Hello Grizzlies!
Our students have been doing a great job this week attending their classes and getting used to a new routine. A routine can help to create consistency so that students are always ready to learn on time. As always, students should get plenty of sleep, eat a nutritious breakfast and get ready for school in the way that they normally would. Even though students don’t get to physically come to school, it’s important to keep these things in place to mark a clear difference between school time and free time. Likewise, we encourage students to keep a calendar or schedule and block out time to attend live (synchronous) classes as well as time to complete school work independently. These are useful tips to help us manage our time. Up to this point we have begun with a “soft start” to give everyone time to get familiar with the new schedule and with Canvas. In the coming weeks, the pace will pick up a bit, so it’s important to stay organized to make sure we can manage our time effectively.
With our new online system of learning, it’s important to know that AHS stands ready to be flexible and make adjustments as needed to make sure that distance learning can work for everyone. With that in mind, we developed a policy regarding student Zoom profile pictures and virtual backgrounds in order to make sure that students are still identifiable to their teacher and to ensure profile pictures and backgrounds do not become distracting to others. Profile pictures are important because if a student turns off their video for any reason, their profile picture becomes visible to the rest of the class and teacher. Please see the guidelines below which were shared earlier this week with teachers:
Student profile picture should be:
Students are not required to use a virtual Zoom background. However, if they choose to, a Zoom virtual background should be:
I thank our students and families for their understanding and cooperation. I hope that everyone has a good weekend and a successful upcoming week.
Thank you!
Benjamin Bell
Principal
Ashland High School