To paraphrase an old popular song –
“It’s astounding
Time is fleeting
Isolation takes its toll”
We are all facing a challenge like never in our lifetimes. It is one that we can only approach with hope holding fast to our certain values. Time goes by fast and slow at the same time making it hard to maintain focus. Taking care of oneself is critical.
In chemistry students have been studying reaction rates, an important part of working out industrial processes to make useful materials. Students at home have been forced to take a theoretical approach to growing their understanding.
This is true of biology students as well as they study ecology. One critical thing students need to do is stay in good communication with their teachers as they manage their work. I need to hear from them about how they are doing and do my best to send messages to students when I see that work is not completed on time.
For each week of work, I create three chunks of work. I estimate each one to take about an hour of focused work to complete. I explain the work and give links to any necessary materials IB our class slideshow. Students can contact me by email, google chat or through comments linked to me in shared documents. Students should not leave work incomplete and with no contact with me about struggles they are having or questions they need answers to.
I want to minimize the impact of this pandemic on the 12th grade year of our students so feel urgent about maintaining the schedule of learning I have set. This makes it all the more important to stay in good contact with each other during the week.
Take care.
Mr. Perry