For the school year 2020-2021, many school districts opted to offer virtual learning for the fall semester. Some schools reopened for in-person learning, and then had to close down due to spikes in COVID-19 cases, and some schools chose to provide a hybrid learning program.

Hybrid learning is an educational model where some students attend class in-person, while others join the class virtually from home. Educators teach remote and in-person students at the same time using tools like video conferencing hardware and software. In some cases, hybrid classes include asynchronous learning elements, like online exercises and pre-recorded video instruction, to support face-to-face classroom sessions. Some schools are preparing to transition from virtual learning to hybrid learning, provided health authorities report that it is safe to return to school in small groups.

As a parent of a 16 year old, I have questions as to how my school district will implement the hybrid model, whether or not families have options of staying on to full time virtual learning, or If I should send my daughter for in person learning.

Below are some resources and information on how to understand and prepare for the transition.

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For many families, back to school planning will look different this year than it has in previous years. Schools will have new policies in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Some are starting the school year with virtual learning components. Whatever the situation, these checklists are intended to help parents, guardians, and caregivers, plan and prepare for the upcoming school year.

The checklist includes:

• Decision making tool for parents and guardians
• Planning for in-person classes
• Planning for virtual or at-home learning
• Resources to navigate stress and uncertainty

2. (Education Week, November 11, 2020)

This article explains the many forms of a hybrid schedule. It explains how a hybrid schedule may offer schools the most flexibility, and the associated risks of putting people indoors together, even when it鈥檚 in smaller, socially distanced groups. According to the article, the logistics will not be simple and the learning curves for everyone will be steep.

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During this pandemic, families and their children are engaged in a variety of different school formats and , powered by Southern New Hampshire Services, hopes to provide support and resources for all families that may be grappling with a variety of learning options, including remote learning, a hybrid model and/or full-time in-person attendance.

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Parents of students in blended learning programs should understand the changing roles of technology and teachers, and make an effort to stay informed about edtech.

5. , with companion and sheet.

With the pandemic still spiking in many states across the country, parents are stressed and confused as to how they should plan for their gifted children’s education. In-person learning, hybrid, online schools and classes, pandemic pods, microschools, and homeschooling are among the various options that come up in the news and on social media. Which option is right for your family? How do you work with your district or school if you seek an alternative to full-time in-person instruction this year?

6. School Districts and Your State’s Department of Education

Access your school district鈥檚 and your state’s Department of Education websites where hybrid/return to school information and resources are provided. Some school districts currently have surveys to be completed in order to plan for hybrid learning; other school districts have outlined detailed information on how hybrid learning will be implemented, such as which schools are more likely to offer in-person learning first, what grades, and the schedule. You can also find out if the school district will be offering alternative options.

Additional Resources on How to Advocate for Your Child鈥檚 Education During the Transition Process:

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Many of parents are learning firsthand how different remote learning is from face-to-face learning. It affects content delivery, socialization, and the school-life balance. As a result, the advocacy related to remote learning may also look different. Many parents may have relied on the traditional parent-teacher conferences, physical report cards, or in-school IEP meetings to discuss how to best support their child. Now that many of these face-to-face opportunities have been limited or altogether removed from advocacy efforts, it may be a brave new virtual world that parents must navigate to receive services and supports for their student. In addition to traditional advocacy strategies, other the tools and strategies to help online advocacy be more effective are provided.

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As the year begins with distance or hybrid learning at most schools, many parents are worried that pre-pandemic IEP plans may leave kids without vital services. Luckily, IEP or 504 plans aren鈥檛 set in stone. If you鈥檙e concerned your child is struggling (or that they will be once class gets underway), it might be time to make some additions to your child鈥檚 plan to incorporate remote learning accommodations. Here鈥檚 how you can help your child get the support they need, whatever this school year brings. (Also Available in Spanish.)

How do you feel about going back to in-person learning? If your district is already providing hybrid learning, how is it working for your child?

How we use technology is more important than ever these days 鈥� our education, advocacy, work and social lives are primarily limited to online settings. In light of youth鈥檚 increased reliance on technology as well as current racial and social justice movements, 优蜜视频 offered a complimentary Spyglass online workshop series this month called Digital Civics: Changemakers of Tomorrow.

Bethany Ellerbrook, whose graduate research explored tween and teen media engagement, led students through four workshops. In 鈥淔act or Fiction,鈥� students learned how to identify misinformation and craft persuasive pitches in support of a cause they care about. The student-selected topics included global climate change, the Black Lives Matter movement, unequal access to food and clean water, education disparities and marine pollution. It was inspiring to hear directly from our stellar students about the changes they want to make for the betterment of the future!

In 鈥淩aising Awareness鈥� and 鈥淭elling the Story,鈥� students explored the fundamentals of visual design and video production, then created powerful Instagram posts to advocate for their causes. Finally, in 鈥淐ontent and Conversations,鈥� they discussed online echo chambers and the differences between debate and dialogue, plus shared their final designs with one another.

In the last meetings of each of the two class sections, students shared their final thoughts and takeaways: they were proud of themselves for what they were able to create in under two weeks and excited to continue acting in support of their causes. Several students were also inspired to share their creations on their own social media! See below for some of their final creations, and see the rest on the .

Although we are looking forward to learning together in person again, it has been incredible to meet students from all over the country. This summer, the Spyglass program has served students from almost 20 states. In the Digital Civics series alone, brought together students from California, Washington, DC, Florida, Arkansas and more. We can鈥檛 wait to see how these students continue to make a difference and advocate for their causes!

The final Digital Civics workshop ended with a quote from the late civil rights activist and US Representative John Lewis: 鈥淲hen you see something that is not right, you must say something. Democracy is not a state. It is an act, and each generation must do its part鈥︹��

We鈥檇 love to hear from our community: what causes are you passionate about? What online resources help you and others advocate for positive change?

Earlier this year, I read a book called Slow Looking by Shari Tishman. Tishman is a lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education whose research 鈥渇ocuses on the development of thinking and understanding, the role of close observation in learning, and learning in and through the arts.鈥� Slow Looking is, as its title would suggest, about the art and practice of looking slowly 鈥� of careful observation 鈥� and the cognitive, emotional, and spiritual benefits of doing so.

One of the educational initiatives started by Tishman and her collaborators is Out of Eden Learn, a free program that combines offline activities with online interaction and invites young people to 鈥�1. slow down to observe the world around them and listen attentively to others; 2. exchange stories and perspective with one another; and 3. make connections between their own lives and bigger human stories.鈥� Students who use the Out of Eden Learn program come from all over the world, and interact with one another through the program鈥檚 online platform. Meanwhile, their offline activities encourage them to explore their immediate surroundings in depth. For example, in one lesson plan, students make maps of their neighborhoods; go for a walk around their neighborhood and observe their surroundings carefully, taking photographs; and interview neighbors about their experiences of their local area. In this way, students come to understand that their immediate surroundings, which might often go unnoticed, may be full of stories, beauty, and interest. At the same time, students share their maps, written observations, photographs, and interviews with fellow students through the online portal, gaining insight into the lives of others around the globe.

Out of Eden Learn began in collaboration with journalist and National Geographic Fellow Paul Salopek, who in 2013 began the Out of Eden project 鈥� a 21,000-mile-long journey that literally retraces the footsteps of the first humans who migrated out of Africa and across the world. Along the way, he interviews the people he meets, and, in his writing, connects their personal stories to the larger movements of our ongoing histories. As the introduction to his project states, 鈥淗is words, as well as his photographs, video, and audio, create a global record of human life at the start of a new millennium as told by villagers, nomads, traders, farmers, soldiers, and artists who rarely make the news. In this way, if we choose to slow down and observe carefully, we also can rediscover our world.鈥�

Having the opportunity to slow down and observe my surroundings more carefully is a gift I鈥檝e been grateful for during this otherwise very difficult time. I read Tishman鈥檚 book just a month or two before the safer-at-home orders began. After the order went into effect, I began taking walks around my neighborhood in Pasadena more regularly, sometimes twice a day, tapping into that feeling of wonder that comes from rediscovering the world around you. I started to notice the birds on my block 鈥� some who I knew before, like the crows, mourning doves, and green parrots, and others who were new to me, like orioles, starlings, and the red-whiskered bull-bull. I also started to notice the stars, planets, and constellations on my nighttime walks. The birds and the stars started to feel like my companions, my friends. I鈥檝e been happy to see them, day after day, night after night. Recognizing them, getting to know them even a little bit, I feel connected to something bigger than myself 鈥� the endless mystery and wonder of this world we inhabit.

This summer, I had the good fortune to teach two online classes for 优蜜视频. One, called Bees and Other Builders, was all about the architects of the animal world. We looked at structures built by vertebrates, such as beavers and birds, as well as structures built by invertebrates 鈥� mostly insects, such as ants, bees, and termites. I am particularly fascinated by these tiny creatures. As David Attenborough notes in the BBC documentary series Life in the Undergrowth, these small life forms are largely responsible for making the earth habitable for all of us backbone animals. The documentary offers the opportunity to observe them 鈥� and some of the incredible structures they build 鈥� in detail. Many of them are microscopic, unable to be seen by the unaided human eye. The world is full of such creatures. Whenever I鈥檓 feeling down, I think about how a single gram of bacteria can be home to up to one billion bacteria. Somehow, this knowledge helps me put my problems in perspective. It reminds me that vitality and mystery are constantly with us, often in the most overlooked of places.

This week, I had an opportunity to observe a session of , 滨贰础鈥檚 new distance learning program that brings professionals and students together via Zoom for specialized workshops. This particular session was the 4th class in a 6-part series for children ages 9-12. The first three classes were about public speaking, and this one was entitled Speech and Debate, taught by master鈥檚 candidate Reece Aguilar, Assistant Debate Coach for the University of Southern California. In an hour and a half (which flew by), I personally learned more than I expected to.  

This was a beginner鈥檚 class, so the instructor started from scratch 鈥� he taught us what debate actually is: the act of persuading a skeptical audience to align with your view. He led us through the components of an effective debate, including how to remain unemotional and free of fallacies.  

By the end of class, each student was charged with the task of writing a complete argument that might be used in an actual debate. They were given an array of topics to choose from, including whether or not schools should extend recess, whether or not cafeterias should offer free lunch, or whether or not schools should require uniforms. Students were given no more than five minutes to create their arguments, and each one was able to write and deliver their 30-second arguments with articulate confidence.  

I am not sure what I expected, but I was riveted the whole time! This was far from a droll lecture; this was an interactive discussion, truly a hands-on workshop. Reece did a fantastic job engaging the children; every student participated in the conversation and the final presentation. 

When the COVID-19 pandemic rendered in-person learning unsafe, I was skeptical about the quality of distance learning. I could not picture 滨贰础鈥檚 dynamic, interactive programs translating into an online format. After sitting in on both Spyglass and Yunasa, I am convinced that 滨贰础鈥檚 teachers and staff have mastered distance learning. And while we would all rather be together, this is the next best thing.  

It seems that everyone today talks about creative problem-solving. Curriculum guides list problem-solving skills as key objectives at all levels, and professional organizations recommend that creative problem solving becomes the focus of school mathematics. Many people believe that the ability to solve problems develops automatically from mastery of computational skills. This is not necessarily true; problem-solving is itself a skill. A problem is more challenging than a typical exercise because the route to the solution is often not known beforehand, and requires some level of creativity.

Creative Problem Solving I – Unusual Patterns

In this video, 2023 CDB Scholar Arul Kolla kicks off a series of videos centered around creative problem solving by talking about 鈥渦nusual patterns鈥� 鈥� when we see patterns that go beyond traditional skip-counting, how do we approach them? In this video, we see a variety of techniques that both help solve these problems and more general ideas for the topic of creative problem-solving.

This summer鈥檚 ever-changing landscape provides children and youth of all ages an opportunity to participate in fun, challenging learning through 滨贰础鈥檚 virtual programs. When the Institute for Educational Advancement (优蜜视频) made the difficult decision to cancel all in-person summer programming, we knew we had to find ways to connect with our students virtually instead. As a non-profit that supports all aspects of a gifted child, 优蜜视频 is very aware of the extreme toll this pandemic has taken on the intellectual, social and emotional wellbeing of students and their families. 滨贰础鈥檚 parents and students were eager for the organization to provide quality material in safe learning environments that engage our young people intellectually and channel their intensities and anxieties in healthy ways.

鈥淥ur kids look forward to joining us each summer at our Learning Center in Pasadena and at our Yunasa camps鈥� said Elizabeth D. Jones, President & Co-Founder of 优蜜视频. 鈥淲hile we knew we could bring our existing content online, we also challenged staff to go further and think of ways we could ensure our community can connect with one another, even from a distance.鈥�

滨贰础鈥檚 small but mighty staff and faculty quickly created compelling online content and provided virtual spaces for communities to come together. This summer, 优蜜视频 will continue to offer advanced learning and social opportunities virtually.

In addition to online Academy classes and virtual, families can sign up now for 滨贰础鈥檚 new , which use a digital platform to bring high-level content into the homes of gifted and advanced students across the country. Spyglass will consist of live, interactive sessions, both standalone and in series, on a variety of topics for a range of ages. This summer, students can sign up for workshops like the highly relevant series , which will challenge students to identify reliable sources versus misinformation, utilize effective strategies for communicating information and create impactful media content. Students will be encouraged to work together to apply these skills through projects that raise awareness of causes important to them and their communities. Other Spyglass series scheduled include Critical Studies of Science Fiction, College and Career Readiness and Introduction to Speech and Debate.

Families have already found these resources extremely helpful. As one 优蜜视频 parent stated, 鈥淲e have only been able to engage with 优蜜视频 through camp Yunasa. The online content tailored to gifted kids that 优蜜视频 is planning to offer is a huge bright spot for me coming out of this awful experience! We can’t get this type of content otherwise.鈥�

Together, we can ensure our students are able to continue to grow both mentally and interpersonally this distanced summer.

Sign up now for any of the classes online or call 优蜜视频 at 626-403-8900 to learn more about these programs.

In Lesson 2, we鈥檒l discuss spacetime diagrams, the derivation of Lorentz transformations, and investigate some cool consequences of using them both together.

Link to Lesson 1:

Link to full Lorentz transformation derivations:

https://youtu.be/wU85_5CUKNo” title=”Special Relativity, Part 2: Math Time!”]

Speaker: Nicole Endacott, 优蜜视频 Program Coordinator聽
Required Materials: Measuring tape and either sidewalk chalk or post-it notes.