K12LEADERS

Category: Curriculum and Instruction

  • Podcast Share – UEN Homeroom with Dr. Scott McLeod

    Podcast Share – UEN Homeroom with Dr. Scott McLeod

    If you go to ISTE23 in Philadelphia this year, make sure that you make some time for Playgrounds. ISTE Playgrounds are short table presentations made by experts all centered around the same topic.  These interactive sessions help everyone make personal connections to content and give you time to ask your questions to experts who can help you build your understanding.

    Case in point, at ISTE22 in New Orleans, I visited the Coaching Playground with a few of my Utah educator friends. They were coaches in a local district and I took them to this space to explore what coaches in other areas of the US are doing to help their teachers. While they were exploring different tables and listening to the presenters, I found myself at Dr. Scott McLeod’s table where he was discussing the 4 Shifts Protocol. If you are unfamiliar with the 4 Shifts, it is a companion piece to SAMR developed by Dr. McLeod and his colleagues. Where SAMR is a theoretical framework, 4 Shifts gives teachers direct questions to answer about their technology use in their learning environment to connect their pedagogy to their technology use. It provides a structure rather than just a framework. I had not heard too much about the 4 Shifts and immediately dug into Dr. McLeod and his work by asking a half dozen questions. It was great to talk to the direct expert about the content.

    Flash forward ten months, Dani and I had the pleasure and honor to bring Dr. McLeod, who is on sabbatical, to Homeroom to talk about deeper learning, the 4 Shifts, and what is working in schools. The episode was a rollercoaster as Dr. McLeod had a great answer for every point and brought in great research to back up his points. One point that kept cropping into my mind was Dr. McLeod’s work doing site visits to innovative schools across the country. For instance, you will hear him talk about an interdisciplinary school in Colorado that is working on clothes-washing solutions for astronauts. This project includes heavy use of STEM, but also English to document the work they are doing and provide ample backing for their process, CTE for the mechanical processes, and even social studies to understand the impact of prior missions. These schools are doing work that is very small in idea, but deeply expansive in how much they cover per project. Check out the full episode at this link.

    Also, check out Dr. McLeod’s great blog Dangerously Irrelevant, and his podcasts Redesigning for Deeper Learning and LeaderTalk.

  • Get Googley – Video Resources on Docs, Slides, and Forms

    Get Googley – Video Resources on Docs, Slides, and Forms

    When I was a kid I really wanted to make videos. Being able to capture and then slice together scenes to make a movie was always so intriguing. I remember watching Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade too many times as a teenager and just loving how scenes were cut to make movement or tension. However, I didn’t have a camera or a computer that would edit footage or a school with those tools. So, out of practicality, I put those aspirations on the shelf until I was a teacher.

    When I entered my classroom for the first time I started watching videos that explained the need for asynchronous content for students to learn on their own at their own pace. I was immediately taken by this idea and wanted to start making videos. I started with my students, letting them make short, narrative silent films in our class. It was an amazing experience that I did every year and could not have been more pleased with the engagement and work that my students produced. I then started making videos while I was out of the classroom at conferences or at district events. Then I started making PD videos for my school. Now I am lucky enough to make a series for UEN called Get Googley, among other video projects.

    We just released a new video in the series and it connects to my overall passion for video. As a coach during the pandemic, I learned very quickly that most teachers did not make videos, which meant they did not have a workflow, but more importantly, they did not have a workflow for adding video content to their classrooms from content providers. Most would add a link to a YouTube video page, but that kind of linking is fraught with distractions from embedded advertisements and links to other videos. Thankfully Google has made some great updates to how YouTube works in Workspace for Edu. In fact, this video was partially influenced by Eric Curts’ post about the updates from BETT (check out the full post over at Control Alt Achieve).

    So, in this edition of Get Googley, we explore different ways to embed video on a variety of Google products: Docs, Slides, and Forms. Each method is a low-impact way of adding video for a variety of purposes. I particularly like the Docs/Drawings method as it opens up some great ways to communicate with parents or the larger community without giving them a hyperlink. Check out the full video on this page and feel free to share it with your educator community.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEjUUHoU178

  • The Future of Education is Not Meta it is Augmented.

    The Future of Education is Not Meta it is Augmented.

    Over the past few years, there has been a lot of talk about the “metaverse” and how it will transform various aspects of our lives. The metaverse refers to a virtual world where people can interact with each other and digital objects in a highly immersive way. While this technology certainly has the potential to revolutionize entertainment and socialization, I would argue that it won’t be a game changer for education. Instead, using augmented reality (AR) will be the tool that significantly changes how we learn.

    First, let’s examine the limitations of the metaverse. While it may be a highly immersive and interactive environment, it is still a virtual world. This means there is a limit to how much real-world information and experiences can be conveyed through this medium. While it may be possible to simulate specific scenarios or environments, the experience will always be somewhat limited because it is a digital recreation. Additionally, the metaverse requires specialized hardware and software, which limits its accessibility for many people.

    On the other hand, AR has the potential to bring immersive learning experiences to anyone with a smartphone or tablet. AR is a technology that overlays digital information in the real world. It can augment real-world experiences with additional information, context, and interactive elements. For example, biology students could use an AR app to explore and interact with 3D models of cells or organs in the real world, providing a more engaging and interactive learning experience than a traditional textbook.

    AR also has the advantage of being highly adaptable to different learning styles and abilities. For example, an AR app could provide audio or visual cues to help students with learning disabilities better understand concepts or provide more challenging content for advanced learners. Additionally, AR can provide real-time feedback and assessment, allowing teachers to monitor student progress more effectively.

    One of the most exciting applications of AR in education is its ability to bring remote or distance lear犀利士
    ning experiences to life. AR can create a shared learning environment where students can interact with each other and the teacher more effectively than traditional video conferencing. This could help to bridge the gap between in-person and remote learning experiences, making education more accessible and engaging for students in all locations.

    While the metaverse may have its place in entertainment and socializing, it is unlikely to be the game changer in education that many have predicted. Instead, the use of augmented reality has the potential to revolutionize the way we learn by providing immersive and adaptable learning experiences that anyone with a smartphone or tablet can access. As technology continues to develop, we can expect to see more and more exciting applications of AR in education; unlocking new possibilities for learners of all ages and abilities.

    Image credit: https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/augmented-reality-versus-virtual-reality/3844772.html

  • How are you protecting your student data? 

    How are you protecting your student data? 

    School Passport will empower your district’s zero-trust data management with PII Shield.

    As the use of technology in education continues to grow, the protection of student data has become an increasingly critical issue for education technology leaders. With sensitive information such as grades, personal information, and financial data being stored and transmitted through technology systems, these systems must be secure. One way to achieve this goal is by implementing zero-trust data exchange platforms.

    A zero-trust model assumes that all network traffic is potentially malicious and requires verification before it can be trusted. In a zero-trust data exchange platform, every access request is treated as if it were coming from an untrusted source and is subject to multi-factor authentication and authorization checks. This approach provides a high level of security while also improving the user experience.

    One of the critical benefits of zero-trust data exchange platforms is that they can help education technology leaders reduce the risk of data breaches. With the increasing use of technology in the classroom, the risk of data breaches is growing. However, by using a zero-trust data exchange platform, educational institutions can minimize this risk by implementing robust security measures such as multi-factor authentication, encryption, and monitoring of access to sensitive data. This helps to protect student data and the institution’s reputtion

    Another advantage of zero-trust data exchange platforms is that they can be customized to meet the specific needs of individual institutions. For example, educational institutions may have unique security requirements, such as enforcing strict data retention policies or managing access to detailed data only by certain groups of users. A zero-trust data exchange platform can easily meet these requirements through customized security policies and rules.

    In addition to reducing the risk of data breaches, zero-trust data exchange platforms can help education technology leaders meet compliance requirements. With regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), educational institutions must implement robust data protection measures. Zero-trust data exchange platforms can help institutions meet these requirements by providing secure data transfer and storage methods.

    Another essential benefit of zero-trust data exchange platforms is that they provide a high level of security without sacrificing user experience. In the past, traditional security measures such as firewalls and passwords often created friction for users, resulting in decreased productivity and user frustration. With zero trust, users can access the information they need quickly and efficiently while maintaining a high-security level.

    In conclusion, zero-trust data exchange platforms are an essential component of a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy for educational institutions. By providing a high level of security without sacrificing user experience, these platforms can help institutions reduce the risk of data breaches, protect sensitive information, and meet the unique security needs of their organizations. As technology in education continues to grow, educational leaders must invest in implementing zero-trust data exchange platforms to ensure the safety and security of their students, faculty, and institutions.

    About PII Shield from GG4L:

    School Passport is a zero-trust data exchange platform by Global Grid for Learning which offers PII Shield. It aims to protect the Personally Identifiable Information (PII) of students, educators, and staff in K-12 educational institutions. The solution offers data encryption, role-based access control, and audit logs to ensure the secure handling of sensitive information. Additionally, PII Shield complies with relevant data protection laws and regulations, such as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

    For more information on how School Passport’s PII Shield from Global Grid for Learning can help your district build and maintain a zero-trust data exchange, you can reach me at Leo@gg4l.com or visit www.gg4l.com.

  • Four Quick Fixes for Increased Engagement in Secondary History Classrooms

    Four Quick Fixes for Increased Engagement in Secondary History Classrooms

    In today’s world, one can argue that hi犀利士
    story is the most important subject area for the 21st century student to master. That’s easy for me to say and defend- I’ve taught and supervised history courses in New Jersey high schools for nearly two decades. I have a natural interest in learning more about these time periods, as do most other history teachers. However, that cannot be said for many high school students who are- quite literally- forced to sit through daily history instruction, which for many students may be the worst part of their school day. This reality saddens me and it is one that I am determined to reverse.

    I quite often hear adults remark that they hated history when they were in high school, but love it as adults. The past practice of lecture-based teaching and rote memorization assessment helped create a bad experience for history students (cue images the interactions between Jeff Spicoli and Mr. Hand). But, gratefully, times have changed, and we are seeing a shift in the way history is taught and assessed. Much of that shift is due to the focus on increasing student engagement. Engagement may be the key to permanently moving history to thumbs-up status and for students to finally realize the benefit of the content. It is now widely accepted that increased engagement positively impacts student achievement. Programs such as Brown University’s Choices Program and Stanford History Education Group’s Reading Like a Historian aim to shift the content to a more hands-on, skills-based approach in order to better engage students. However, incorporating these programs into your existing curriculum could be time-consuming or costly. So, I aim to give you four ways to immediately increase engagement in your secondary history classrooms with the end goal of making history as interesting to students as it is to their teachers.

    Quick Fix #1: Focus on the End Game

    History gains new content by the minute, yet the school year is finite. With this reality, teachers must decide which content is most important for their students to master state standards and leave the class with essential knowledge. This is difficult for many history teachers who may feel constantly rushed or that they are doing a disservice to their students by leaving key figures or events out of their instruction. I ask teachers who struggle with abridging content to ask themselves this question: Is this piece of information critical to my students’ understanding of the overall topic? Imagine a lesson on battles as part of a unit on World War II. One teacher has his students independently fill out a chart listing twenty major battles of the war, their dates, locations, and victors during a 45-minute class period. Let’s compare it to another teacher who, in the same amount of class time, gives the students a completed chart of the seven most significant battles of WWII and asks the students to work in pairs to investigate why these battles are considered most significant to the war’s outcome and to rank the battles from most to least significant. A simple switch in instruction, where the breadth of content was decreased, changed engagement entirely. While the first lesson exposed students to the names of twenty World War II battles, the second lesson required students to investigate, dialogue, reason, and debate. The students in the latter teacher’s class undoubtedly experienced a more engaging, hands-on lesson.

    To those teachers who are hesitant about abridging content, I urge you to try a different approach to content-heavy instruction. Decide what the most important details are- which details help meet your ultimate goal- and deliver them to the class, then offer students enrichment lessons. Post additional readings on your class website, hold an enrichment session after school for interested students, or keep a list of recommended readings on your classroom bulletin board.

    Quick Fix #2: Facilitate Frequent Class Discussions

    Using discussion as a method of instruction and assessment is an efficient use of class time. Discussions are a great way to engage students with content, assess for understanding, and improve speaking and listening skills. To use discussion as a method of instruction, give the students a reading, a set of documents, or short video to examine along with focus questions before the discussion begins. Student preparation around these focus questions is an important part of facilitating an effective class discussion.

    To those worried about students slacking off, dominating the discussion time, or the discussion going off-topic in a negative way, set rules and review them with the students before opening the discussion. Using a rubric, frequently reviewing rules for discussion, and using facilitation techniques will keep the discussion on track. Some teachers also find success in setting up small group discussions before facilitating a whole-class discussion. Just like most things in life, discussions will get better with practice. Your students will become more comfortable expressing their ideas and you will find it easier to facilitate discussion as they become a regular part of the class.

    Quick Fix #3: Incorporate Social-Emotional Learning into Lessons through Primary Source Analysis

    A great way to study the past and engage with the content while developing social-emotional skills is to examine primary sources. Primary sources give students firsthand accounts of the time period they are studying and help students to contextualize the events of the era. They help students realize that history is not just a story about the past, but that it is filled with real people who had feelings, dreams, and setbacks just like them. Primary sources help take these figures out of the history books and make them come alive while also helping students gain a sense of empathy for those figures of the past.

    What is more engaging for students learning about the Civil Rights Movement: reading pages from a textbook about the movement, or studying firsthand accounts from the people who actually lived through the movement paired with photographs from the era? Examining the photograph of Elizabeth Eckford integrating Central High School while Hazel Bryan scream at her and reading Elizabeth’s account of that day is a powerful teaching tool. Photographs are simple primary source with the ability to spark questions about the era, as well as about human behavior; students can contemplate not only “what” is happening in this picture, but “why” it is happening. Asking students to imagine how those teenagers pictured felt the moment that photograph was taken evokes not only a potent history lesson, but also a powerful life lesson. The goal of developing students’ social-emotional skills, in this case their sense of historical empathy, is to transfer that empathy to their everyday lives.

    Quick Fix #4: Connect the Past with the Present

    Just when you thought you could pare down your lesson on Populism, the 2016 Presidential Election happened! We all know the adage “history repeats itself,” and what a great time to bring this phrase into our classrooms. Ask students to decide if this phrase is, in fact, true by comparing current events with events of the past. This is a great technique to pair with the three previously suggested strategies. Craft a question that aligns with your end game, have students prepare their answer to the question using primary source evidence (provided by you or researched by the students themselves) from the past and present, and facilitate a class discussion where students discuss their findings. Connecting the past with the present helps students realize that history is alive.

    Teachers should feel empowered to take these suggestions and tailor them to fit their students’ needs. For educators who are hesitant about changing their instruction, I advise you to start small. Try one strategy and see how it works, and do not hesitate to ask your students or a colleague for feedback.

    You have about 180 tries to get it right!

  • Not Your Parents’ History Class

    Not Your Parents’ History Class

    Bueller? Bueller? The image of Ben Stein’s sleepy-headed, gum-popping history students in the 80’s classic Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is probably not far from the history class adults experienced in their own high schools across America during the last few decades of the 20th century. Given this, it is no surprise that parents of today’s teenagers may believe their child’s history class experience would mimic their own. However, the technology explosion, shifts in pedagogical approaches, changes in historical interpretation, and the increase in the number of students moving on to post-secondary education have caused twenty-first century history classrooms to look very different from years past. Here is a breakdown of the differences between their parents’ history class and the history class of today’s high schoolers.

    THEN: NO STATE STANDARDS
    NOW: STANDARDS-BASED INSTRUCTION

    Prior to the 1983 seminal and controversial report A Nation at Risk, standards were not, well, standard.  The State of New Jersey, where I spent twenty years of my career, had no academic learning standards until 1996, which resulted in content being left up to the schools. Content from classroom to classroom may have differed dramatically depending on the content preferences of teachers and interests of the students, especially in non-tested areas like Social Studies. The adoption of standards narrowed down the focus of history instruction to a set of standards that all schools and teachers were required to follow. This affected what was taught in the classroom and gave individual teachers a collective roadmap to follow when planning instruction and assessment.

    THEN: CONTENT-BASED CURRICULUM
    NOW: SKILLS-BASED CURRICULUM

    While parents’ history classes were primarily content-based, focusing largely on the recall of facts and retrieval of information, today’s history classes are skills-based, which focus more on the development of skills that will benefit students in college and career. These skills include reading, writing, speaking, and listening– more commonly known as literacy skills– as well as historical thinking skills. Today’s teachers utilize tools such as Webb’s Depth of Knowledge to create lessons and assessments that require students to apply a range of thinking skills, from basic recall to the synthesis of information from multiple sources. An outcome of this approach has been the incorporation of assessments that had historically been reserved for higher-level AP classes into all history classrooms. The recall writing that was common in classrooms of the past has now been replaced with analytical writing tasks, such as the DBQ (document-based question), which had historically been the hallmark of AP classes. Incorporating higher order thinking into all history classrooms has elevated instruction and assessment to better prepare students for life after high school.

    THEN: DATES AND NAMES
    NOW: HISTORICAL THINKING SKILLS

    Anyone who took a high school history class more than 20 years ago can probably recall asking the teacher “will we have to know dates?” And, the answer was most likely “Yes.” This method resulted in kids with great memories getting the A’s and kids with not-so-great memories struggling. In today’s classroom, teachers are more focused on teaching students historical thinking skills rather than simply a timeline of events. Historical thinking skills allow students to develop a more comprehensive understanding of historical themes. They help students analyze rather than simply describe historical events, explore multiple perspectives, and make connections between events past and present. The deliberate comparison of historical events to current events help students see the relevance of history to their lives today.

    THEN: ACCEPTING HISTORY AS A SET OF FACTS
    NOW: TEACHING HISTORICAL INQUIRY

    History instruction of the past largely consisted of a series of historical events presented to students one after the other. In the past, history students accepted the facts as presented by their teachers or history books and were assessed solely on their recall of the facts. The facts, often presented from a single perspective drawn exclusively from secondary sources, were the focus of the lessons. This method has changed in recent years. Today, historical events are presented and analyzed from multiple perspectives through primary sources in order to give students firsthand accounts of the event. Viewing a historical event from the perspective of different groups allows students to have a more nuanced understanding of the event and its consequences.

    A common approach to teaching and learning in today’s history classrooms is the inquiry model. Through this model, students investigate a historical question by utilizing the techniques used by historians to evaluate multiple perspectives and make claims supported by credible evidence. This model is used by teachers to explore perspectives on historical figures, such as Christopher Columbus. In classrooms of the past, certain historical figures were presented from a single perspective, leaving no room for students to deliberate on the legacy of those figures. In today’s classroom, legacy is one of those topics that is ripe for use with the inquiry model where students can examine multiple perspectives and evaluate claims and evidence to come to their own conclusions about the impact of historical figures and events.

    THEN: BOOK RESEARCH
    NOW: DIGITAL RESEARCH

    Anyone who went to school before the Internet remembers spending hours in a dusty library combing through books and feeding nickels into a copy machine. The Internet and digitization of information changed the entire research process, leading to the need to teach students digital research skills. In addition to teaching digital research skills, teachers today focus on equipping students with the skills needed to evaluate all sources for validity and credibility. The evaluation of sources, both digital and print, is a necessary historical research skill that adds to a student’s ability to form a more comprehensive understanding of history as well as a way to manage the overflow of misinformation that is present all around them.

    While many aspects of history education have changed over the past several decades, there are still constants. So, what hasn’t changed in history classrooms?

    Great teachers!
    Regardless of approach, pedagogy, instructional models and new research, great teachers have always existed. These are the teachers who make even the most mundane content come to life, the teachers who have classrooms full of engaged learners. They make connections with students, invest in their students’ well being inside and outside the classroom, and making learning easy. Great teachers have always existed and will always exist.

    Changing approaches to teaching history.
    With new research, the increased accessibility of information, and school districts’ commitment to professional learning, the approaches to teaching and learning – – in all subject areas- – will undoubtedly change as we creep further into the 21st century. While history teachers focus largely on events of the past, their strategies used to teach these events will continue to develop into the future.

  • Forward to Different – Part 2 – Reimagining the School Day

    Forward to Different – Part 2 – Reimagining the School Day

    Editor’s Note: This the second in a series of blog posts reimagining how schools should move going forward. Taking to account the current state of K-12 schools, the increase in teachers and leaders leaving the field and the tools we have available to us. Check out the overview post here.

    This “Forward to Different” series is meant to provoke different ideas of what school is and could become. As we head towards a possible teacher shortage, most schools are not considering the impact of what this will mean to their daily schedule. The school schedule is sacred ground in most educational institutions, not meant to be distrusted. As I covered in the previous post about the school calendar, changing this is akin to going on a drastic diet.

    It will be disruptive and uncomfortable.

    For this particular post, we’ll explore a variety of scenarios. These models use some of the skills gained during the pandemic as well as some far-out-there ideas for restructuring a teacher’s duties. With all of these proposed changes in daily schedule I’m assuming the following things:

    1. Students have access to some sort of device.
    2. We will not have extra funds in education to create more positions or to give significant raises.

    Here are what these different schedules DO NOT take into account:

    1. The wants and needs of the parents
    2. The status quo and comfort of educators current schedule norms
    3. Class size
    4. State legislature imposed seat time requirements

    This goes beyond removing special area classrooms like art and music in an elementary school. This problem can’t be solved by taking away a planning period in secondary. If you are used to operating a school with 100 teachers and now you have 70, how will you adjust? Does this seem drastic? That you would lose and not be able to maintain 30% of your current staff?

    Projections from several news outlet show that over 50% of teachers could be leaving the profession after this year. So is it that crazy to think that 30% won’t get filled? My hope is that many of the scenarios below will not have to happen. However, schools need to start working on contingency plans before “hiring season” hits this summer.

    Scenario 1: Online School

    This seems like the both the most and least likely scenario to happen in the “new different”. If we don’t have the personnel to manage in-person learning like the past, we’ll need that learning to move online. The pandemic test-run of online learning was lukewarm at best. However, with the right training, mindset, and leadership, an online school could really thrive for some students.

    Virtual schools have been around for over a decade. Prior to the pandemic, these schools were seen as one-off charter schools or speciality academies. Reserved for those with home-bound students or perhaps students that have transient families in the military or government. The reality is, some students excelled during remote learning. So why not consider that approach going forward? Here’s some of the pros and cons to this approach.

    Benefits of online school:

    1. Less faculty required – With a shortage of faculty, classes could be merged and additional students added without increasing seating capacity. Teaching 25 students or teaching 40 online makes no difference when it comes to space. It does however make a huge difference when it comes to connecting and interacting with students. Teachers with larger classes will need to adjust to allow time for asynchronous learning as well as direct teacher and small group instruction.

    2. No physical building to maintain – The operational costs of buildings do have an impact on budget, but for most school districts, these costs represent around 15% of expenses. Salaries of personnel tend to be the biggest budget line-item and many facilities are built out of capitol bond funds. However, if school is online, that money could be saved and spent on better online services, training, devices and IT support.

    3. Flexibility of schedule – With all students online, there isn’t necessarily a reason to have them attend school synchronously from 8-4 each day. Some classes may meet at certain times or there might be some virtual office hours for the teacher. Students can attend classes when needed and complete projects over time.

    4. All voices heard – Unlike traditional in-person school, learning online opens up opportunities for lesser heard students to share their voice and perspective. This could also be done in a blended in-person environment with a tool like Bulb or FlipGrid, instead of teachers reverting back to the “raise your hand if you know” technique of a lecture.

    Challenges of online school

    1. Connectivity equity – Not every household has a device for every child. Also, they might not have high speed internet bandwidth to manage all the bandwidth required for online learning.

    2. Device support – When students have school-issued devices at school, they also get the support that goes along with those devices. With remote learning, schools need to have mobile IT support or a way for parents and kids to get help when needed.

    3. Parent demands – As many parents experienced during the pandemic, learning at home is a lot different than doing homework. Students need a structured schedule and expectations for behavior. In this model, the role of learning support falls on the parents more than the instructor.

    Scenario 2: Hybrid School

    Educators may shudder at the term ‘hybrid’ after the fiasco that was early-Covid teaching. Schools were forced into educational triage to serve students that were in person and online. The result was something called “concurrent” or “hybrid” teaching where you teach both groups synchronously at the same time. This was not an effective way to manage learning as usually one group (the remote students) were left out of certain experiences.

    The hybrid schedule as I see it doesn’t involve synchronously teaching of students in both environments. Instead the hybrid part exists between synchronous in-person and asynchronous online learning. This schedule means that students aren’t necessarily at school every day in person, but for those that need a physical location, it could still exist as an option.

    The way it would work is groups of students, let’s call them group “A” and group “B”, are taught by the same teacher. This means a teacher could teach 40 students in total but only manage 20 at any specific time. The hybrid model could split into entire days or half-day concepts like those explained below:

    Half-Day Hybrid – Group A attends in-person school from 8:00-11:30am and Group B attends from 12:30-4:00pm. When Group A is finished, they have two options. They can go home, have lunch, and begin their online work or they can stay at school and report to a large space/learning lab to complete their online assignments. The same would happen with Group B but only in reverse.

    Alternating Day Hybrid – In this scenario, Group A attends in-person school one day and spends the next day completing asynchronous online projects while group B attends in-person. Then the groups switch places. Friday could either be a fully online day or a split half-day.

    Alternating Weekly Hybrid – Taking the Group A and B approach a little farther, in this scenario the groups are in-person or online depending on the week. Group A is in-person and while Group B is online for the entire week, then they switch. An advantage of the “week-on-week-off” schedule means that students could in theory learn from anywhere on their week off.

    color-coded chart to demonstrate hybrid school options.

    All of these scenarios present some benefits and some challenges.

    Benefits of a Hybrid School

    1. Less staff needed – If we truly are facing a teaching shortage, this would be a way of getting double the students per teacher without increasing the space needed for more students.

    2. Consistency of experience – Students in both groups would receive similar instruction from their single teacher, thus ensuring consistency of the learning experience.

    3. In-person still an option – Parents that can’t have kids at home or in a neighborhood pod, can still elect to send their kids to school on their off-days. Those students would be placed in a large room with someone to monitor them and give them breaks as needed.

    Challenges of a Hybrid School

    1. Teacher load – In this scenario, a teacher is planning lessons for in-person students and asynchronous online students. A 4-day week option with a day for planning would probably need to happen in order to provide the time for planning. A single grade-level teacher could plan the asynchronous portion for all teachers, but teachers would still need to monitor, grade, and assess those in their sections.

    2. Schedule confusion – Parents will have to keep track of which days their kids are at school and which days they are at home. Having an option for online students to still attend school in-person would help eliminate this but….

    3. Staffing to monitor online students – Hiring someone (college students? parent volunteers) to help with the monitoring of the online students that choose to be in-person would be an issue. With staffing already being in short supply, this would be a hard one to overcome should most parents elect to send their students every day.

    Scenario 3: 4-day School Week

    With staffing being an issue and the instability of online options causing problems, schools may be forced to change the school week. Just last week, Jasper ISD school board here in Texas approved a 4-day school week for next school year. Students would attend school for 4 days and the teachers would have a day a week to plan, prep, and collaborate.

    The 4-day school week is not a new idea. Following the Great Recession, many schools began to adopt this as a way to save money. According to EdWeek, over 1600 schools currently have some form of a 4-day school week.

    Benefits of a 4-day week

    1. Teacher planning – Having a day off to plan and for professional learning would be a great benefit for teachers. Currently most of this takes place during an off-period, after school, or during the summer.

    2. Reduction operational costs – With no students in the building, facilities costs would be reduced. If teachers met off-site or remotely from their homes, this would mean saving a day of HVAC every week.

    3. More time for extracurricular pursuits – With a day off, students can spend that time catching up on work, participating in sports or fine arts activities, or working with community groups.

    Challenges of a 4-day week

    1. Lost instructional time – Losing one day a week for a school year means a total of 36 days lost in a traditional school calendar. All of that lost academic time could be made up with online extensions or more home work for the off day, but the results would vary based on household support.

    2. Longer school day – To make up for the lost day, some schools could elect to extend the other 4 days. In a state like Texas that requires 76,500 instructional minutes, that likely means adding more minutes to the school day or…

    3. Longer school year – Less days a week could mean more weeks of school. To make up for lost days it could mean adding as much as 7 extra weeks to the school year to make things even out.

    Scenario 4: The “4/5” School Week

    By far, one of the most inventive ideas I’ve heard recently is the idea of a 4-day work week for teachers and a 5-day learning week for students. This would address the challenges of the 4-day school week and instructional time lost, but would take some major outside-the-box thinking. In this scenario, students would have rotating teachers on various days for core academic areas 4 days a week. On the 5th day, students would participate in enrichment activities, extensions, tutorials, and more. Special areas and fine arts would fall on the 5th day as well which would rotate depending on the grade level.

    A team of teachers would work together to coordinate who is teaching which topics/subjects. Here’s the kicker, their day off is TRULY a day off. No planning or PLC time, but a day off to actually go and get stuff done. They can run errands, plan, learn, and prep for the coming week.

    犀利士
    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yG7JiWd7oI9uTxFzjdA8FVnYv1Q0Cxdw8D+0uZEfQxwfBh7sGdo271+NikFjYyiwRO14GR4TCcZ5dgtt6ty2vyLV1KOI8EofIQTMvwzRIvO583Eoab4lrmikIpIwqpuFGW7MWtneQM+/dywoEKNJo2VYUswprEhb1W+Cabe+0B4hPcsq+BJjoVFhYih9rsDGuyzjtMIa22WM4x6hHvtCay8RVjFIGcF0FBHMrTJulhUVhhbsA9HNBGd7W0AyFFsyCChl7bIt0EXZD8c2YAgDOHMQSXOs4OTNuSkXABuec3AtcVrzh5XSY7sobTvNxJw1TtDOVFRkFuuNI1eqi5dGgUZRbYWR3w2nLea2BZxw8fESqI44cJ0EEkdbaMVmROTQKgOjEJqYGnmekIXnCxya8nXfpGy4lZO9Gwuo+Fh3qZsj9TLVbU6lRICSTtE/dDoIY6Tr2IBtQDXPbxUDvsgesxLNsNmuuHU/8hsvNboDsHS6cDIZWs9l979WOZg8Pi1R9tuMAnpQbwTCHi911fHgmk6amCcI0NWNVvM/qx+omAry7wGHN1GHgpILRlaKZzyC1LDkS0ik1X3oygzsJYqz55A77sMXh3IUE3TgjFDDo7E6SlVqFSjXs2RhLrH3e3VZdwNWG+wBH65KCuiyAoM0sUsk8qqtaA4Kh4GgcHG3i9bFx2tCCTIKDW4kohfpec0dsHCLMSYGbrEaIOcw3FdkdHCQtZFeuOYdFAlLVvoD5GFOqhbRlGrupCiBGhzINlhD0nhAQ8wVwrWPIoUHB+mq/CWkrDrlzioaZgTbcJIEiRYkbRxU2AFHo6oCDAFyweqsCZU0ncA/e2n7EXIpNrXXESu0IR4gWjpuHbPejwtZpSk9HYxz3yqb9tKLYXncE4b0lxRw2jdKbMcyvuRQME63GreCZTUFWAK0DFz93RzKLWu2gFQO6BaUNgm1bcQyoAMRkG0klzR24wbQ2GFuz8BzazZaKi7Y9FbSyswNYbH2n7iAOKNgWlX4XNWiooR3n1UucRoqqRXqWojIte+aQqLXiYV7wTqeH+7HonrGbpsBCHYot1nJTSOtNckFZeaTssV+jEBJ6Dmh6AGgUyypufbWlLJx3t4vWQb6HpKNSHljl/iapaPjkoYF1VTKIsaOwpEsKS6gvcCoX0z2mlrYzpzIHZ32mWnKLdEYgSObJhu6KtfC22SjlCEJVRmz7eXtFz8Y0serSjMilAbsNMQnanIPRN2eoHMtYBBpTpRkq9V3Z0Cwn3DVHa5xrE66nbTdaejPe92kZ80nVW0nG81gyQFFg82JqVqMvkhmGtbtxWappFkWgwes5dV3ocn8jm2Qv6Q5uAMorrAKtJrJwoRR3K2Icq5j0NEmEJamQGLsUKKOEMTiA5uY0tn5r52xyF8CXe/TF7G5nzMa4r2RjlWagRmhl3HOGcAlqo0skn4HY7N4DYKkH70FFuzuJYtSm7VkaGrCPXeRxfxl5zRzcSrZudoE5JWZDG60FAFodaw91qSzkDaeF10G3oLEIBWWjaUh0aWaCatj2utkpQhRdd83X5rI7gRuqTGy9cE/1GOEGmjbE8xnxqo9bKaIIQ8vCSY/2uH2nN7Vpb7j7IWoZWUZpW+kTHJJnUzMgKwq300SFXVpx83XdwDHOOxAA+SYxuK/RQ1h9exSK07KpOIiK6gx84h1yyIpjX2GRuDWG5Bhej6cEYRsKwio5VjCx4lk4IMqMc75m9GIUYoGeWPu+a6ALn04XDbUp02aP1sqyzjyG4yjlIIAy2s7MNEj2ql6cuCbXaRFalXdZTnzBIR5c9nso3iWrG6JlRTdwTYO27imuR1lJhpyGL6piomwgUSIhKNce1TfyZO8noali6/fVR1ZukQPClKA4wO1BwB4vJ1Ky4GlqCBRaU8PDSrSyr9jCMtOxchhCbVGNDVKtZ1AWzIFUuXdIWNrj1MsSYjtM8QwHGyznpSI43Q2UNgCgYcfh2ZnZh6XFokn9jU9pbBzbxmBoVpl1LtDPq2gXFZIqVmPnVjBTHUppDZiXgnRUk2VxAs0gBkN1161iGRW4MmK0QA2c2mJQC0zqWIFpcdSFJVeFhA5E1WKBE6SMdCtyRmcY4GTtcbQEqBWoHjkqDMuu0wmWBAvkXi8oFXladjoDJ02FX7KL2zEH8TSNfqyTVVXphPSEmtfoXLud4VSDSEerrDmYl83Nl/N1bVvy0Dzmk9gP3HPjfrai0i/grSL3XrbLSBTiSzp42Qgqs1El7XxZiI5WO/O27bpda3oRFdfOQv3JzcIaeNkwEdlBlBkWVj97YK9IYOpskIgJ7T50cYXcnJcdKrmIN0Pm0mYks331YjA6sXh1Na9Qzlz7Dr1rVLIjSXNX7QRJR9+N4H55ub26HnBrWttps4RSGxiwpICBgnqHobXtodrHbXoNo8I9EdpG4U+2aHa42ymryXAawIPVdEGhs4SEpyf7cxnCeGlmgQKKgWtYRAOAhmhcS9y3WLKMhMPetO2BK7HYKAjiCE+X3WCTYoriZCpGll2GgHiaVImI86Q6szT0IbUwQaq4yLbvXSMSqhk4jBxoptwUUBq5gY0FGndjtiyiEGSgA+Dc5dSjKSjS7m3vOgIdSgOjpQEC+9Dk0dbgllBkEog7r8MzJhk5Bh267FWQDNqts3Zg4cahQfewFNv2vcMoXIoBD0ksYzmtQKvm6RUQi1xn0VRTLrGM2Cma7S4jdLXr61kUFx1r6CAUSTdv83YqXbKO4+GO8SQzxNyJD7epgtFOTYu58nDTYSvgsjN7GdfiYC6j7DEXzVVjcMg+ghHN1sFgJi1QlO+L1ZB8yLgehVw6HER3rrkMYCHHJoZ3jsxDGPqBqDFEuACBFIY13XmHYWGhEVRQ94KydQ6HulI1TrqMw8ItKu/DDIZXw7LWbcZOIFCrSuR82ECETO7L0MWBz03Ej7IWGyN5YYOkUdBSVkYzFjG54cJcdJQ2aOwmJo/vBXbdwQwlICFKWNohGFLYzLRDrzwP26pIyIKYQe7GmwphOV8skbG6lxPs/NK8pOzcY3tTXJ+B1DeB24dYYT2pWQ5ZqO1E12wuoeDVFm7eDH19pPetDY7UhqCEg7ybXHRRm3S77L4Zg6lnBdiykrizVU+vQkfIqugb6sbiRptAbcvClRzEM8yVYMq2XpYNpVffjdZKD8cwoXMCIuQYFhM7K7ATWzZe4MllzrZYXRivISriIsVhMd3B3U0357JJh/tzLrqcS4M8NN5P4peyk3EPyyZoUXxHFhUQqUyPW5RST9bJC1VNmbmKPwZOO4/kTnIQOJzU1WggKV6OlSRNzbpgc1BTRBBYCCNKsxHC1dCMIc5PUdNHsSzlNMZuC8TymOoTXqY3Hu2O9vOTGcAh5nmPGRxxWbY1YogiKmfsjWVNQVbkqAyzqYjNygbGKRVddbAJT5rzsquKdRl8LJsOuswFcTEBdhWT0WOwkw7lZYc+WAM6aGtsm4ehH0VyriLR1fpiCblNo09Uk8mFSNgUUYVV5CzcxIYSRpmdRhq8MePkqM6LEXe2pYplY8iQ+vTCMciczyrzUFCA48ZVzNkYZhxl99DRyJIj3JlxW6e28B7T7RmDYUYwEQQW0LRN0gQHbKqA5DVBlNlSezJrE0/k4YamhI0TvXnOnOCj+akmmDZizoAUTu4jHED2JPA9DMMdY2GwpNqilg32GnbBmZFcNNRafdz41qRYsz57jsGKWtRudHhxNUchNC+gJNgXJ0aMnkCWjiHWuQDzJlHAw4WlkxNvqm0NJ5krYYOAo2/o19MEe+vgIJX7Epx2P8dWTbutK/ener3IYS+Xu2VpCSy2gvXadTRbWdvEET6otnyMx2kNBfK1T7A0gIjUaTn70CD2QQgUZDXVr8OfWhl0BBbe2iIjqW7nKUdkB7o/n4LpeDCsMUfCFr3KEvLm1/MCTAKegRrgqBIM7CVKHAQNKTgL5g6Vi53n4VRXqiCLnRfkqjuTdVNCZzQPrHn21Y8UUHlPqNWA4E3l1jNh7FVU+7gFdYZkrEPVihgb1uhwU5dhMUK9qR7XKYH5Wgd2JS7RTOIoe3T1EOqH+lhW3UI5Ezxx1Uj34WDCCgN4l2MPVWQGttHM0MBqSqNtFSbkRaWOPMNM3FBxe7TWy7wjcqxYx6gNqE9Zj27bUeG4DbA20ogH+GwEVjuqYCCJeVf0OrpYdxYtsogKMAgik8DwraXLkmS6dlFdqcDaZB2KEQcLl8hoJ4AoDGFOCApZQdyke6xhiU0pWxUxPdPMQy5WhZOhxVY4pWNUX63XEb3NDBWCLUAEoZoLbZh5X+gAE+6cXuRVnNOhAbUbFRNR6HuWfPTOu7BE9eNMODJp2uHpMszacec+5xsennZj4zgOwJE07vp0zQ8D2QKCFeJij4jELNvt4Nrm5rCeqCG0spyb5+5+CksdLmKCkqpNb2Zto53buPeSynhK4/t2wj0I1htbbNmLaDoxmfZWiV5tDFZr13GT29pmrgSjQn+M4ywBcNTKAhQ0TKNLWLStb68yUkvJZXtSTwW0TenH15uf7+9UvcFmKgljYavYFsjWJI4sJKxybI/z7iFs+dgNnZ31Qtg0AYVI95R9TRsFK87hmw1wZYKBS7RxTLTdqlhpBcY+X38EuTNNBqC+m45qhXWMlFNovXgmD9dMIvcFBIxyw6ajIS0TDK4sRaxVlN2qgjC0PbwUMNBGY08e/tIT2hnGkyoapYUbuYHt3RicQWMVys7IcITRhWvwIDDo2bu69Dq0Vc0pNNWgsy4IJ+uAHrFVWEzF3IGZTLqCbcelDmaRUMFpYnfrfYvqS9qTSWJTDu5h1ci9MpOmH3NbFnUf7hol21IRtBtPYyHvY9PWN4Bl1CxcyZG4g3sOpiHWOjrWU8sEXCZc7dAscQDm/QZQSVC39KEJ3NrUta9ymveHVcfROUtCOb6h5bacbzDWhB2zFqOhtbS6tAJ7bCDezzJ8JpiVzWPJvWYT6pTDcHGn47rUfSg07pYDwe/cL9eq9XjbJi47PWpejtl2saYgywBjr+BxS5dc0akAiQ07t7EdJzCGumRk74adlStxE98tUPvRWBFBLIbmxevDAk/dsVXZNrN5q43La/axnybb3SnM0bzskMfHD08LWCUsFY7n3L3D5LnXmrLUmNh1oJoyx33NQTYqKz8VcnaCHHi8d2+clLPoml0HP7Ubo7rrOOpgNBNhIu/TBJbCaoCIAtbTRTPN1XWeUWxYLzw9bU4M0qjoU6lgpRGe5p2SHcIZlDPGfACwsUEc5NCsm2247uZhmG4EszNiE7G2nvZiFliwnQIBH+IIuxn7qUuIUFhI6zLGGGGnxDDhaJ5cBZQxu4Gt5gNh3aB6M23SuM8NKpUCGtI4wstpKX7e0w9EEKEVZMcMO9l5Jm3ajaNILCcrYd7UhgWUVk93U6wz23zSGL1xuA40FL+DIJxhEp+wTgjA0dYqXuPAInkmO9zZKvWQMY5aDE+L6qLku++KOLFY9mm/XUMoYoeMJPSxXwyiKLEJ3I1LjMgKBqD1sLfyRA5oIsN2c/Sxgi0486ut+Zq71m67QH3J2E93TUbwpjOU1e90rLigBLpFBSq3iCsjbwaO4t45dFl8pVo8YlPYhRk5fF+2vcZgXmoJKOupW1RqMk6x8Nq5oKPtCtEH1NZWZWA2Z+EahkevquiPXnN9U2/aMtpwzcEV1HWMMGPkLO4DIGDz3atss6RJIx5Sk8Mo9iX3jQ/e0Aa6kxvao0fFQMxH39u+R1hfgGAEDmPgMXGanSsLVh2IoVmwmS8+lCtZjUyAgCXHe6BkrueJTOF4juUl9G0iH3VH7XI+5hwBVkgtl1g8MwYtZMOHT+RM1bWiVq1eK2puFrGyaCsN+uRHxuOqUisGkE7IdHaJ7ais9Lpurpl0RDSH2lq3BhfXMMpMyejLGjXvRk1ZOw3nOi48Iy3cstaO5IlN0V2EVY+1lXpvQtpdUwtbk5E1FNvmSsyZkqNVWEZai/4q+tMz3m5iGjxUcsldslwoSoGqYvfz7Kopa0uN4YUlXqIzNWVvC9gy9cXnG5Ct2TXl2RKwbo3f+NIRWq2OPPtm+66xko7hOKNOU90GjVEpXStP4i5H9yntTZddJ96OcpTUO74/eAK3umRyWeBAVZYex/u61Lr0WV2hq/j5PWZcKuIkZ/bHbqktzsOPAL33SZ0AereFrPuUjarAIPNt65j7qLZJI2/1XG71TW4lkjCrTiZjonViMkFH0ICXDjZB5HG57ifANKZSLbynFkcgKrnQwGXhMe7PJ2S6RvZzpO3MUftOnWEkSz49uAsytZNZk1EaLA04gzbTXoV9oaStPvnkIjsTmanvCOnKwFI9uy9gWkb4Dm27NOFh+7bvj/srQmHYAGHAYrtoi72d2p3utzXA1lBR3IdJT1MvgGoJYSoyRIYTe80QmloDdVKgkkvdUsS4ygKulOLKnHzHnEcFhjbUkqKIUGqKqpH5NAqKLmIRva0+CFNZEVPKPjcV8wDlOzeBUUBM7HExWOJ6EBZNZ9VAXjICCZhhA8usE8zlfB7BIwVWIcJe43JqY2c3mwTJsptkAonkMU8OVda86/fLOrweBttJkDj05sZOJJk4TOB0A4gta4stTyLcio/aHu5r6UNmzx3UF7TNe6XN/Ix+lhgW6W65KK5mZrgl4ntgq3MvJuc3lcIb30TdeuEygLgOZwM7IW+cj9a24ubgK5JZ3BZkESnYZgE9oBXrY4RABF9jQ1BoLM2xYzgD496SrVkLFREsTGupNwa7GcFBG3HTiLYE8lp3gtWCiKabtpz0ssY7RnMa+/HATPcPzynFGp8athnaAlJX1CHrEnx/M+oT5MPBYYDsejiU9RjxjtvtwMI1YoiGDYTinBXD7jMBNTtY8fS79xHgsYZhARcFkPvjAgZK5L6lDfeUSq1Ylv7I2NQPvDEI2HIe/hKkbStw9pA3PuOKqiu/6uwtrEN17i2Xc2NQc0bAUol3ShujK4Jf4ri0iphr9aY5aO+Po3RrAKRpKBXJ20YWhrLtaxXLVQJNi5u39bKMyX2MlJ0zymTS9MLMmN7zPCFmgSWacUae0TkIF1kxEcuUciSnVtGnSyOHKqVj13BA3xPd2/KaU93Gdra9SZOOwYtqTE8yWz/L5aWtdus1aajCrU6P8HpzWs/VZPWXckJbcDlHxDh62mC1Y20Xv5dbR1tce8a45Wad6hMgF2tG21Ks1zwWm9AYXVQDAzuDc42y7bfkz07DWl3yej81326T7xqOHU+sh4XXnhoOva6rTyjYlxMzjBpx8gpKNrwPIZQKQSMEFG4SkU1JjYGBR6qllcph0yRFlawCp8JWS6GN9juPepxHxd03WBP32g1URSbAGWDiNupSZ/PNlGsVkNM+we3YlNB6VylGyHs9ygE23NaVNl12ocZS2QJZmDyLhOy1KvsEeJ69JvTjwUR0OyphWW8L+9gBgdyP931nRndeCxAipddR0ap32yAkMBeGhkTRlyIbHrzF41W7LcBmsZC8pOhRq97RExNnBgDDAm11LKkAJikjF2rz9Yax1w7oUBV33GzSrL1CxeN932Zf3K+PEL36JXqIM+EADoQjwqJuDCa+lOEbt74c5ChLuNcOgdBth9x0u8QUmzbJzcDOm5hblSCcKABGc9fksbriWBY8AXQuLVggGleV7lzhuDUwalMW7kdg4N7XaQLBroiN15WbGW2uR334hj5z8l1bljSfw41HK8NZYw+TMdgAzoTkuLaXZACTKbOgT9zBQl/zai/SgZ/FJbH0vq9cliz18sxmzoDJF7TUtK4CvAHleely4oexY6IJkFRuFsTCe9fMnZ6OALKH2dF5INVLrsLAqahTjpoWT3zJBmMicmdNJakpmICpa49gw1Y3zmw4YZpMQy7Bi5W6xwXIurhZX5oTs+FxodBxhLaoK/LddrxdzySWDW2j0ZiRt+WOL3fJ6CB1UyEZUyN+Wm0AC7Cy7JysNMmhIYWlulggWeUC4HPdQrqmoRWrtHAQczXc5wEsySpSzLIDDg0zR9C7sQ1i6HJzbVVBXGpfzHU0Xy1msxHUs1zuXwtGGa+MMx5Q2srOAXl3GOtJtk22Ys7tCRdOW0UAeIHVwIYmmw2I8IYm88tz9Plm0ztglNLGrhxBpZ9ZyxIH9WADABFxbqOzjkjXIde7e6HkBZr2rs18F091PzubN3Qcg1AwSqPoIkUnM8GkDnNTrICNVcUtrVRcDTED9xkkrouNE3hh2bHh9PC20an5ggfCXdh4pxznCRD8ZJsvb1iNgIIRYzM1cOBBPOrQe0cOgJ1PrQv3E1ghWAyrzhlHvVk5W+vjFClTqThqHMBS1hzzytzRMUwQ3zw8Xf3ZardiRZJefXJx0+7VSznn8ZhuY6ikr43FErsVycuThsDAohKgy+MyXBe2EcONqoXPCLLC2AW2aiyN7cL73MuBioDZyCFLg20V3VGYk3XkPLrItB4qZRE/PtxfmoftVlFVbQaO5LGTYDQRsazNms48SK1g2ZY952g8SpabfVuHC3cELl33kDUAQcq1NzY7JKEG+uZottxgTsowyt1ahn96AEOgUae0zoq5OZGqQ90iDkEhDsoWDXXZoG7AVPnJq+ZpsbYdUv2NZz3PMzQOxUNbFlbu1IOzGZA67AOcj4EwpOpEVaVeV6/gOimTBttWcXLBRHOxd4ZLACiH8YCky0X1PK/TMkzZGvT0at1kM3EHBnHDhQlFPRt6OjVYYYVzFW49SrKlJPC5ZhTnqOIwfAnIqmwVsJ6f1ulc0XWrtB0dZFnGveo2wKlCWYZ60Mju0hN7i8m4NkHcwBC6nci2J6tF+LaNvUTYcauWTrxoenXp5pUpRB75zilwyQUA5Nh92tKUrHi71ZIKx7M2SAxe9DKYfPAZXGELmmrAE1qw3QC74yV8lfvdZXMBWeXMgrlA+HTOWFMU5FbpCfkkC3pO9TyPCVuH7GG6HJuYrTzNZzc9DwXWRdnU65bTkMUa9fvENErAinQ8QgzqBpcwckxIbURypBMuTEJYCMT3y5iiPHZYdMReNwlYyJNtiyB6jJlSYbPqW4omzDwZdTk134MIwpiveR1mqAbKQYslgVo5KrKLkSvQGFWZ2aVhLlNtH74BskubajPgM+x3I9nLADUAM1tsmLXYO6qHw42V3aiVMRAFbBQCnePxvOZqhrmtjy5UYqtDkKHBRJoAaYpcBhS/V0MlFphOOCgEB+JAqJj7joQrecSB1NQEUaswk+0H5mckBSojn7UDLNK4EFcvKw/pnYogl6a6c5e2MjcAJgtcdhQstBVcBKwMp6H5TL35KCqtzW5xzfpGbr7eLsJ4IgRsdR3HNWS1JgWsFc/EcN7HuQUOuC9zFpshZTxpVgTG8sp8XctZ73DeRQsm7tg4gKWNMjXVHWQVrrKP7STng8RqS9s2be10uk/L/YALQPSes3CO6pxCNiLBIZXlfj8Mfdxn0bkuG2Uwo5pHgNwO4bwpKuc2jnOUEwddI3bytWAs5yjJinfNMnThlQGET+jRZDnZdDe25k9bkfPdckE7480RWQwmOZW4dzc3PVGd4HTYeqnrJmnmvLLXNnJUv4kOOlNdNae7ph10n4+nSFKIZcezEMU2N9eKCK16jyOywhBBgGQBskwza+xFRmCNFDKNWRNpLmWjvN6tUjRzRDAeh1VUyRxLbmxtxRHCrMZVjKsD10HKEtfXC7dIZtyXdAcCjzQZFe+WfVpSeanHRTW39nKKufLgh3HvgZ2FpSWpBvY8gmhr6sqixDHwNLe1zbzM+8mHD4Pc4ZgXUY5UIZt4Za5LN4cG2AToDa+qvnpNj3s4N10lxcCXBRyIdBSBfuddM5OaJWnKcXiV5aU349RDUZ1PO3IiawxW5uaoVl868pnu8OVXys3rD7zYLuXWMEZriu2ResiG7Cg7OEGYZDYRGNw5lBeCI/Ypl65py6nQGwOv6+Pk4rXg1B11HFGGimlgKgUf77KarU7BbqmtNOlWyJ1BXQENrrcxlC8ZnaAoLwllOJ2o6pD787ynUl4sck0psmyjLm2kv2manfKMrg1r1JPqSr7Y3huMPHUQvnFJ9vvLDTOkG6wVTPhZ5ZJOdS0i3BdjkeHdR3Bdjr17VMmOhPMCg++xjkfJvoNVkMFP87iTZbnRI8B5z5K8HwfT2NxMxavNQ0nH0ucB7MmeBTRPMIPbgEWWyWZtl0/8draOXFkbTu1+Do/zdmiSIWFDkJFpKmqycKnexWaSWNJcoD08BRci5LGwqAAMhJowdvLQygKFW5tNJOssm7MBqUMtp4iTmaMme2e6d3rVFJpFznjf2dFqNDtjC6G02MFYglQUxSqHhQqKjrvOBLxjLsi1HzE1BGv6cbccNhzWRHz1OA42bncZKEXb7QAuUUECUrEwmVSGPh1sMcbYqcpeAjFkPbW5NRCQJnHnkAOjjb1WAoRkQSmlPVrRYJyk2EZYVstjQa8Ww30Z4+jg0bRcNCTPC6ZLB8VRDUjujs3WuD72hUzvIlazXeaIJZYoZ8AqebSlws4+iurIMnKzYV707s6t76PdjRy9yvpkBTmCOtZu8wiFSEVocx00oF9nXnSlcdPGkR5vcNrn4c16MWtmeF25eM2xR9cCtxt1kNXtTsio41or+/pwgV16BYFaDLIad9CsvLA6E4ZUvzsZnhpupLkAYsJ0BF62QGFtbmA0YfFczmwBy9M3Xsc93ZZZj2MZvqiEmywwEHTrdTGoaI6XbAOGS/Xqo7hx4dTeW/hkGoPBX62X+QADM0o/m+PAjpHbBiLqTjDCcpxYm3IKQmlYoBE3Bd9GeVN9OhHWTYIBB4JMmxigpaJYkURdNVXDFCsAghcRtOPEiyBji2ITk7f6mAZj82frJkqWiQUvNTy5y26q2kVcBAVAOSCTQI4U7OSF3Xu3FItD0e416jG5Rvc18L7PZ95HT8i1wLPSoqWjqTfZeACrKtSauGlStBTjDdGls+DCkdaW5cDh1CTpBIbUdDuhtqcNXFBXyFaxXagdSy5SUbtlPy3QIGAJRUppOUkBGKKHQipq2Y4JB7C9F4e7fc2I9W6BQd7tEfGefruNkDKQDG0O681QOJoitwN7h1WWcswDLQanVoVWvbU7ydOQx9PNQSuhXHgcC9aiasxax6Gdo146hLbBVKnbGopeUKMfs61AWhTPg9jUSTQd2/3mT5LVWw/1gGVpbkXEAJeYbV8WglnsqA4BiXYEvQuBrb9xu3VGBH/sJ/MmdfTZmAswCMeu0jB9fnTa8bYMXWJfAIElk4dlwy4x3w0kdNuNT8kDjJOhAlAIL9aXQ+5Sx8il6c1dh5BGlNJyjKLgcxPyvWKmwTqw61xS0toCMlplUCheEVzrehAf+wgbSsLsXVkbdq4dFHS49Sm9g6XaUQNg1N22JxP1oHTOFIA76eXm5XXv21T5Fnoe39Fs75bEQtkyg2Cqkmqo3EmNM3nqnaexsVRLIvDe5VltO3byNqT53tChiMGep3mSzd1b0rDqY+tGuWPHUWDhxIDXp68TcEGuJlG6JVTjDc7QTAmP9wavWSY0n2qfgEhN9Ci6IGoz3tyJcDsPo1pBqFcHvqhtJs07MFcuctkdoEuYllqhz56xyErHc9vPerKXj7qcT4ueloSUToc+nS3Ud6vQAVUzNesNwFaDZNAbx7K2BXWQH84wY3P3VWTbbA2BrEwrMvOWi06kjbAYOJy3mC0qbsel72uSQCMmLuetaUivrurvOGPToxqAHaG2vbSVIx6v1kjwXtaXjichowliaXBnuWmuZROwmtPplCmQUFZwHgblbj5Va9UPvDhllo2BFdjAzUKyjJHgNbwKadcY0aMOShzhDsaLIBY+NY8ytRBcCZEzShtihaQNxh32/cn2bM+BB5QxNDgig5vZiujComZrz704tlFXTGYLa3pGQDB+ZVhhtWRFwBowxh6g2aLubSjkNbW9oZK3S/ZlUm1BOMfto4LMAhY+tnluqAdpy7Q9TpwWGZGyEhYj7qTBrXFIjE49QhCO6iJ1pwHutUKTpq5jPovC9WNS2FUSbNuhG5v4kC6CGFGFBCgyoFu4YVrKacTdrmXMrSGGHWLUge5q1qCt7I4wNaXj9eGuD5OEIjFibIynCpB6YyJpuxIBYsxhi0Jgu+yqDX1DUxpeK5eqycVrLKW8tM7Oayx1s+EeJ3fx3kJQmvhA2A+ilocAtph915k9qyy1IPEGEXDJlcVXdKhVFok+qb6JGuFxv2vHSLve1IvHjiY0FdA+TkdaC0Nwawjr2N0uhDJQWqEyLNd9NGqnu0clLJpyCKDuzKv6Y27DphLs82Hsr1jvdx6tywh90xtFwmSGxnI47L2QQ9+BT6NAjiF3MUrIGuzuG4ZFkdRklhKd567uERtkBDBDaTWyjPs9JihnsGW3IVzOJKMsVVRHgu+LnDpLLzw0h06uc73jw1AU2gREDBg6yL6L60CsHfCObR6CosVSqT+EocvuHqYZlnt1J5dzCiQGRna2Ku6cVXU+NIuwjfVUr4OduQnudZFjdxpjweMxC09pIHC4yfvNyYt4NI7uSxVHJWejKkzO1W3AEcJCmJFMu/BeppIuKBuTY223RFW9eLJAJ4aMURekVN44j9ix0KKiijzhej3aVpaFz4nnp7b0M9lx+LEt0jT4nLzAMu+P7eE+0yxLajBWFz/KmuyKBLM2xjaWhhxTRopnNPTJhPMitBhDyQzysJV7+GMcR42ZzpbnN7S917vxquF1VyBYp1kVzXxDBITFISVhdOEz4yzHAdJsaD/dUWVoWnmoWQ9aAo136oFqjY+mQaICUkxMRhbhZRPtB6gxTtjLwWwZa8G2wZ2dbSg7U4NXkW1qlbBryqXIY7qvUeG0R040Kh0hIXSh0H4zZGl1v5PZrFoXHraQb67HE3QpnHVyXmavIOr2eEDUiDxDmhVG0nomA0+aGWI1oqUMZpYM2XAnnXtHEdtA9pdCegNw5mOJvjKRpxu5gsPCTaFIMyiVgtlDWDBMpAEUBRiv+qMRAGra1eSYI/si3uwaDaqo8UPHBRDSB4uBCmlVhhQQzbHO2sWQc6wOtzOwEJziVFIGIGHD5ckuuiJwkKfbMvU0IRRYxI615ZCsBWUhYw9oqAAeuvKmO4s67AmDIU0caA+FKLMbjxnTOb1kc+vTYq6ELk1A2GdM2UUqjVWBa8gEImgqMPIsOsVYgmPU3MR0Kjw0i8vsYFJNWoeSLBcZDXRnMh1oYNt6Z5RiizEO4ZbbaBZefRtrt3UbQ1jN9i5d4nEVGWNvoxXhsCUfms31sDkeB6tkKrgYqistdPDj9ERLE89sy16gx/XEhzadT9P5IRQ2r+TbXmRuKQA2pbSQw64s3GE+FSmBCqyyQvqM3E9oyImuZgmZ3nFfs8HkLj6vyXJ7YBNG1/MBsdxBX7CcWCDsiY/7mwWaJ6JcQwMMZRs21LDuNkz26kPGkLFHNeBiWYJoVylNuMmKMpAyjTSPh1lLsKqRBXPZF05iq2Ighm7Kjcz5sACK3wf1hjiDz1HWIkbiHvtMHQsKZWrNGW07jbbWywD2HEx7AfTEZo4Gy3kt8HLuyn0L6wWNgITFzTLAHFi9LruIwi4G4ACNBywLLLPqAffGKtY7x1yW9TBRg/3NruLGZsqn7w1+YdlcgzUgLIqz4tpYk0BDu7yRdgMFvrZ1wEwkQ0BkCqsHd4loqYVdU87SN6uD1GCcYUQ7zzB44QF77WYSU0IUUNXScSxiTiOHb+iAS0yydqRNKjWReeNwCDxuIH7hBqh1BvfJQ5dhi6tl1gb3KWbughyZ0JkdeQHYF9tt4XQkb93dE4B3H9Ucbh9pQiVLi9FOrE4B3c2gLrkRBoaus58v+41iQhzRkihmKrta9VY7MRNPU53OXItVhfNyXPbF6w7EpA16Ag9RXJeFD/pEbnCb+ui8yM7NyU/TYoqheb9dv8f2rCAHnXls4nIjpofIFQne+HjH9zi+stg6eFMTV7sXJ2Db16N3jJQjA3YHS6xLNOJkWQBB05IZDwCrai3mlVX7U8qlDa7jFo7UeHK6l9iqJFpVAmmNkPlhIQjty9CKDbJj3xl0CR/6rm+6vH6ODXe0CcMzawwYOV0HFa59odxrQudSFSFd+8WhG1izQY0n7w9t7IOzMBKGqEe0UEcoyWHNMICIEyWM+rTUcTyc2SsroBTo3gaKuF/DoSVm11VpiWc3TiXYSkGmg+EMvsJp9DFogCQoyV04isHNXZgvPCzipPcTus33gbZ6garhoqwqS+4p2g8D2IeIqSEhJCw+FhYtWY+PCVPqveVoZzuJcNkljV1Mj8stiystDndVV1DpxkLNmQN8t0tKZErKQAu1xhVHtOM8eomVt12uHx1453IL4AyjxRa4SIdHPm52mSfjDImeFltrjIoLGt6IDz8E3wEJjMwoHqvMJXkrbG0zAhqydw0n3OCGljPP19O6azkZOQTX1egRg9t9sTW6jebGh1dUVWwJuF0mWEOWi2o1FEonB+snzf1mvjOwzSbbznPfAbdzgu5TkA06GQ+mU11Gn6ME0G1gjkc50uXedutADkFAOkx4cEq5pqaZKzvbOUIh9qrralL0vOBJb7AghA41zyg4yihAj9BinLg475wn7Mq1Frc4Dswi+8CquwLyUl8uNHaUNQYHLudDGWxwP+9yiL4NmUbZomBuJ2cF3kpMuANKr4geVMAGpDryslAdODwRWVsTUA6FnAzBxGgEVe0mm6n12gZYb208SUDgSjouIB7NOs9ju75AiwkQBmEIS250S5yAHUZwlIVfcQczAEsCQgUED2E12+Yu1Wqak6pHbQ1F1pBIQZWIyiUrZxTZDJowrrI2MMUiq1jFgo4FGNTSxXa1gVZIfIMh+1w55BisHsip6U5Yz2Zl9jRueHaitoDqibey9wp+Rlh4VRcBh1zTDTrNtghP04Eb9YyqzIqTXsCg59odFwWcqHH2pQTFam7pZ9bT6CqhXiuIjfR2nwLLni6HaZpuB618ojIWK+exk0hsTx147WxGxoyu8PClc2nLxGwLo5JvxOl0nqQ+Nt2XS1fyxVfN+sauwo8EUDcSAJMG5yMG8o4qYXXMvoeXaLZsLghbkzzBPeGx4o6qoXNX23ZQmMWFT5zzkaLwAgHHhlCw8h200y1z7LmMEUfZG64ozNFiQCxbs0w1w2NuQxpYQGvYbm/dxIuMprePHo4UQ4M9ovPQgjlSnj2zQBSd8lZw381xFMOx496KzMCxCGLhTRr34+2SzT+940ZpqGCqBG0srHXUHpDMDjuJEjaACVSZEHxYrSTJC23ZqY1dbARwFazpmxTfOI4beao2J110a6wcvmyhkVKxg4JT5cnvFhpstQaQgfDZuDuxTeyW6IuSYFXgVDw6hVc1kTxbG0Zd0gTvYfRjCucTDOEemrpbZRnCqF4U22h2OKVAim2hddWNwgyZARh3DgVqNZHIkvH+1Hvb6HwmNJi49Z2qT4363lXPDGqYorlzz6mycQXzc+HCm1cmbOeBtZrtdLyF7ts4dpyINWVbIMeYOEsuc6hsORbG2lT6Sw0saUlwHQwe11rocg8a1O5JdToW0GWp9Xj22ieoIlRhO28tz1LfkHhNJ9gGjZyZ1iLc3uGQLvmkt+MxxgCQuBx3qtfTidWyKkNfSO8Xv7CymtYa1v3i1oorTYrlLqufC3cOZWjVTZCWzaT2s+XjpxUPQdReQSZnf0Kz1OZnh9bVteryZLkmYTyv2yUngKLd1EVkI1t40aWDw3QBpSTv6QaXKRN8KiOnGP0e2Jkn8Q3kTI106crb1NcdhZYeLgomQ2h0L6Af/rygQJCOABdOBUFiMJVkL8GAmzYjKT446s5jR4HYZal55JvWcDDj8LFN8XqscbTtsdlW1CNcFZMbBquoq0OVCrRV9SkwKWHNQDp7lvBN/DLr6gCLtHXksufkALXJZKZcBTflQz3K6ne5iyENrpV8t1y37cQw35MVMWFapdjGM2K+QQCEYUvcMnQYwCR3zJIgrUiDaEuKJnBJ51H3Dnc0HBtg2O531iAZIvYqhcMQQouPXQfughKwuxpMBxZr8/XNwUfbpMS4jhNE60FNymzyemPCvS0F2g6Aug/CWKa74WvfeOyN9wDnWcagk9U1uMHeBviwIbFTC8Ox18cRG69x9ogDFraD3bfbuzHd3bYlb+u2AB/flHeB0nOnWupkRlkbbPrw1GZGZIf57AUIQMd8kwPPUbqJ6KWubd33YThmrNx1PyiCq6EDHouAXyagV5cJ6VU6tQG4asWJbMOw5kc3o+CNDEPZRwnbh/o1B062orQTDUawDFLJMAPQlj6ibXAa2TmXm5OmYOEADY8huxlP4CbOKsYCqnsFPmpCgSVNJRg1h/+HUx+ipiEagZHwGZ08WBkNOcDCOy9o7WSqbli3unVR1ePCrwBymk6UiMbtpjhcKnhvLTyqQZ/2nTAVmPwCXE0F7lPMuvgmgNhhRhpaL/1e3NOMiWOXqq/CelyaK7r7vNQEW41Tl2n1o9hYupKOVGSBDtYLyHZMH3AmwK5u2AJlm26S56OuZ6WhdXjdCe+6tqX1VBqi0Kn45L11KzKNJfxJlF6Cc+PiopIpPBEQDgDZcQ2G7llxcUPAzmqEupDTMKKFkbVzbXf3/pKWs+5Tk/u438aepH4sK/ftZLDPTxYYzX0X1e3avPsGN+6ITfjcDZdlRpSFA0DHhjoZM+MwNTOjFaYjsd3ttAwbsE9vYNtyj6Ml72kIU8ZejnGLEILWHRBSOJWq2SQ07cVhp8pyephn0YX8boggObMmDPZREVKn1aC4oBO0dqNJFvLwldsZ0pTY+pFXUbS0jqOPU45YAmGd8i4coKvM2i5gAuraTLmtBbHBMyHpPLxx6va4iFW3MYBD5AhW9iU5afeJBoFN5Fx751Hr4s51MAbHqkDMsAKUD9/WVw7NpJiwYET6wmZijMoCELG589BoTJZkECTa1+vE4+khOCgQNF6Y1zjSw7YUXxnXmZFz0DFOEhCE2JlBpa+HiSIjGvq4bGub1qpqery0aKjnHJ3b6tLz2a4x9gsNA9IVCfbCHlJgPvLNcFZBTzQQVHMP1ZZsK1FtPIc72M49RmsxMKGE7jsM02g3e1nbKrIPj51FTaLMtoOPqMDROJz0jkvgbsLCdbaMbZyOiBas6UcOLCVzSI1jovE6nKemkckAMkKWFbPlpcCpgqcEE8apMddRbHo8HzROr/O1Wq97w2R/FdxhP40DjjIpqjo0C77WmMw3Ls0YY5qEj1afNSt09qgt0oBju794WxRhvLqvpayPVJw5CAZDYJ9OsVEnzHrt2VwCV0aKvWh9iogglciEdQYUVx1w3ae2g9fQieJgMY6bcYM098fzs5dN0DJTtGPgOdvE3sHGcBJNAS+3lgqyA3mKKDY7AEJZlnF/HFp9AlLIaEjDoGzcJfeWrUARKAHqe5uwCbpVNluZQhBFCgPYPatH78pOulvf4+g3piYHCGQUBiN1EXMeaTb1G1BSqOTYFIG5GVj4suFjKAOm6ZUm5CZO6b25L3bT3xocjO+WyubgUJS0V2zKjnAWx1RTQCJ3UvDDzmLktKnAqaVgaUZSmAAVWa9lP9homGk8XNKM1nCw/fAEiHCELEobTI9B2Ds1Z7hAa21y16FL7Z0XBs9NUwKo93Je2AM6ugosnJxVknmynoZ5HJgGeaeTKbBqOvvYJ1c0UaUxyWJ4jKxrW4OjkSIroAHgro3N6eHal0HTcZ/PE8wytDEjE8JK4EUxnl43iD71nMosYkpEkAyXW7BmrsQ9N2iXhXMDPooO6qriwxeMpS48ptM01oJ4Pj2T6YIPPeCyHflZqDhPMNJrC4AFR13u63Zf23Zft+6HyzhqFETTs/say5GFxSqSAtUiCdrKecPN8XJYVe9148GwEXUdwByOArzqspJ2qFkYuSPwlNEaMHBpW50ac7l0wv2Jm5MLHUENhzrWZvFm6dOixNiFS65NN+AVRyjKMOGjWl8gxmMbebQ8wTUt25Bg5LzOyXES5SVAofdHsoEY+mUn4OGaxmAM2qFxb3HvCeBGm1iIsigTVgo4as30Upooj9ePrNmXTW9DlojU84jXHJ1DHFSBbaTiVDs4LQN45Dz2FWqRPcbYSwlEG2itL8OYzQiagmo0UphiavBG3k+js6s/zlXJqLDKwlB8A5DZKDTB0rmImeUcLRYYAakqTHiXxCzQxa2Ys4NEx6LhR9iWWlnPkcBHlck5CydIFO85uFLLQvfNqVdmhnptut36GyIRzz7Ul4tf0pYTY2GrnnRftEc1gYvQPLzEchnO4gd9ejd4HI0J5FIxpvuxV0RdO948WdSiNNXbJqcwByKtnXjrPBavElplnWQY8bEKcTrTOEwmw2K0S25PXzFB0qXaTVfspW7zuFgqVOCasEDiXM5zO7yy7U/mE7dWu2YTxAoNTJPREohVW2m6pRK01ve7hXPopY87BsSxDtHbGUnKWI6BmoReJIHOR2yojcMZtC1LWuA5j5wb38/D++JDt5HdHZo3GWNL4xi2H6/Px2E5Bls86UArkerRzY4KdVsQ0ryJgUU75aCdvft+ksw90rFILaHsbpiPR0Nuxpi6gPC2NNXk3maR2CffPSjIgVkWbwm6aWbjZbl/ydeoCajEjsyqALFc4nanYenIJqZmXUxZyV0VA6tmh8GwK43EyIER4lpnGWIMwLYCyZ4KAYACxjdjsdkBsa3hVHQggAO2kRGiBhwOLQ9jKmJvdmdhbOUCJifVdYFAG1CgDDLMnceCMwNXgzJYzQcCRsqeHDha3AUz8RJeB94Vij0B2AqStdJ8obVIVB5yAAONugHuk+042WGAUykamoRlztOaNg8u2dJbG93GqMp+SLG4kSjSKBscwGux2SvVWU9UEBKiHOtK/ZbirtwaRzuXcWpNG572fY31mVh0AvFyvN/Km2msuHjcDWZEsFX2oXV6Nhk0tb3ADoc9D4MPLU5Pyh69mGXHm/sukqP44xYcWVLbADM+zRKP5eDTkORcUetKGunuQsnbBsenoW2jYeQVEcY+wLSYACMrjUC1dsB15XaiPptBGRwaob50sONjVZaA7XWvvu7R7NF6W72uuNNgMTwZj72MPkrM0co+wNeDRTTBxr4Lx44wgyGukCicE8zsmHAI9pkxmaHQ1mE5o7rDsJj7wqZuuhStc5KrtMvlQuensfs2AS+Gtj1ZYGjlcdO1QusT49myM8JxcBWO00Ir1DzWDSpZknmtGz+Rti0babIWosAzrG3BNsoToC1MIWSHTltFAAvm4byo27G32DbkIz+xhUXB9wg18jrlcVrtGDSgI3AywRKS1XSZRk6el4VUkoBQN7DQUK7mNYWXZeSy9X5PoLVKdaFjWzTCMBGijmWIuVSZ+DBtEFhdWGFx9a3svYstCaagBYVwMHHb9MQF+klo33bRQ2btm2JJqOctBR2OpyFgfbmmeaYZnY6jHqiqrlLPvXCt5GiTxiXxrVt7Uo9PYGJGOQ/hY2llYUq8gMk4viNC2lbbhu1kteSZwOwkspx3HXbWsdWts6hrjuVO08VMfd4bhquPugBsFsYkgegDerkbaqNNuZa0zWhY905zc6kRbFIaQCZsIIwde2iHkBppo+mW4steyXuY+IhKXrcdhgOufgx4Nh9nXUM3gdZ2kz3RUMaAEVpXObHaGDwY3aB0a3su644pONjFUXZddA/AJmSEABMySYfACGUFd4AMj7ly2/akaIyQyc20tSHcLOMZrBHBIHspu7WDFdtfX9pivpUi2Me+Hpc2atUBJmiKuGQcCo9BRc10sQPRbib6ZA6yobw3qHHysQYmn6rGBVtNlp2RCa2ZncDLFKcEaKRRpAzDCpZmwuhY5/1YVE6WXHfX2LA169xSzLIItXVawxx03qCoQJHN8bzvtMpUztuK3HQgHOj+mS0GsZRVt3Ku8KTOvu4bj+Q6SolcKp9WjG1Z3e5Q6Y2y7yF7iqM6qRcF7IuBhJ3KGXEpx4DFvcnZdhaWeT8ShF/sRKSnIdpwqTp2qWXQCIzXAKqECJqxzzONsVRdSxNa7586TD2w2ONyeHLXVucn/PoKBwuIm+ITtAVvAAeI2VIL3uutL5HruAcbhWanE51G5dEinDXbbM1EahUzlDX6uhRZWgOwfjLbw3jZ+p1ZPGyOrYBzHy+bVmEc7PtpghxZB2NOwrwwGA/0psWiN+mKJxvIa8KwqQ078KvwrHWUEgHgw0QAlbCq54jdQMYWvdup2+2uTVBMlxGG7Mosqy1DCQU5gWGH9xrBZi1hKC/IbvU97LS4m5jieQlGosy2arNOWnvSelu6u8U6ojUJ6oqZpiLTUg3tiF2G9XrQzR+HiA1OjaG7JtTBi2yLbcECWDWsxpNJVBnoLNOmZ8CloQnAGLCw2kZMSJyiNYFGpAdjsvDCkOaL4pK2ZUiK7q6QvKVpT2fcBMQc8yhNGQ7pgzjYuBJIEVX0sa9qdnG20RJ5TyLYMIS5wYAnG1BdcKBw3YP7cUAjyKREM+Wd7Zi7LhOv4vG0DoPlfuiTWY8EnqOvLeritfCyEY+ndHcmM8SlRR8slltWK154k22jG9ajCWyAy3SBuWloVMO1Q8yYeT6NwdSNIITL3Gw4r3TNuwaNR9AkrK1OUEV1GtUr0Dn4DTS5LWKb744T5bRcR9mSj95qZx/A1Kc9DGukKgnAxt20T48b5EVj3ZZ63DZ/6ejnespjHTQp2G07lgtLTRClcBdipp22Igdg8IH7OHtbChJr9II0FAIGW4Ga83h8g23PVSgVbBgjK4sZxSihmKjrG+phrDGEsUPtd+h3JZgh94ZtYgQJ4wlR2T/ZKCTyskXEMmnJBGBRBEW8wFmbAms9665lz8q9Mj9+unsVq08u2bPT5FSBFDMkuXsFMt2a0T2GsbUR7vzS2ng0vd4mAGdFrmNA9UWxrpf7eRkLWLJ7O746H2kmbVrrzkTVBkBJaGnN6TJ5aeEKolV3s7Gw66BhKUHFqkFBQq2sCDQQnJDcpOpAu44QyruMIXZBabQwbxYDYMGJh3mpl0itux3biVy81JlzFFygdEup205OONOkMreyG4odzIXN+w2qKO4NaKy0l2WPcYc6tmNIXTafU1bKrS0vt75j64moMmQwR/op4DyzaeNZthB8leN+2WO/8WpA0cayOaSiPcYAG00Axn64r8E9OsR0fay5rLmtDhZLLV6TBcBRFsFUGPBSP0Xvhk+ONzbm06W5oaojHkeIyhTCuajJk9wdUTcetivtN3ta3AnrvcWpnPu+j9VygBlvrYwJd4fh3NI3DSE5LNVs7cQnux6pg1sdC52ynrwCdcXNEtKOhj1OIc3MyRZksQxG873tK2WhQB7OuRcxEoHKxmMFMZhq+BM0RN/ETgakAtz4fcj3DO0cipxZ7JhmcIip1HCIu6Wt09QPc3U7Gp+15RuPa8PGuxwKORw3HsMmWlhv21b5tNvQGFLRERv70qyzSmkNarLuFqkjeRxzX/FuNLlDKoCohsFSA2TsFVLqWQ6+sK0qpQUtpXZXPJUGTr1UQQVE5LLnDgvAjp3bFj6pIqkxKyFfdz+Ekuwuxcg2PnVti0JS34oysFnilC1x1ZtbaR3v7iG3th51GULat6FngdLpMDIY6tM7W+563nWJ6VZqg5fa4J1OKqfFmxPtp+vR6sNwpKCO09joUDYG0FdP9tKMw03EdEhe14tynWZD82mv92rCASETxdFOm91y5Q05gz0jyB6Os3Yp51GN6+r1uCMrS4EI4Rm5ZD1Rh2ewXVDRo4DoOhe4M5K4hXSbVqp9b9juhjWZ2SuWYYsaNEjlp+301PZ9WerZhwnMzirDddO2S1nvGt7tOqDfqYfAXhNli8qwBO6KzhoAI51CzTJKl+HHrV2w2FzY1tZKMVLkGqeRjjND9ATn0lTvyo5bM9Z+xOipbtTYRDPaUYc3hnRe7uWUJxBEvB94XhFAgJU+XVJbESB9za0rkmmVCnbclZWBsN3t+JiZGJZNHj9922LgJrE2W3dAiXWwuNdliME6qPslq7KGd8/7RPG4HemyqHCrx3o2gKXrditATkDJi4ZUTsvcVwU/mtTmwHsJOxHYsVfBl87PFqtmmztX5XI+NhlDF081jbpQqO+hQscDpwV5pRkhJL3t11WYANX90hzymDw3txbz6KKEYmrv7MMGzDzcdq3s6n6yTRxZFFy93TqZufHYAjr4AtuiWzc9DnTMkcvS15DjltpBC2itdZ/BQiQ36OSnZ92CS0y8dLRRkQitD4ZJd8hiNjyF9qd+l8C5m75u8qiPy9AG+9Abwia2FOMcrWXLvNUpRr031+4IdnZ7ybDK+YiLxPLYR+tuE4mB1RpnK2t4DuuL78UBYNc2TvfTQQBRMWKbiw7cgfcZvA65yFR96ZIOdsuxjY5eSejJvUHJMmEFVFl47ACdpEEd1Z6xGfrGsfgeVr0sq6GTBS4vTfR6yamMSOJWx6KoQqyLa8u+1CKXxfTJIbs6QmdT9+2x+6SRHdLYdinmpS/nRzb2hkuxBd3ZXa05pjKLjKS6e7FNfMDSd7IhAFyusyyu20v48u0kgkgkHA1AUI+t2ObA92f1FkhblN6mJlWG3MkQA+RYfLAPczAbWOyGqkpFLJYZTYwN5uGSSHvupdWx6zACVepbWIzjeuiu3FI1FOPuAi8jOJyvM87QslGWAaKc686nONqQsWIHUy5PHyHJZDO48Y5mRsZ41CbS6cDTxPvuFpUSpybHKLbXgiZjB+KVQflufoxyNI2QR+s1rrRalcfSKKAeyhTm7Qh73IHw0ZOKlJljgZshi65njyZLvGIUesK89cvA2S5ro8B4pCtvFu0211uqQ32KAiPwVk3H3XwIOZYyCyreHdG2OXrrcgDi3tBjqaf9GFLWI0HHOM22NfbIMetcLGFuDCC43zYpcbB7neQZ4fDqYLVo3sR2UTnRRv3Ezs4pkQF4VudA4/sTgmAx1JVUGu1eS0z37aBeRBHDdcEI6aCrHmqE5R2R8JZAJSumD8JBHYRd+tsdbwJmiShIrfix7qPlurzjHeIMF5pL4xRrfoL1YGl3NAx3O6GUJfHiRQwXgkHdI3AeqhibhOzCAWKkVvMwU58GZFpxPpEaClNdtmVZvBLlS8f5Ucs9+/Fi1GMcyUDTtrOBHeqH3da+4fBHK5xExxpWABlq7V67DTZXujdFgzroPgAbVRnbcRu6qaLStDgTlVKIxBtNcljqq8AZlhDmsnpbsjw+rpv0FNUlaYAADDvf1wa1ZxVDlG1ghjYIDcewfeFNdge2TdNTtm5pefLUy4aadlSY6jjCGHF80oa+aVlq06U+rZZE1KDboti1qdjlFNvh2O/6aNetNdis+Tkp6jSo4zHt2kypZuW2X6ZY0gSuz9mWPsVKx5egF6NNx5bAZ3265bYStO7eCfcpH1c8Gpmdz20T2loHEaVzHcf7cyUauVxo4OPqxuTICEwbIEKO3fx1/Y3jrHSSy+bZVfVxf2OCpvTeQ+kM09xyhQt4TfW2qT8ZzUbvZ8S+CG/aWEH4KZc2jtC3w0gKLaNf355h3EzkotRAdlAZbGokYd7uNgHfVSNhtpzA+JZK6Lzj/vCWV4piO46bZ68HlyYyDiNcyW/UxOXNd3yKsFQB1uN063UfvTYEYGgOftdEcMUDsjkb4yh1aN7fUo5BrbC9j5AA” alt=”Color-Coded chart to demonstrate 4/5 school options for teachers and students.” width=”703″ height=”392″ />

    Benefits of a 4/5 school week

    1. Less teacher fatigue – Burn out is a real issue in the profession. The #2 reason why teachers are leaving the profession according to this K12Leaders study is lack of flexibility with their own schedule. Unlike most of the work world, getting a day off takes some major hoop jumping. Having a true off day every week would alleviate that rigidity.

    2. More mixed-age grouping – The factory model of churning students out into grade level sections based on age is almost as old as the school calendar. However, the early school house model had students of all ages in the same class. With this 4/5 model, there would likely be a need to mix students across grade levels. Removing age limits means that students are labeled based on ability of various subjects rather than just the date of their birth. (hint: future post coming in this series about this very subject!)

    3. Increased in individualized learning – Students in this model would each have their own path when it comes to achieving learning goals. Teaching and learning would become more project-based in a rotational model. With different teachers each day, students would own more of their learning path.

    4. No lost in-person academic time – With students attending school each day of the week, there are none of the seat time challenges that come with a 4-day learning week mentioned in Scenario 3.

    Challenges to the 4/5 model

    1. Lots of cheese moved – Out of all these rotating teachers and expanded 1-day enrichment periods mean looking at the school schedule in a completely different light. Special area teachers would also need a day off which could cause some issues with the enrichment day. In a system that is already hard to change, this would cause a lot of staff to wonder who moved their cheese.

    2. Larger class size – Taking 100 students and splitting them amongst 5 teachers isn’t a problem. Each teacher gets 20 kids. However, in this model, we are splitting them between 4 teachers as one is off every day. So that means an additional 4-5 students in each class.

    3. Lack of common planning times – In a team of 5 teachers, one is off every day of the week in this scenario. In order to coordinate this unique schedule, one teacher would have to come in on their off-day for planning purposes. That could be rotating between teacher off-days but would be a logistical challenge still.

    In summary

    All of the above scenarios may seem like a stretch. The reality is we are not only facing a teacher shortage, we are also facing a substitute teacher shortage. Any scenario a school puts in place needs to address that as well. Knowing that we likely won’t have an influx of money raising teacher salaries means we have to think differently about the demands on a teacher. Alleviating some of their stress by changing the weekly school schedule could be the first step in increasing teacher retention.

    What are your thoughts? Share your ideas and comments below as we try to figure out ways to go Forward to Different, because we sure aren’t going back to normal.

  • Forward to Different – Part 1 – Rethinking the School Calendar

    Forward to Different – Part 1 – Rethinking the School Calendar

     

    Editor’s Note: This the first in a series of blog posts reimagining how schools should move going forward. Taking to account the current state of K-12 schools, the increase in teachers and leaders leaving the field, and the tools we have available to us. Check out the overview post here.

    There is a long-standing belief that the school calendar was built around the agrarian calendar. Summers are off for kids in farming when in actuality, they would be most needed in the spring (for planting) and in the fall (for harvesting). Like many urban legends, this myth has become somewhat of a talking point narrative as to why a majority of U.S. schools have summer off.

    The truth is, our current “traditional” school calendar was set up as a compromise between rural and urban areas. Prior to the invention of air conditioning, keeping kids cooped up in sweltering buildings didn’t make much sense. So, it was agreed at the end of the 19th century that students take time off in the hot months of summer. The belief was that this would allow for kids to do other enriching activities (thus summer camps were born) and teachers could do some professional development.

    With this traditional calendar come some other side-effects that are still deep rooted in education today. One side effect is a deadline, based on birth date, to determine which kids are locked into certain grade levels. These grade levels then build basic assessments of knowledge and skills based on an average. Assessments take a pre-determined marker as the average and then say that the average student should be above that preset line.

    Entire economies are built around summers off with travel and family vacation. Mom and dad could plan to take a couple of weeks off from work to travel to see Marty Moose. Sure, many students experience the “summer slide”, but this has been the way of doing business in schools for over a century. But it doesn’t have to be. Below are all the different ways we could do school if we move forward to different.

    Traditional School Calendar (180 days)

    Let’s start with the one we know. 180 days of instruction. 12 weeks off in the summer. Students distributed based on age into grade levels and the year is split up into semesters, quarters, or trimesters. This has been the tried and true model since the late 1880’s. Some of the pros of the traditional calendar include a concentrated time frame for professional development. Another is the financial savings of not operating air conditioning of a school building during the hottest months. And of course, teachers do need time off to recharge their batteries, especially after these past couple of years.

    The downside of the traditional calendar can be seen in schools today. At-risk students tend to suffer a bigger “slide” during the summer. Those that need the most academic support often don’t have access to it. Those with a higher socio-economic status can provide tutoring and/or enrichment camps. The gap between the haves and have-nots continues to widen in this model.

    Professional development is also a challenge. Teachers are often bribed with extra pay (much deserved) or days off (also much deserved) to attend training in the summer. With those days held so sacred, much of the required training (like blood-born pathogens) occupies a teacher’s calendar. When actual professional learning takes place, it can’t be implemented right away because of the long break.

    Year-Round Calendars

    In this model, the days are split into either 60/20 (days on/off) or 45/15. Some models still have 180 days, but most countries add in a few more days as the United States has one of the shortest academic calendars in the world.

    In this model, there isn’t a long summer break but instead several breaks spread out through the year. Students are still grouped based on age in the traditional Year-Round model and the year is usually split into quarters or trimesters in an 11-month system.

    Two pie charts. One depicts the Traditional Calendar model, and the other a more Balanced Calendar as discussed in the article.

    Image Credit: https://www.screenflex.com/reasons-why-year-round-school-is-a-good-idea/

    Just a quick visual check of the models above shows the differences when you spread the academic time throughout the year. Cons of this model generally come from those that don’t want to lose their summer or from schools trying to save money in the summer by closing down buildings and saving on electricity. Sports camps (especially football) also feel the squeeze when summer isn’t 60+ days long. Parents would need child care options, but that is also an issue in the summer. If all schools had a similar schedule, pop-up camps and other enrichment type businesses could emerge for those parents that need a place to physically house their children during the work day.

    The are many pros to this model, including a smaller summer gap for students to fall behind. With more frequent gaps, teachers and students get time to recharge their batteries and reduce stress levels. Professional learning can be ongoing and throughout the year. Vacations now have more options for travel, including “off-peak” times that don’t include summer.

    Students struggling academically don’t have to wait an entire year before summer school arrives to help them recover. There can be opportunities provided by teaching staff during breaks (for an additional stipend) to help support those students that need it. Teachers can assess their students’ needs and spend quality time adjusting lessons as needed, rather than doing it during lengthy after school or weekend times.

    More breaks throughout the year could also help teachers when it comes to the daily errands of life. Getting oil changes, doctors appointments, tire replacements, vet visits, etc. get kicked to the summer or take days off in the traditional model. School might lose some savings from having their buildings operating during more summer months, but they also have more breaks to update and fix parts of the school.

    This model would be the first step into a different direction. Some private schools, charters and even a few public institutions are using this model now in the U.S. It would take federal and state guidance to make this model the norm and breaking us out of the 1800’s. That said, if we switch to year round calendars, other options, like those below, become more possible.

    Multi-track year-round systems.

    There will likely always be a marker to denote where a student is on the academic spectrum. But that marker should be based on their learning growth, not their age. The traditional school calendar keeps the age-based grade level system locked in place. It takes a lot to advance a student or retain a student an entire year, often affecting the student socially and emotionally in the process.

    In a year round scenario, students could jump up to a different level in between breaks rather than wait for the summer break. Would this be disruptive to some classroom environments with already established norms? Yes. But if enough students earned the move up, a new section could be formed and another dissolved to balance costs.

    Staggering and mixing students based on ability can increase diversity and differentiation of learning. In a true multi-track model, certain cohorts of students would be off while other students remain “on”. This means you could have more students enrolled in a school than the traditional capacity as well.

    The challenges of this model, besides logistics and traditionalism, are that they school year is constantly resetting every break. All the other traditional benefits of the current calendar are also affected like state-testing, athletics, graduation events, parent conferences, etc. Teachers and support staff would have to be adept and flexible when it comes to instruction, making a traditional “lecture-based” model more difficult. Grading systems would need to pivot to a more standards-based approach as well since learning is rated based on mastery of a topic rather than getting a good grade on a homework assignment or quiz.

    This type of model certainly moves a lot of cheese, but it also could be the most beneficial to student learning and true personalization. A project-based school would have much better success attempting a model like this than a traditional school system. Now, if we really wanted to move to something different, this last model could be it.

    Year-Round Hybrid Multi-Level

    Educators shudder at the word “hybrid” these days as they harken back to the beginning of the pandemic when they had to teach kids online and in-person simultaneously. That is not the version of hybrid I’m referring to here.

    In a year-round hybrid model, school would exist in two simultaneous models. Students would follow a multi-track year round in-person schedule supplemented at times with an online experience. Teachers wouldn’t be teaching these online components in real-time. The classes would be project or challenge-based and students would be able to determine their own pathway during off-time.

    Vacations could still happen. Students can log in as often as they want or until they mastered their objective. This new version of homework would be less about practice and more about deeper understanding. Worksheets replaced with world-building and connecting.

    Students could attend classes outside of their geographic area (hint – future blog post coming on this). During their in-person “off time” they could learn another language, master math objectives, or design an app for their future business. This calendar looks the most messy of all as the online component would happen during various quarters or trimesters potentially. Here’s a look at what that might entail for a student.

    Two pie charts, with one of them being overlayed on top of the other. The bottom pie chart is a Year-Round Hybrid with the Online Overlay on top.

    In the above model, a student attends year round in-person school, potentially jumping up levels in various subject areas between breaks. Meanwhile, they are working on additional online learning either in an area they are passionate about or in an area where they need extra support.

    As with in-person school, there would need to be some built in breaks for online learning. These “Off line” times could coincide with in-person breaks so that students could achieve true “down time”. An online advisor/mentor would help them through this part of their school day and help them connect with the right resources and instructors as needed.

    Time is a limited resource

    No matter what calendar or ideology a school chooses, balancing academic time and down time is a challenge. There is no, one-size-fits-all scenario in education, but creating calendars and possibly online components that allow for flexibility is a step towards true personalized learning. There are many permutations of the methods I’ve suggested above that exist, but for reasons of traditionalism, they never take hold and achieve wide-spread adoption. It’s going to take leadership at the state or federal level to truly make that happen.

    Please share your own thoughts in the comments below. What am I missing? What more could we do as we head Forward to Different?

  • Designing Media Literacy Choice Boards for Current Events

    Designing Media Literacy Choice Boards for Current Events

    At the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in late February 2022, we developed a Ukraine-Russia Conflict 2022 Media Literacy Choice Board to support students and teachers in exploring current events from a critical media literacy perspective. To engage in critical media literacy is to access, analyze, and produce a variety of media, with a particular focus on the ‘behind-the-scenes’ work of ownership, production, and distribution of media. The Ukraine-Russia Conflict 2022 media literacy choice board asks students to critically investigate and construct new ways to interact with the information about the Russian invasion of Ukraine from the news, television, social media, and other media outlets.

    After sharing our Choice Board on social media and receiving an enthusiastic response, including more than 9,000 views on Twitter and 250 shares in Facebook groups for educators, we recognized that educators from across all grade levels and subjects are looking for ways to incorporate real world events into their classroom in real time. And critical media literacy is one such way to do this.

    The Russian invasion of Ukraine is part of what British investigative journalist Carole Cadwalladr has called the First Great Information War – a war she believes began in 2014 when a democratically elected leader replaced an ally of Valdmir Putin as President of Ukraine. Given the ubiquity of media and the Internet, it can be easy to fall prey to the barrage of misinformation and disinformation that shapes the way in which we understand global events.

    Information about the Russian invasion is coming in at a furious pace. Critical media literacy asks audiences to slow down and look closely at what is presented, watched, read, and listened to. By slowing down, and carefully analyzing texts through the tenets of critical media literacy, audiences may gather a greater understanding of both their own media use as well as the content of the events. This process is especially valuable for youth audiences for whom this may be the first global conflict with which they are grappling. Furthermore, it may be the first time that such highly contentious information pops into their social media feeds. Critical media literacy aims to support young people in their media use as well as their media understanding and sense making.

    Designing Digital Choice Boards

    As an interactive online visual display about a topic, digital choice boards are a powerful tool for literacy learning. With multiple entry-points for captivating the attention and interest of learners, choice boards can excite and propel student understanding and learning (Trust & Maloy, 2022).

    A digital choice board can be designed using any type of word processing software or design tool – from Microsoft Word and Google Docs to Google Slides and Canva. Like traditional paper-based choice boards, digital choice boards often are set up in a grid or box-like format with each box featuring a learning activity. Digital choice boards have the added benefit of being able to include direct links to online resources and digital tools that can advance and extend student thinking and learning. The “choice” aspect of digital choice boards comes into play when students get to choose which activities they would like to complete and/or which topics they would like to explore. For example, you might ask students to complete any three boxes or have each student in a group complete 2-3 boxes and then share what they uncovered during their activities with their groups (like a Jigsaw activity).

    When we design digital choice boards, we make sure each box includes the following elements: 1) interest-engaging topics and titles, 2) higher-order thinking activities, 3) hyperlinks to digital resources and/or tools, and 4) an image. 

    Interest-engaging topics and titles capture attention and motivate learning. For example, the title and content of the “Evaluate the News from All Sides” box on the Ukraine-Russia Conflict Media Literacy Choice Board draws attention to how news outlets don’t always paint the same picture of an event. Here we build on Maria Montessori’s focus on capturing attention and engaging students with a “point of interest” – in this case, examining how different news outlets present a current event.

    Students’ engagement is not complete with just an examination of different news outlets, though. They must then think critically about what they found and consider how to present that information to friends, family, and peers through a website, image, or video. The digital choice board box includes a link to Adobe Creative Cloud Express (formerly Adobe Spark), which supports the design of these types of learning materials. Here we are guided by Bloom’s Taxonomy and how students learn more deeply when they are asked to not only understand and remember information, but to continually create, evaluate, analyze and apply information through hands-on/minds-on activities.

    To engage students in higher-order critical media literacy thinking and learning, you might ask students to analyze their online search habits for a topic of interest, produce a news report about a current event, create an interactive digital story that draws connections between the past, present, and future, hand-draw an infographic to influence thinking (like William Edward Burghardt “W. E. B.” Du Bois did), or investigate an issue as a journalist. For more ideas, explore our free open access eBook Critical Media Literacy and Civic Learning.

    Finally, each box contains an image as a way to excite interest, convey meaning, and invite analysis. When selecting images, we strive to find #heading=h.4uw6j1z2sc2e” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener noreferrer”>public domain images, such as those from Wikimedia Commons, and include a link to the source site for students to learn more about the image. However, if we cannot find a public domain image that is related to the topic, we will seek out an image with a #heading=h.d5qmfz2k608i” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener noreferrer”>Creative Commons license or one that is permissible within the #h2_IWir” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener noreferrer”>Fair Use doctrine.

    For more examples of digital choice boards, take a look at the Black Lives Matter learning pathway and Influential Women learning pathway in our free open access eBook Building Democracy for All: Interactive Explorations of Government and Civic Life.

    Critical Media Literacy in a Media-Saturated World

    With our media-saturated world filled with vast amounts of disinformation and misinformation, critical media literacy activities presented in digital choice boards can inspire students to choose ways to critically interact with and construct their knowledge about global events in real time as they unfold. By engaging students in asking questions and thinking critically about the information they are getting, who is providing it to them, and why the information is provided to them, you are preparing students to become engaged citizens in a global society. 

    Authors

    This post was written by Robert W. Maloy, Ed.D., Allison Butler, Ph.D., and Torrey Trust, Ph.D.

    Robert W. Maloy is a senior lecturer in the College of Education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst where he coordinates the history teacher education program and co-directs the TEAMS Tutoring Project, a community engagement/service learning initiative 犀利士
    through which university students provide academic tutoring to culturally and linguistically diverse students in public schools throughout the Connecticut River Valley region of western Massachusetts. 

    Allison Butler is a Senior Lecturer, Director of Undergraduate Advising, and the Director of the Media Literacy Certificate Program in the Department of Communication at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she teaches courses on critical media literacy and representations of education in the media. Butler co-directs the grassroots organization, Mass Media Literacy (www.massmedialiteracy.org), where she develops and runs teacher trainings for the inclusion of critical media literacy in K-12 public schools. 

    Torrey Trust, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Learning Technology in the Department of Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies in the College of Education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her scholarship and teaching focus on how technology shapes educator and student learning. www.torreytrust.com