Parent Newsletter

As we wind down from Phase 1 of our Remote Learning and move into Phase 2 we want to say thank you! We hope you and your family are staying safe and healthy during this time. We are here to support our students and families as we move into Phase 2. We have had so many students and parents working to continue the learning process during this challenging time. Thank you for being so positive, supportive and willing to engage during Phase 1. Check out this week's newsletter to learn more about the start of Phase 2 of Remote Learning:

- Shout out to our Amazing Students and Teachers

- Phase 2 Guidelines

- Tools for Phase 2

- IT Remote

- Mapping out a Learning Plan

- Food Services

- Counselors Corner

Thank you for all that you do to support JMS,

Phil Cox, Principal

Chris Layton, Vice Principal

Jenifer Laurendine, Dean of Students

Words cannot express how amazing the students and teachers at Jefferson Middle School have been during Phase 1 of Remote Learning. Throughout Phase 1, we have had several amazing Shout Outs from our community, parents, colleagues, central office and especially our students. These shout outs have come amid your constant dedication to your craft to be innovators. In a world filled with uncertainty, education has picked up the pieces and worked to reboot to help support student learning and growth. Each week Ms. Laurendine has sent out stats and information to highlight these wins for our school. The reality is, in a time of uncertainty, no attendance marks and no grades, you all exhibited amazing feats to be engaged or to engage students into the learning process.

These wins below are only a sample of the amazing victories we have seen over the past three weeks. It has been the efforts of our students and staff to stay engaged into the learning process and to continue to learn and grow. As we move to Phase 2, we encourage our students to keep the momentum going, continue to fuel the creative and innovative spirit, and work to keep the learning process going.

A few awesome things to share:

• In the past week, we continue to have awesome engagement in Canvas with 4,769 participations (discussions, file uploads, submissions of assignment, etc.) and 180,110 page views in Canvas!
• An email received by administration from the parent of a 6th grade and 8th grade student: “I'm very thankful for Mr. Goldberg and Mr. Cantrell. They have both had zoom meetings with their 6th graders and he has loved them. He is working in the living room and I'm in the dining room so I hear some of it. He so misses the structure and interactions of the classroom and these zoom meetings really help. They are so good with the kids questions. I have been amazed by our teachers. My daughter, was just telling me how she is doing videos with Ms. Sample for Spanish and how well that is going and how Ms. Davis is doing science and checking on them. She is loving it. I'm amazed by our teachers. She loved seeing her band mates on Zoom.”
• A note Ms. Little received from one of her students: “Hi Mrs. Little! I watched the Lyrid Meteor Shower this morning, My mom and I woke up at 4 and we watched it. The news said that most of the meteors would be in the North Eastern part of the horizon. However, while we were waiting my mom pulled up a video and said that meteor showers were named after the constellation that they seemed to come from. I realized that Lyrid was probably name after Lyra, the harp, and that we were facing the wrong way. After we adjusted ourselves, we saw 20 meteors in 90 minutes Most them were faint, but they were still amazing.”
• A note Ms. Painter received from one of her 8th grade students: “I won’t be able to see you again this year or say goodbye. So I’m writing you his to thank you for being an amazing teacher through all 4 years of middle school. You’re definitely one of the coolest and kindest teachers I’ve ever had. You’ve been there for me since the first TACL class of 5th grade and you’ve always listened to me and everyone else. You taught such a fun class and I’m definitely going to miss it. You’re not just a great teacher but a great person. I guess this is kind of my way of saying goodbye. I hope I’ll see you again at some point.
• An excerpt from a note received from a 6th grade teacher from a parent: “Thanks for giving him opportunities in this brave new educational world, we have always been so impressed with JMS in every way.”
• Teachers continuing to challenge themselves and learn new things by hosting their first Zoom session with their students and having over 10 students engage! It was a huge success!
• Teachers reaching out to students to ensure they have Internet access so no one falls through the cracks!
• Our staff has updated Canvas pages daily and provided so much information for our student and parents, in addition to the fabulous lessons being posted each day! We love watching you interact with your students via videos, discussions, etc.!
• The heartfelt discussion in all of our meetings about the mental/social/emotional well-being of our students! Thank you for caring about your students and providing the additional support they need as this crisis continues.
• Mrs. Taylor continuing her new job as Newscaster for Good News Friday!

We also want to thank the following staff members for their hard work this past week:

• A huge S/O to our TA’s for working so hard to continue providing support and consistency for our students: Samantha Kerley, Emily LeForce, Matt Reed, Angie Burgess, Tammy Shannon and Medi Ozcan!
• Mrs. Castle and Mr. Fowler for working hard to provide an Online Orientation Experience for all students for the 2020-2021 school year!
• Hardy Holthausen and Gina-Rose Epperson for working to support our staff and student devices during this time!
• Mr. Randolph who has come in throughout the week to check the building and change the sign!

Please find the following information below:

Phase 2 for Remote Learning

Student Locker Content Retrieval

Student Internet Access Availability

Phase 2 for Remote Learning:

We want to thank you for all of your efforts during Phase 1 of remote learning. It has been amazing to see the innovative ideas, lessons, resources and challenges that our students have completed during this time. As you know from Dr. Borchers district-wide message, due to the recommendation of Governor Lee we would remain closed for the remainder of the school year.

We want to keep our students engaged and involved in the learning process and also offer opportunities for them to help their grade. While our buildings are closed as a result of COVID-19, we want to continue to support quality learning opportunities for student success. To do this, Oak Ridge Schools will begin this next phase of learning online on April 27. Please read the information below to get a better understanding of how Phase 2 will work:

- We want to encourage ALL students to remain engaged during Phase 2. This is an opportunity to continue to learn and grow while earning points to help your grade. As outlined below, students grades can't be lowered, but you can improve up to 9 percentage points over the three week Phase Two to improve your grade.

- Final grades will be calculated from terms 1-3. You can see students final grades in Skyward under FIN. Reflected in picture above in the top right corner.

- It's about learning, it's about engagement and it's about your own personal growth. If you have great grades, keep going! Use this time to sharpen your skills, strengthen your knowledge and increase your skills. This phase is about improving and continuing to develop your skills.

- All students will have opportunities to improve final grades with required assignments.

- Final grades for 5th-8th grade students will be calculated for terms 1-3 through the final date March 13. No grades can be lowered.

-All students may submit new assignments to improve final grade. Students may earn 3 additional percentage points (added to the final grade) each week, during the weeks listed below:

Week #1 April 27-1

Week #2 May 4-8

Week #3 May 11-15

- Students and parents can check teacher Canvas announcements to learn the requirements for assignments to help improve their grade each week.

Student Locker Content Retrieval

We are also in the process of finalizing details for students to pick up items from lockers and collection of items from students, such as library books. Please keep in mind that we are under the Governor’s Stay at Home order through April 30th. The health and safety of our students, families and staff will always be our number one priority. Once the Stay at Home order is lifted, we will put our plan into place and facilitate the collection process for the items listed above.

At this time, we are planning to have drop off of devices, student textbooks, instruments etc. and also have students have their personal belongings from lockers etc. distributed back to them during the week of May 18th - 22nd. There will be more details to follow in upcoming newsletters.

Student Internet Access Availability

As we continue to offer learning opportunities and move into Phase 2, it is important that all students have access to engage in these lessons. We ask that you please reach out to Ms. Jen Laurendine at jllaurendine@ortn.edu if you do not have access to the Internet at your residence or if you have concerns about access to these lessons.

Parents you can check your child's 3rd Nine Weeks grade via Skyward. The grade cards are available in Family Access as a PDF file, if you would like to print a copy. We will not be sending out physically report cards.

Collecting Devices and Distributing Personal Items from Lockers Timeline

At this time, we are tentatively planning to have drop off of devices, student textbooks, instruments etc. and also have students have their personal belongings from lockers etc. distributed back to them during the week of May 18th - 22nd. There will be more details to follow in upcoming newsletters.

Teacher Virtual Office Hours:

https://www.ortn.edu/jefferson/2020/04/09/jms-teacher-office-hours-2/

- We are working to collect information from our families about their access to internet during this Remote Learning time. Please complete this short survey in order for us to best collect information. If you do not have access and are looking potentially to get access check out the information below about some area companies offering special access during the Covid-19 crisis.

Overdue Library Book Notices -

Our library management system, Destiny, generates and sends out scheduled email notices of late books. Mrs. Haverkamp is working on getting this turned off. She apologizes for any extra emails. Books returns will be an area we will address later.

We want to make sure that our students and families understand that we are here to support during this unprecedented time in our history. The Oak Ridge Schools system has made a link for information and resources that you can access here for more information: https://www.ortn.edu/information-regarding-coronavirus/

- Related Special Services - Related service providers (i.e., speech, OT, PT, vision) will be continue to reach out to discuss the most appropriate way to serve your child during the closure. ORS will be providing all services remotely during the COVID-19 closure.

- If you receive a phone call from Oak Ridge Schools, please listen to the message. At this time there are updates often and we are working in the best manner possible to communicate with our students and their families by phone, email, social media and resources like this newsletter.

- What if my students device has technical issues? There is a section below labeled "IT Remote services for laptops" that will help explain the process if your student experiences issues with their laptop during the closure.

- What if I do not have access to broadband or wifi? Check out the information and resources below:

Internet Access

Do you need internet access for online learning?

Comcast – https://corporate.comcast.com/covid-19

• Open Wifi-hotspots to all users, even non Comcast subscribers.
• No Data Caps – 60 days of Unlimited access
• No Disconnect or Late Fees
• Internet Essentials Free to New Customers – 60 days of Internet access for free – normally $9.99/month

AT&T – https://about.att.com/pages/COVID-19.html

• No Disconnections or Late Fees for customers
• Free open wifi hotspots
• Unlimited Data
• Limited/Fixed income residents and sign up as a New customer for $10/month.

Charter/Spectrum – https://corporate.charter.com/newsroom/charter-to-offer-free-access-to-spectrum-broadband-and-wifi-for-60-days-for-new-K12-and-college-student-households-and-more

• Free broadband/Wifi for 60 days to home with K-12 and/or college students that do not already have a Spectrum Account (Call 1-844-488-8395)
• Spectrum will open it’s wifi hotspots for all public use.
• No Data caps

TDS Internet (large portions of East TN) – https://tdstelecom.com/about/news/categories/tds/CoronavirusStatement.html

In addition, please continue to read the parent newsletters that will be sent to you. This will be a place where we will work to promote communication and information to support students and families. If you are on social media, please follow us on our Twitter Account @JMS_Eagles. We will be working through all of our communication tools as we receive information to be shared with our students and families. As always, we want to make sure to support you and your student(s) and in abundance of caution our schools will remain closed. Please check all of our communication tools and the website listed above for more details.

During this time of remote learning our teachers will post daily lessons to their Canvas pages in the Announcement section. Students will be able to see their daily assignments in this section along with any helpful resources for the lessons. Please check Canvas Announcements daily for the lessons in your students classes.

As we transition to the remote learning model, our teachers will work to keep Canvas announcements updated daily. In their announcements they will explain the lesson for the day and/or provide information about assignments and projects etc. In addition, Canvas allows for teachers to embed and include any resources, videos, links etc. that can be used to help provide instruction for students.

Our students are very familiar with using Canvas and know how to go about checking announcements for information. This will be the starting point for students and where to access information for the lessons being designed by teachers. Above is a video on how to use Canvas for parents. Please take a moment to watch and get a better feel for how Canvas is used by our teachers. Information about extended learning opportunities will be found in the Announcements section in Canvas.

Technology Department Remote Support for Extended Closure

Faculty/Staff/Students

· Create a ticket using https://support.ortn.edu or if you don’t have a working device (or cannot login), call 865-425-9039 and follow prompts

· Technician will schedule a support time for call back

· Technician will fix the device starting with voice commands

· If needed, technician will start a Zoom session to gain remote access

· If all remote support fails, technician will schedule student for drop-off of laptop and pickup of spare.

Drop-Off (All at Oak Ridge High School – TD Portable 3):

· Must have a work order so that we can prep a spare machine

· TD Tech will open a Work Order and collect

· Username (and password)

· Contact phone number

· Brief description of issue

· Drop off will be at TD portable 3.

· Drop-off times will be from 9:30a-10:30am on Mondays and Thursdays, and 3:30-4:40, TBD

· Students can pick-up a loaner device at this time (see pick-up section below).

· No drop-offs outside of this time. *Unless a special circumstance requires an alternate drop off time scheduled with technology employee

· Drive-thru lane setup for users to pull up and drop off device as quick as possible.

· Maintain Social Distance of 6ft.

· If you are sick, inform us immediately.

· We will verify appointment info (only those scheduled).

· User will keep their laptop case, adapter, line cord, stylus, or other accessories that are not needed for the repair.

· Users will remain at curb. They will NOT come to the doors or ramp at portables.

· User may leave.

Pick-up:

· After dropping off laptop, user pulls forward to pick-up table.

· Tech at Drop-off table will alert pick-up table.

· User to verify login, apps, and OneDrive setup.

· User may leave.

Cleaning and Repair (TD Staff):

· Wipe down laptop

· Bag laptop

· Write date on bag

· Attach contact info to bag

· Place laptop on cart for delivery to quarantine area

· Device will remain in quarantine for 5 days

· After day 5 those devices will be brought to the Image room.

· Cleaning and repair performed

If you are on Twitter, please consider following the Jefferson Middle School account @JMS_Eagles. The account is constantly being updated with information, pictures and resources to help provide information. During this unprecedented time we encourage you to follow us for updates. We are always working to share with our school community. Also, you should consider following the Oak Ridge Schools twitter account, @ORSchools.

Step # 1 - Get a routine in place

It can be very helpful to map out your day and create a routine. When we are in school you have a routine and a schedule. You know when you need to wake up and you understand that third period is from 9:35 - 10:25 etc. It's important to create a routine. You need to make sure to have a routine that mirrors school hours because those will be the office hours your teachers will be available to help.

Step # 2 - Check Canvas Announcements Daily

During this time of remote learning our teachers will post daily lessons to their Canvas pages in the Announcement section. Students will be able to see their daily assignments in this section along with any helpful resources for the lessons. Please check Canvas Announcements daily for the lessons in your students classes.

Step # 3 - Build a Schedule with your Teachers Remote Office Hours

Your teachers will post information about their "remote office hours" in Canvas Announcements. A great strategy would be to build your time on Canvas around those remote office hours. Think about a schedule like this:

If your ELA teacher has office hours from 9 am - 12 pm, Math has hours from 11 am - 2 pm, SS has hours from 8 am - 11 am , and Science has hours from 10 am - 1 pm. This allows you to work to set up time to work on those classes during those office hours. You may not have questions for ELA, but you may have a question for SS so it would be important to work on SS during that window 8 am - 11 am. Think about the hours your teachers are offering in order to set up a schedule that gives you the best opportunity to complete your work.

Step # 4 - Reach out to your teachers if you have questions

Your teachers will have office hours where they will be available to assist and answer questions etc. If you don't understand an assignment reach out to your teachers. You can message them in Canvas or send them an email in outlook. Keep in mind, that you may not be the only student messaging a teacher, so do not expect an instant answer. This is new for you as students and this is new for us as teachers. Once you send them a question, just wait. They will respond to you and work to help you. If you contact a teacher outside of office hours, they may not see it until later in the day or until the next day.

Step # 5 - Give it your best! Learning Opportunities are critical for you

Keep this in mind these opportunities about education is about you! We want you to take advantage of these opportunities to help improve yourself. So if you choose not to do an assignment, to not even give your best effort, then you are choosing not to provide yourself with a chance to better you and in Phase 2 to better your grade. Think about it for a moment, you can check your grade in Skyward in the FIN column and if you complete all of the tasks to the satisfaction of your teacher, you can earn up to an additional 9 percentage points. Imagine taking a 78% to an 87% or a 87% to a 96%. This is a critical time for you to work, learn, and grow to show your skills and continue to have a growth mindset.

The district will continue to provide “Grab & Go” meals to any student each day through the Stay at Home Order. The sites will continue at Robertsville Middle School, Oak Ridge High School, Glenwood Elementary School and the Preschool each day from 11am – 1pm. The sites at Teller Village Apartments, Mackenzie Apartments, Manhattan Apartments and the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge will by daily from 12pm – 12:30pm. There will be extra food distributed with meals provided on April 27th.

Good Evening from JMS Counselors!! We hope that all is well and that you are ready to begin Phase 2 with remote learning. The world is changing and how we teach and learn may look very different in a world of Covid-19 compared to what we might be used to. We know that this has been difficult for many of you to transition into this new way of learning, not following a schedule and not interacting with your peers, but by keeping a growth mindset will help with the next 3 weeks to be successful and bring your grades up. Educirlces.org provides strategies that can help with a growth mindset with distance learning.

We Must Have Our “Minds On”

Learning can take place anywhere, not just in the classroom. Teachers can teach students as long as we can communicate with each other through some level of technology. The world is changing and with how we teach and learn and we are unsure how long this will last, so we must switch out mindset to developing an individual routine that works best for you. Many teachers are using blended learning where they introduce concepts and ideas to students at home and they use online resources to learn the skills. Our students at JMS have an advantage over other school districts because they have been introduced so many online teaching strategies before COVID-19.

Encouraging a Growth Mindset with strategies

There are two different mindsets: a growth mindset or a fixed mindset. A fixed mindset is when you believe that success is based on what you were born with. You are who you are. That’s just the way it is. A growth mindset is the idea that success is based on hard work, learning from your mistakes, training and practicing, and not giving up. As we use digital tools for learning, every student will definitely experience obstacles and challenges such as: your login may not work; WiFi may be too slow; your computer might lose power before you save your work etc. When you experience some of these you may start saying things like: this is too hard; I’m just not good at computer; Why do I have to do this?

Try different strategies linked to each obstacles listed below that will help you build a growth mindset.

OBSTACLE #1: I GOT DISTRACTED

One big obstacle with distance-learning and online learning is getting distracted. Online learning at home can be tough, just like doing homework at home can be tough.

Strategy #1. Set a time to do it.

Schedule time to do your distance-learning or it just won’t get done. You’ll forget it, or you’ll do something more fun – like play video games. Try to do your distance-learning at the same time so it becomes a routine.

Strategy #2 Make it a habit.

We are what we do repeatedly, so the more we do distance-learning, the easier it will get. If we do something over and over again like handing in assignments online, or using videoconferencing tools, the easier it will get. Things are definitely harder the first time we do things. You might not be able to login, the microphone doesn’t work or you can’t hear the other person. But eventually, you’ll start to get the hang of it and it gets easier.

Strategy #3. Avoid friends

Friends are fantastic and they can help you out when you don’t understand something. But friends can also distract you when you’re trying to work. They can slow you down from being productive and getting things done. When you are doing distance-learning at home, it’s important to turn off the texting, the social media, the notifications, the instant messaging, the entertainment apps.

OBSTACLE #2: I tried. It didn’t work. I give up!

Another big obstacle you might face, whether you’re learning at school or your distance-learning can be: you tried, but it didn’t work so you give up

Strategy #4 Chunk it out.

This is the idea where you take a hard, overwhelming task and you make it easier by breaking it into smaller steps. Then you focus on doing one thing at a time. Ask yourself, what do you need to do first? Can you start with an easy task or a fun task to try to build momentum? Sometimes things are hard to start, but once you start, it’s easier to keep going.

Strategy #5: Restart or Try Again

The first time you try something, it may not work the way you wanted it to. So, learn from what didn’t work and try again. Keep trying until you figure it out. You can restart as often as you want and we’re not literally talking about rebooting your computer. (although sometimes, that might help.) If you’re doing an assignment and things aren’t working out. Why don’t you backtrack a little and try that section again?

Strategy #6. Add the Power of “Yet”

When you get stuck, add the word “yet” to the end of your sentence. Instead of saying, “I can’t do this”, try saying, “I can’t do this, yet.” It gets your brain wondering how could you do it instead of just focusing on how you can’t.

Part 3. Bigger Picture

If we look at the bigger picture, we need to know that. Reflecting on digital literacy skills and strategies is just part of the many things we need to be able to do to use information communication technology effectively. And, of course digital literacy skills are important to have in order to survive and thrive in today’s 21st-century world.

Covid-19 is showing us exactly how interconnected our world is.

We live in a global economy. Who knows what kinds of exciting opportunities and challenges are waiting for us in the future! Learning how to use online tools and distance learning may be a new experience for some of us. There are always challenges when we do something new. Distance Learning is a wonderful opportunity for us to develop character. Meaning to have the resilience and tenacity to keep going when things get tough. Character is the ability to bounce back when we get knocked down. Trying to keep a growth mindset means reminding ourselves that if we use specific strategies, these strategies can help us to overcome obstacles. Using a growth mindset is more than just a digital literacy strategy. It’s a thinking strategy which means it’s a life strategy. It’s something we can use across the 21st-century competencies.

• We can use a growth mindset and hard work to build character during tough moments like right now as the world has to grapple with Covid-19.

• We can use a growth mindset and find strategies to help the communities we belong to. For example, during the Covid-19 pandemic, one strategy we can do to help our community is social distancing.

• We can use a growth mindset and not give up as we find new ways to collaborate and discover how to work as a team

• We can use a growth mindset and look for =ways to communicate even though we’re not in the same room.

• We can use a growth mindset to recognize that if we do certain things we can find ways to connect ideas and create new understandings

• and finally, we can use a growth mindset and use specific strategies to think critically instead of just responding emotionally when we hear new ideas or get more information about Covid-19.

We hope that you have a wonderful week and reach out to us if we can help in anyway!

JMS School Counselors

JMS Online Counseling Form: https://www.ortn.edu/jefferson/academics/counseling-center/ (Links to an external site.)

Please fill out all areas in detail so we can best assist with your request.

5th and 6th Grade-

Mr. Magee ajmagee@ortn.edu

Office hours:

9:00am-1:00pm

Google Voice Number:

865-410-8558

7th and 8th Grade-

Mrs. Castle mccastle@ortn.edu

Office hours:

1:00pm-4:00pm

Google Voice Number:

865-309-5997