I recently read an article on NJ.com about a private school in Watchung, NJ that is taking a new approach to the term “ snow day”. With the recent snow and ice storms closing many schools in NJ, some schools are choosing to hold classes virtually, substituting snow days for cyber days. The school in Watchung has decided to use technology to teach students when the snow falls and school is cancelled. Students are reminded by their teachers to bring all essential books home the day before the storm. On the snow day, the students and teachers are to sign onto the schools online portal. Podcasts, online chats, blogs and narrated Power Point lessons are presented on that site.
Cleary, there is always a concern when an interruption is present in student learning. After reading this article I thought this was a great idea, but not so sure if it would work with the younger grades. Also this was done in a private school setting, I wonder if the public schools would be able to do something along these lines? I know from experiencing this past week, that many of the teachers in my school were complaining about how far behind they were because of these snow days. What are your views on this? Do you agree with turning “snow days” into “cyber days”? If so,what grades do you think would benefit from this? What about the students that do not have the accessibility to a computer at home? Also do you think students and parents would approve of cyber day or is a snow day considered a “ free” day off?
After reading this post I sat back and thought about snow days and cyber days….how could this work. As much as I think it's a great idea I don't think it would ever happen in the public schools. The reasons I feel this that usually when we have a snow day the parents of the children have to stay home from work and they actually have to work from home. Another problem lies in the fact that most families have more then one child so being able to juggle more then one child being cyber schooled could be an issue. I also think that kids need snow days, they are like little surprises that we all looked forward to as children, and lets be honest, as future teachers as well. I am aware that there is a lot to be caught up on when there are snow days, but I think cyber days would just cause more problems then they would solutions!
ReplyDeleteThis is the first time that I have heard of a cyber day in place of a snow day and I think that it could be a great idea. In the last few weeks there have been three snow days already. The loss of these days causes the classes to fall behind. I think that this is a great way to stop students from falling behind and can be fun for the students with the use of technology. I do think that public schools would benefit from this idea. I agree with turning snow days into cyber days; however, there are problems that could arise. Some issues include the fact that not all students could have access to a computer at home and that students are not going to want to spend an entire school day on the computer. This might work with the younger students like second graders because most of them, if not all, have already used the computer. However, they might need parental supervision and guidance, which could be problematic for parents who have to work from home or go to work still. A possible way to make this work is have students log on for an hour or two to complete work and students who do not have access to a computer could be given some sort of assignment that would be the equivalent to the cyber work the day before the storm that they could complete during the snow day. Another problem is that in today's way of thinking, snow days mean a day off from school. It will be hard to break that thinking for students who do the "snow dance" in order to get a day off from school with no work.
ReplyDeleteI really don't think it is a good idea to replace the snow days with cyber work online. I think if they believe that their is a snow day coming I think the teachers should give the students the homework they have to complete that day the night before. It is very hard for parents to keep up with their children;s work when they are working or the children need to go online and don't really know how to use the computer well ( meaning the younger grades). I think that work should be given to them the day before and they should complete what they have to do but not online because most of the students will not complete the assignment.
DeleteThis is such an interesting topic and I think it is a great idea. As Nicole stated public schools have had three snow days in the past couple of weeks. Snow days cause delays in learning and makes things stressful when the students return to school because they need to "catch up" on what they missed. The idea of a virtual school day would be a helpful solution. Although this sounds like a good idea, there could be some set backs. For example. students without access to a computer, younger children who would need help on the computer, the amount of preparation that would go into setting the plans up online, and other technical difficulties. I do like the idea of this virtual school day but I don't know if this would actually work or even be considered by schools.
ReplyDeleteAs many of the other ladies have already mentioned, having cyber schools in place of snow days poses many issues, and I agree with all of them. This is a hopeful idea to make snow days productive, but I also agree that it would not make it to public schools. One issue that I would like to add to the issues already mentioned is that even if there was a productive online assignment to be done at home, I feel as though the parents would do the work for their child. Then this would make the work meaningless and counter productive. If anything, I think this concept would work best in the secondary level. Students at that age are technologically savvy and more technologically prepared for a cyber class. I don't believe that it should take the same time as a school day, but it should at least have them actively doing live collaborative work. For example, I noticed during the recent State of the Union address that my sister and her history class were having a live Twitter discussion with her classmates and their teacher analyzing and debating about what the President was saying. This would not have taken a good part of their day, but it was done at home and learning was accomplished.
ReplyDeleteI believe cyber days are a great idea, however, it is hard to implement something to that degree because it requires computer access, as well as an understanding of the internet. Many younger students would struggle with assignments, and would therefore require a lot of parental assistance. However, I think students in a private high school would benefit most from such a day. Many private schools provide students with laptops and tablets, therefore, teachers could easily send out assignments, expecting students to complete the work. As much as snow days are a nuisance, they are something teachers have to deal with, requiring teachers to be flexible and patient with their students.
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