Denver Dustin Bradford/Getty ImagesThere will be a healthy competition between Denver Broncos running backs Philip Lindsay and Melvin Gordon, but not animosity. “Melvin’s not my enemy,” Lindsay told 9News.com’s Mike Klis on Monday. “He’s my teammate. He needs to do his job but best believe I’m going to do my job.”The 25-year-old added:”When camp comes around it’s going to be a battle. I’m not just going to sit there and give somebody the job. They can. But I’m going to go out there and I’m going to battle. I’ve heard this stuff my whole entire life. And it’s never ever panned out how everybody has wanted it to pan out. Until someone proves me wrong, I’m going to continue to do what I do.[…]”My initial reaction is at the end of the day I’ve got to produce so that I can put food on the table for my family. I can’t worry about anything else that’s going on. Honestly. He’s going to do his part and I’m going to do my part. At the end of the day, I don’t need 20 carries to make 100 yards. I don’t think I’ve ever had 20 carries.”The Broncos officially signed Gordon to a two-year contract on March. 26.The 26-year-old was drafted by the Los Angeles Chargers 15th overall in 2015. He missed the first four games of last season because of a contract holdout that ultimately failed. Once on the field, Gordon rushed for 612 yards and eight touchdowns on 162 carries across 12 games (11 starts).Overall with the Chargers, Gordon tallied 4,240 yards and 36 touchdowns on 1,059 rushes. His lone 1,000-yard rushing campaign came in 2017.Lindsay signed with the Broncos as an undrafted free agent in 2018. Since then, the Colorado product has back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing seasons along with 16 total touchdowns on 416 carries. Lindsay became the first undrafted offensive rookie in league history to make the Pro Bowl.Jeremy Bloom @JeremyBloom11Not invited to the combine. Overlooked by all 32 teams. Not drafted. @I_CU_boy just made history by becoming the 1st offensive undrafted rookie to make THE PRO BOWL. Easily one of the best underdog sports stories.. ever. https://t.co/3n5kYgXjaKLindsay showed he is not intimidated by anything when he called Broncos Hall of Fame running back Terrell Davis and asked his permission to don his No. 30:Phillip Lindsay @I_CU_boyAppreciate you, TD! Honored and humbled to wear your number. I will do everything I can to make you proud! 
https://t.co/2vU7yfm8OLTo Lindsay’s point, he has only exceeded 20 carries in a single game once—he rushed 21 times for 81 yards and two touchdowns last season against Green Bay—but he has eclipsed 100 yards in five career games.Broncos General Manager and President of Football Operations John Elway explained in a statement the organization’s decision-making in signing Gordon:”Obviously we had two good backs in Royce Freeman and [Phillip] Lindsay. We know that [Lindsay] is a guy that’s had a great year for us. I know there’s people going, ‘Why do you need another horse?’ Well, when you have an opportunity for Melvin Gordon to come in here, we felt like it was an addition to the team. He’s a guy that obviously has had a lot of success in this league. He’s scored a lot of touchdowns and has caught the football a ton. So we feel like with him—with Melvin, as well as Phillip—that we’ve got a great one-two punch, and we’ll only get better in the backfield.”Ultimately, we have to score more points this year. We’ve struggled on the offensive side the last two, three years, and so we’ve got to get better on that side. I think Melvin will be one of those key pieces to help us get better.”Phil Milani @philmilaniThe @Broncos reportedly made a splash in free agency on Friday adding Melvin Gordon to the backfield. @AricDiLalla and I broke down what it means for the offense next season. https://t.co/yMkKClnK0WNicki Jhabvala @NickiJhabvalaThe Broncos (still un-finished) offense now includes: QB Drew Lock RB Phillip Lindsay RB Melvin Gordon WR Courtland Sutton TE Noah Fant LG Dalton Risner RG/C Graham Glasgow RT Ja’Wuan James https://t.co/rgtvdxmyFZDenver ranked 20th in rushing offense (103.9 yards per game) and 28th in scoring offense (17.6 points per game) during the 2019 regular season.The 7-9 Broncos were sparked by rookie second-round quarterback Drew Lock in December—going 4-1 in Lock’s first five NFL starts.That momentum paired with Gordon’s motivation to prove doubters wrong and Lindsay’s determination to stay the team’s No. 1 option could propel Denver to the playoffs for the first time since 2015.
Sunday, April 12, 2020
Denver Phillip Lindsay Says Melvin Gordon Is ‘Not My Enemy’ After RB’s Broncos Contract
Denver Ex-Saints kicker Dempsey dies from coronavirus
Denver Apr 5, 2020ESPN News Services Former New Orleans Saints kicker Tom Dempsey, who famously made a 63-yard field goal in 1970 despite being born without toes on his right kicking foot, has died due to complications of the coronavirus, his daughter said. He was 73.Ashley Dempsey said Sunday that her father tested positive for the coronavirus a little more than a week ago.Dempsey had been battling Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. He was a resident at the Lambeth House senior living center in New Orleans, which has been hit hard by the virus. More than 50 residents have been affected, according to NOLA.com.The Orleans Parish coroner has yet to release an official cause of death.Saints owner Gayle Benson released a statement Sunday morning on Dempsey’s death.”The New Orleans Saints family is deeply saddened and heartbroken at this most difficult time. Tom’s life spoke directly to the power of the human spirit and exemplified his resolute determination to not allow setbacks to impede following his dreams and aspirations. He exemplified the same fight and fortitude in recent years as he battled valiantly against illnesses but never wavered and kept his trademark sense of humor. He holds a special place in the hearts and minds of the Saints family,” she said.Saints Pro Bowl kicker Wil Lutz also expressed his condolences on Twitter:Thoughts and prayers with the Dempsey family. Legend! 
https://t.co/k28KtbXjZF— Wil Lutz (@wil_lutz5) April 5, 2020 Dempsey made his legendary 63-yard field goal in New Orleans’ Tulane Stadium as the Saints came from behind to beat the Detroit Lions 19-17 in the final seconds. It was the longest kick in NFL history for 28 years until the Denver Broncos’ Jason Elam matched it in 1998. The Broncos’ Matt Prater broke the record with a 64-yarder in 2013.The Saints’ extended family has been affected in multiple ways by the coronavirus. Coach Sean Payton tested positive last month before saying he was cleared last week. Also, Bobby Hebert Sr., the father of former Saints quarterback Bobby Hebert, died last week at the age of 81 after testing positive for the coronavirus.Philadelphia Eagles, Los Angeles Rams, Houston Oilers and Buffalo Bills before retiring in 1979. He made the Pro Bowl and was named a first-team All-Pro in his rookie season with the Saints.Inducted as a member of the Saints’ Hall of Fame in 1989, Dempsey finished with a 61.6 percentage on field goals, 89.4 percent on extra points.The modified shoe he kicked with is on display at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in an exhibit that chronicles the first century of professional football.The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Title: Denver Ex-Saints kicker Dempsey dies from coronavirus
Sourced From: annerowedps.com/2020/04/12/denver-ex-saints-kicker-dempsey-dies-from-coronavirus/
Published Date: Sun, 12 Apr 2020 12:26:17 +0000
Saturday, April 11, 2020
Forgo Away-- However Tackle the Big Longstanding Issues, Not Just the Immediate Technical Ones-- by John M. McLaughlin
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos.
When I started a high school for students with special needs, I was 24. I borrowed $2,000 from Nashville’s Commerce Union Bank, put my energy — and naivety — to work, and created Benton Hall. The school opened in 1977, three months before Federal Law 94-142, the Education of All Handicapped Children Act, the precursor of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), went into effect.
Sadly, when President Ford signed the bill in late-November 1975 he already knew that the “bill promises more than the Federal Government can deliver….” Ford’s prophetic statement foreshadowed the battles over the shape, intent, and application of the law that continue today.
Before the federal law was enacted, more than one million children with disabilities were not allowed to attend public school. Those who did got little help to lift their trajectory. The law, elegant in its simplicity, was based on the concept of access and drew its legal underpinnings from the Supreme Court’s racial desegregation opinion in Brown v. Board of Education. Decades later, as evidenced by the 2017 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District, access isn’t enough; real progress in keeping with each student’s needs is the new standard. Yet, since the law’s passage, Congress been unwilling to appropriate the funds needed to achieve its goals. The federal lawmakers have proven Gerald Ford right: our hearts are, perhaps, bigger than our pocketbooks.
The Covid-19 pandemic has laid bare fault lines created by years of unfunded mandates. Parents grapple with the disconnect between neuro-biological research and therapies and what public schools can deliver. To be sure, reality in schools doesn’t mirror the law’s vision or reflect its promise. Now some are suggesting that, in response to the novel coronavirus, Secretary DeVos ask Congress to waive some of the provisions of the law for school districts incapable of adhering to them with school buildings closed and children at home.
Should Secretary DeVos request that Congress allow such waivers? She should, but she shouldn’t stop there. The current crisis presents an opportunity to revitalize the law and reshape IDEA’s promise—and mandates—in ways better attuned to the times. DeVos can start by immediately addressing the technical issues that have schools out of compliance with the law. Here are four of the bigger compliance concerns for districts:
Least restrictive environment—Federal law requires that each child with a disability be educated in the least restrictive environment possible. With every child home for the good of the nation’s health, the least restrictive environment, for the time being, is the child’s home. It may be surprising that this is even an issue, but it is, especially where officials had previously declared a specific program or special school was the least restrictive environment for a child. As soon as possible, children with the most severe challenges, those who will regress most while away from school and those with aggressive tendencies, should be the first students back to school.
Maintenance of effort—Schools must maintain funding levels for special education from one year to the next to keep federal support money. If less money is spent on special education as a result of school closures, will schools fail the maintenance-of-effort test? The CARES Act is trying to encourage flexibility and speed in getting relief to small businesses, giant corporations, and individuals. In that spirit, Congress should grant schools a waiver of maintenance-of-effort requirements, and Secretary DeVos should make clear that schools will not be penalized on these grounds.
Compensatory services—Social distance is the order of the day. Some families don’t want others such as therapists or paraprofessionals in their homes, and school districts cannot require teachers and aides to put their health at risk to serve students. Secretary DeVos should allow school districts to determine if and how they can make up for individualized-education-program-required services not delivered, but the Secretary should not request blanket relief for districts regarding services missed during this time period. After 43 years of federal law in special education, schools will do what they can for their students that will be reasonable, prudent, safe, and timely. Where such services can be delivered, they should be delivered. When services cannot be delivered under those principles, the district should not be penalized.
Time-sensitive processes—The clock should be turned off on time-sensitive processes related to such matters as individualized education plans and parent-requested evaluations. Secretary DeVos should request this waiver with the stipulation that she will return to Congress as soon as possible when the all clear is sounded and the game clock can begin once again. Once the clock is reset, the Secretary should ask Congress to extend benefits for children for an additional year, which would do the greatest good for those with the most challenging needs and make up in part for services not adequately delivered during school closures.
Beyond addressing the operational issues of IDEA, Secretary DeVos has an opportunity to make bold moves to improve a law that has become fossilized in regulation. One approach would be to recommend that disabilities be categorized as either mild, moderate, or severe and that guidelines and protections be shaped accordingly. Another focus could be streamlining the special education dispute resolution process, which now often involves litigation. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act might be modified for severely handicapped children so that teachers and medical personnel can work more closely for the benefit of the child. For these children with severe disabilities, special education can be extended to age 25 with upgraded transition services and job training. An additional $30 billion would fulfill the 43-year-old federal pledge of 40% funding for special education and can be part of an additional Covid-19 assistance package wending its way through Congress.
Finally, if Covid-19 conditions allow, Secretary DeVos should recommend federal financing for six weeks of universal summer school in 2020 for all students, with additional funding separate from special education’s $30 billion.
On July 17, 2017, almost six months after her Senate confirmation, Secretary DeVos delivered her first special-education-focused speech. She said, “Republican and Democrat administrations alike haven’t done enough to fulfill our promise to students under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.” The CARES Act now gives Secretary DeVos the opportunity to right that wrong and revitalize special education.
John M. McLaughlin, Ph.D. is managing partner of McLaughlin Advisors which focuses on special education and autism businesses. He is a Director of ChanceLight Education and co-author of How Autism is Reshaping Special Education: The Unbundling of IDEA (2017) and We’re In This Together: Public- Private Partnerships in Special and At-Risk Education (2015).
This is one half of a forum, “Should DeVos Ask Congress To Waive Parts of the Special Education Law amid the Coronavirus Pandemic?” For an alternate take, see “Don’t Waive Rights, Require Districts To Make a Good Faith Effort,” by Robin J. Lake.
Read more from Education Next on coronavirus and Covid-19.
By: John M. McLaughlinTitle: Waive Away—But Tackle the Big Longstanding Issues, Not Just the Immediate Technical Ones – by John M. McLaughlin
Sourced From: www.educationnext.org/waive-away-tackle-big-longstanding-issues-not-just-immediate-technical-ones-special-education-law-coronavirus-covid-19-forum/
Published Date: Sat, 11 Apr 2020 02:16:11 +0000
Friday, April 10, 2020
The Latest Info on when Schools Will Reopen – by Education Next
Since we most recently updated this figure on April 2, two states—California and South Dakota—have announced they are keeping their school buildings closed for the rest of the school year. Three other states—Louisiana, New York, and Wyoming—took more incremental steps, pushing scheduled opening dates into May.
U.S. school closures because of the novel coronavirus that causes Covid-19 began in New York private schools March 3, expanded to some Seattle-area public schools on March 6, and have rapidly swept the country. Education Next published its first article on the issue, “Closing Schools To Slow a Pandemic,” March 9. A March 25 article, “Covid-19 Closed Schools. When Should They Reopen?” included then-current information on the duration of announced school closures, along with a discussion of the factors to consider in deciding whether to resume. The timetable for schools to re-open is updated in the infographic below. While schools are closed physically, many, though not all, are providing some kind of distance learning or online programming.
Statewide School Closures
Source: Council of Chief State School Officers; Education Next research
Note: All data as of April 6, 2020.
Read more from Education Next on coronavirus and Covid-19.
get headlines https://thecherrycreeknews.comEdNext Podcast: How Colleges Have Raised Selectivity Over Time – by Education Next
An executive editor of Education Next and president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, Mike Petrilli, joins Editor-in-chief Marty West to discuss how median SAT scores show that colleges have raised their selectivity standards since 1985.
Read “Yes, It Really Is Harder to Get into Highly Selective Colleges Today,” by Petrilli and Pedro Enamorado.
The EdNext Podcast is available on iTunes, Google Play, Soundcloud, Stitcher and here every Wednesday.
— Education Next
get headlines https://thecherrycreeknews.comChiefs for Change COO Weighs in on Obstacles of Coronavirus-- by Frederick Hess
Julia Rafal-Baer is the chief operating officer of Chiefs for Change, a nonprofit advocacy group whose members lead education systems serving 14,000 schools. Previously, she was assistant commissioner of the New York state education department. I recently asked Julia about what she’s hearing about how districts and states are handling the challenges of coronavirus.
Rick: What’s the biggest practical challenges that superintendents and state chiefs are dealing with right now that people might not be aware of?
Julia Rafal-Baer
Julia: Connectivity for all students. People recognize that with many school systems closing through the end of the year, online learning is vital. As our members grapple with improving upon their first versions of continuous learning plans, they are also determining which students they are reaching now and who they have yet to reach. The biggest challenge is getting students the technology they need to keep learning and so that families can stay connected to their schools and get the critical information they need. This post covers a number of the tech issues across our membership, but the short version is: In some of our chiefs’ districts, as little as 30 percent of students have a tablet, a laptop, or an internet connection for a meaningful learning experience. Many districts need both devices and internet access. Yet even in places where there are enough devices, it’s difficult to get students online. Telecommunications companies are taking steps to expand access to broadband and Wi-Fi networks by doing things like opening hotspots for public use and waiving installation fees for some service plans. Still, much more help is needed. One problem that we’re hearing about, for example, is that some companies require families to pay off any outstanding balance before they can get reconnected. That is solvable if the CEOs of America’s largest telecom companies suspend policies that keep families with school-age children from obtaining service.
Rick: How are they responding to this problem?
Julia: They see the urgency here and are making that investment a priority. Our members are responding in a number of different ways. As a first step, many districts had to find out what the needs actually are. In the Florida district of Palm Beach County, for example, Superintendent Donald Fennoy, started by asking families to fill out a technology survey asking if they have a device and internet access. In San Antonio, where our board chair, Pedro Martinez, is the superintendent, the district ordered 30,000 computers and more than 3,000 internet hotspots this week for students who don’t have them and is hoping to pay for the devices with money from a bond that’s expected to go before voters in November. In Guilford County, N.C., we also just issued a grant to Sharon Contreras from our Covid-19 Relief Fund that will allow Guilford County to turn 75 school buses into hotspots. The buses will park in different neighborhoods, so kids nearby have a way to get connected. In Miami, where future chief Mari Izquierdo is leading the academic strategy, her team acted with extraordinary speed to distribute laptops, tablets, and hotspots, while also building a help desk for families struggling to master the technology. By the second week of distance learning, they were seeing hundreds of thousands of logins. Districts like Palm Beach and Miami are showing the way, thanks to strong leadership and aided in part by their experiences with hurricane-driven emergency action. They are also acting fast to negotiate partnerships, ranging from content providers to conferencing technology, to deliver quality materials affordably.
Rick: What are a couple of the most useful measures you’re seeing folks talk about or implement?
Julia: Well, the most important measure right now is attendance—meaning the proportion of kids who are able to get online and tell their teachers they are ready to learn that day. We are seeing our members working to ensure all students are seen by teachers and maintain 1:1 relationships so no student goes without a check-in. Phoenix’s high school district under our member Chad Geston has launched an ambitious “Every student, every day” effort that is exactly what it sounds like: every kid in the district having a check-in with an adult, every day. That’s crucial for so many reasons—relationships, academics, and physical and mental health. Obviously, it’s not the same as seeing each other in person, but it’s so important right now when that’s not an option.
In Tennessee, our member and future chief alum, Penny Schwinn, understands that making up for lost time will be a multiyear effort that starts immediately. She is revisiting every element of her strategic plan to align with the needs for quality learning at a distance, for a more robust digital infrastructure, and for frequent checks to ensure students and adults are handling these enormous shifts emotionally as well as academically. She is working on plans now to develop her own statewide online tool that will provide a system for teachers to deliver content and remediation for small groups, participate in virtual professional development, and provide resources for families, including information on meal locations. *
Rick: What kinds of state or federal policies are making things trickier for schools and districts?
Julia: There are challenges in this moment with regulations that tie credits, completion, graduation, and higher education entry to “seat time”—the amount of time a child is physically in class. Another challenge is requirements for certifications that teachers and other educators can’t complete, especially with residency requirements and realities of not being able to take exams. States need to quickly waive certification and testing requirements that impact hiring. The federal government has moved quickly on some important issues, including flexibility on school meal regulations, allowing schools and districts to distribute meals quickly. In addition, waiving regulations around testing and accountability and providing fast guidance on distance learning have been really helpful.
Funding is going to be a challenge and will require maximum flexibility for states and districts so districts can carry over major unspent portions of their budget. From the federal side, getting support around stretching carryover deadlines will be important and helpful. From a state side, supporting districts to ensure that unspent funds—things like professional development, substitutes, transportation, etc., are flexible. There will be increased needs for students and major budget holes state by state that are going to have huge impacts on districts and their budgets, especially as we see more kids move into poverty status. Continued support and additional flexible funding to support students in the summer with remediation similar to Tennessee’s plan for a “summer surge” and a longer-term, multiyear academic effort will be critical.
Rick: What else should federal and state leaders be doing to help right now?
Julia: Getting the initial wave of stimulus funds to states and districts quickly is crucial. We urge governors to listen to their state and district education leaders. They are on the ground and have a true understanding of what their students, families, and schools need right now. Beyond that, I’d say having flexibly emergency resources—especially for connectivity and devices—is key. And clearly, the sooner aid from a larger relief bill reaches families, the better. Those funds will help prevent traumatic events like eviction—which can have a major impact on a child’s education.
Rick: OK, last question. How are your folks thinking about reopening schools downstream?
Julia: Our members are working hard to create learning opportunities in this new digital world and are thinking about how to approach academic and remediation policy and implementation at scale. This is going to require new policy solutions as well as the implementation of evidence-based practices around summer learning loss. The decision to reopen school facilities is a public-health decision that is out of our hands. And students have to continue learning in spite of the uncertainty of that decision. Rethinking time and school calendars is front and center for our members, and continuing to improve upon who is reached and how to best support their learning needs is a consistent theme. Ultimately, school systems will have to reinvent a lot of their practice this fall, not just due to the slide in learning but also the enormous range of experiences and readiness students will bring when they finally return to school. Leaders will have to grapple with what is ambitious versus feasible. For example, the idea of an individual learning plan for each student is not new—these are required already for students with special needs—but are something all educators will essentially need to do in order to assess where each student stands and to make learning fit his or her actual needs. Many students will be entering schools in the fall 5-6 months after they were last in buildings. Creating an individual learning plan with student specific learning goals, social and emotional supports, and coordination with providers is one way to support all students who are each re-entering with such an extreme spectrum of needs. Our website has a curated landing page where we continue to share the latest materials and plans from our members.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Frederick Hess is director of education policy studies at AEI and an executive editor of Education Next.
This post originally appeared on Rick Hess Straight Up.
Read more from Education Next on Coronavirus and Covid-19.
more news https://northdenvernews.comFour Lessons We have actually Learned from Moving Online-- by Anabelle Morgan
Commonwealth Academy in Alexandria, Virginia.
As the news began to emerge a few weeks ago that the world was rapidly and severely becoming affected by the spread of the novel coronavirus, schools grew increasingly concerned. When school closings became a likely outcome, school leaders began to reflect on how to continue delivering on their mission and promise to their students.
That was particularly true for schools, like the one I lead, whose mission is to serve students with learning differences. For students with ADHD, executive function challenges, anxiety, and learning differences, “doing school” can be stressful. Our students benefit from the stability, routines, safety, and connections that being together in one physical space allows for. A question started to emerge in conversations between peer-school leaders. Could the students do it?
Three weeks later, after all operations have been moved online, something is abundantly evident. Our students are thriving. They are creative thinkers who are impressively resilient, compassionate, and insightful. Not only did they transition well into a space where mainstream education didn’t think they could; they are an inspiration and an example to us all.
There are as many ways to approach a school’s shift of operations online as there are schools, systems, and school cultures. Here are four lessons we have learned moving to online teaching that have allowed us to do so smoothly.
1. Anticipate, plan, prepare, reflect, repeat
Even with the best risk management and pandemic plans in place, schools need to prepare for and evaluate how this “truly” will look and feel in real time. The fact is, no one really knows. For schools serving students with ADHD, executive function challenges, and anxiety, the potential perils of such a shift are multiplied. Change disrupts the predictability of routines from which students with learning differences benefit.
At Commonwealth Academy, we began contemplating the move to a virtual learning environment in mid-late February. Our team re-examined many aspects of our educational and operational capabilities, including: asking our teachers to start thinking about how they would transition their classes to an online environment; taking an in-depth look at our technological capabilities to deliver an effective educational program remotely and developing step-by-step written and video Virtual Learning User Guides for our students and parents; creating daily schedules for each division; and reviewing and updating our risk management, business continuity, and operational documents. Most importantly, we communicated our evolving plans with our parent community, students, and faculty and staff early and often.
A couple of weeks into our program, we have found that the clear, thoughtful, developmentally appropriate virtual learning plans, structure, and scaffolding that we developed, along with an opportunity to practice while school was still open, were keys to a successful transition, even for our youngest students.
2. It’s still all about community and relationships.
We are all faced with a barrage of information about pandemic, infections, death tolls, risks, and confinements. To best cope with this, students with ADHD and anxiety need transparency, facts, processes, explanations, and compassion. As a parent in our community eloquently put it recently, they need “a steady hand and a warm heart”.
It is important to also keep in mind that this transition is traumatic for parents. Schools have the responsibility, in this unprecedented situation, to try to do everything they can to support them, too.
Students, parents, and faculty love their school communities and those whose schools are closed are grieving. They are grieving the loss of special events and gatherings, traditional rites of passage, connectedness, and memory making. They feel robbed. School communities need to lean into this and work on maintaining a sense of community together.
Our virtual learning program is intentionally inclusive of all members of our school community, and we are continually iterating on it to foster connectedness among all of our constituents. Teachers employ synchronous teaching and learning experiences as often as they can. Guidance counselors are available to students and to parents whenever possible. Learning specialists are scheduling mini “parent education series” sessions to help families better understand how to support their child at home. We’ve kept Spirit Week, and our school Mascot “visits” classes. I’m holding “coffees” with my colleagues and will soon be doing so with parents at various times of the day.
Continue doing your best to find ways to be together when apart. Bring the best of humanity and connect in this very disconnected world.
3. Differentiation is for everyone.
Contrary to conventional wisdom, we have found that differentiation and individualization of instruction can very effectively happen, perhaps even more extensively so, remotely.
Students with ADHD have beautifully creative minds. The platforms used for remote learning allow them to more fully engage that side of their brain and explore the applicability of learned concepts. On the other hand, this new environment lends itself to a different approach to executive functioning skills teaching and learning. Consistency and predictability are key to lowering anxiety and to making students feel they have a sense of control and understanding. While some of the strategies have changed, it is important to preserve the routine, whenever possible. Strategies which are proving to be successful include: virtual academic support; Occupational and Speech and Language Therapy with both groups and individuals; and executive function guidance sessions.
Physical activity and the creative arts are particularly important to the wellbeing of students with ADHD and anxiety. They help the students self-regulate, channel their energy, and focus. Our physical education teacher created virtual, personalized physical activity plans for our students and families, and our art teacher provides online art classes for any student or adult who wants to participate.
Ask your staff to guide families through this. You’ll be amazed.
4. Don’t forget to breathe
In this new world of virtual learning, educators effectively feel like first-year teachers again. All conversations and meetings suddenly need to be scheduled after hours to make up for face-time interactions, and soon days, evenings, weekdays, and weekends start blending together. Work/life balance is harder than ever before to achieve for teachers who, in addition to work demands, now simultaneously must care for their own children, also home during the day.
This new professional environment needs to make as many allowances for personal care, understanding, and flexibility as possible, so that faculty and staff members can have opportunities to catch their breath. We are finding ways to pair asynchronous learning with teacher planning, and we are being intentional about our dedication to wellbeing. We also, from day one, have had substitute teachers lined up, trained, and ready to take over classes for teachers who needed to take some personal time.
The world needs school to adapt to online learning for the sake of our children in our care. We owe it to them to rally, in community and partnership, and to give them our best. This situation has resulted in something no one expected: It has, in a much-needed way, helped shake some of the preconceived notions about students with ADHD, executive function challenges, anxiety, and learning differences.
These amazing students are proof positive that with compassion, thorough and responsive planning, thoughtful community engagement, and genuine care for all, what too many see as a deficit is, in fact, a great strength.
Anabelle C. Morgan is Head of School at Commonwealth Academy in Alexandria, Virginia.
more news https://northdenvernews.com