’s Eve. I felt confused but relieved I’d somewhere to be.

After extra shopping, my friend dropped me off at his family’s house in the ger district. With no fire on, his house felt just a smidge less freezing than outside. He invited me to the usual dry, sweet fried боорцог /bore-tsog/ nibbles to soften in the salty hot milk tea. He also left family albums for me to see. Then he left to bring home the rest of his family. I felt at first confused he’d leave a foreigner alone in his house. Then I figured, I’m trustable.

Flipping through the albums, I spotted how my city looked, seemingly while Soviets still influenced much of it. I’d seen just a few photos from then in the memoir I’d been reading. My city center looked pale, lacking the paint that earned its “Colorful City” title. I also saw photos from what seemed places I wanted still to visit in Mongolia. I saw his family in various provinces, such as in a boat on Khuvsgul Lake, then outside what seemed the Mother Tree (which the “Mongolian Studies” group scholar told me to visit), and among reindeer perhaps in the taiga, somewhere many locals told me to visit this summer.

The family returned home and quickly got busy. My friend, the dad, asked if I was cold, then apologetically started the stove’s fire. I magnetized to the heat. We ate delicious dumplings or бууз he warmed in the milk tea I kept my fingers around. Once the fire got going, my friend changed to his tank top and laughed I still wore two layers. They later recounted my chilly story to relatives.

When they said we're entering the Year of the Mouse, I felt I was back on the other side of Asia. Back then, Year of the Pig banners adorned U.S. airports and Greater China. While I’m against seeing Asian cultures as entirely alike, I realized Mongolia probably decorated similarly. What a lunar world.

As I saw the 15- and 17-year-old readied the traditional tan tower of food and candies while the parents cooked, I felt reminded of American traditions to decorate Christmas trees and ready supper. Preparing the eve was the whole family’s effort. I helped the boys with the traditional food tower (the идээ /eeDEH/).

Mongolian Families For All Seasons

After the family set some food to offer their Buddhist/shamanist Бурхан (God) shrine, we sat down to eat. I picked a random spot by the table’s end. But the father said, by the идээ is most honored. So he moved me from my last chair to beside the идээ, across from him. I felt amazed, remembering suddenly that’s what’s supposed to happen (Lk. 14:10).

After dinner, I felt on five occasions summer memories with my host family I’d wanted to see this winter. The morning before, my host mom called about whether I'd visit this year for Tsagaan Sar, as I hoped. I could hear others' “Сайн уу?” greetings on the line, feeling their glee. My younger host cousin’s actually done well messaging me most every other day morning greeting pictures in Mongolian. Sadly, I explained, Peace Corps forbade our travel to our host homes due to Coronavirus this year. But my host family sounded eager and satisfied I resolved to try again next year.

We'd that conversation very straightforwardly. I felt my language skills have grown smoother. I wondered how I’d have done among my host family if I could’ve seen them again…

First, after dinner, the dad invited me and his sons to play the Orient board game. My host family owned the same. Summer days, a host sibling got it from the little shed, and we walked around the fence to our neighbor’s. There my Peace Corps Trainee neighbor from Boston and I would eat and play floor games with our siblings/cousins. I mean “floor,” not “tabletop,” considering I’ve never done board games or shagai on a table in Mongolia… Coincidentally, the Boston guy and I both played in our cohort’s D&D party from winter.

Anywho, second, the father got out the шагай /shagai/ ankle bones, and we played the flicking game I recognized but hadn’t understood. This, too, my host siblings and I played at the neighbor’s. An outside observer would probably compare it to marbles, though I think marbles’ goal is to flick marbles out of the circle. This game has no circle. But as I watched and learned from the father’s beautiful skills and his younger son’s OK skills (the dad’s words, not mine), our goal is to flick like-faced bones into each other to collect the most. Strategy lies in manipulating the four faces carefully. I did alright!

Later that night, third, on TV a "Яг түүн шиг" rerun I saw that summer with my host family came on. ‘Twas the infamous episode when the woman, crossdressed as Snoop Dogg, won. But next came "The Voice of Mongolia." I hadn’t realized how likable the judges seemed! I’d heard of Uka, Bold and Otgonbayar (from Хурд, sounds like /horde/) but didn’t know Ononbat. I’d heard really good things about Uka, since she’d once performed at a Peace Corps Volunteer’s wedding. Shocking, I’d probably seen Otgonbayar live in September when Хурд performed in my city’s square. That was our First Day of School 2019...

Then we headed out. It was so late. I appreciated my friend warned me in darkness of ice on the dirt, my nemesis. But when I thought we finished, my friend took me to a relative’s. Ah, a fourth memory of life with my host family—surprise visits to others’ homes.

Finally, fifth, I appreciated locals’ enthusiastic compliments of my ability to speak Mongolian. Reminding me of my summer soum, I guess those in the ger district feel more generous in commending that I know Mongolian at all.

Speaking with them, I kept up at a speed reminding me of first meeting my Chinese relatives those three years ago. Locals spoke at the normal pace, and I could catch and answer their basic questions with few speed bumps.

Though living in a city limits how much I need to speak Mongolian compared to soum-dwellers, I feel more enriched speaking it. Locals seem happier I try, too. Thankfully, we didn’t stay long, since I was beat. But I ate ever-more food, since that’s tradition. I quite enjoyed their fudge-like oil-based dessert. With smiles and an extremely full belly, I got my ride home.

The First New Day /Цагаан сарын эхний өдөр шинийн 1/

Monday, February 24, I rose before the sunrise for the traditional dawn to the First New Day. I saw upon a faraway hill a couple new flames I didn’t recognize. Though I heard we couldn’t hike to light bonfires upon the hills this year, I felt warmed by the brave souls who did it anyway.

I dressed in my traditional Mongolian clothes, bundled up and went forth. I had on what I dubbed my “space cowboy” look, with the white, brimmed summer hat and mask for air pollution. Having learned my lessons from the nights and hikes before, I bundled up well. I was off to meet the Mongolian Christian family of the memoir I read.

The first thing I noticed and loved were the flurries.

Considering a White Christmas, I thought it funny. Lunar New Year’s name in Mongolian translates to “White Month.” So, could I call it a “Цав цагаан сар /Tsav Tsagaan Sar/?” A “Very White Month?” I smiled as I descended the massive hill separating my apartment area from the rest of the city. I enjoyed less the fresh powder snow on ice, since I nearly slid. But this is Mongolia, hehe.

Anyway, locals told me snowfall on Tsagaan Sar is auspicious. Hooray! Thus, my first year of Mongolia’s biggest three days began.

You can read more from me here at DanielLang.me :)

#Peace Corps #Mongolia #memoir #story #Catholic #Chinese #God #English #Tsagaan Sar #Coronavirus #Christian #coffee shop #winter #summer #COVID-19 #spring #memoryLang #Lunar New Year #mom #food

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