Henry Middle School

Dear HMS Parents and Students,

After additional planning and discussions among secondary principals and LISD district leaders, all LISD Secondary schools have decided to integrate the instructional practices of Virtual Empowered Learning into in-person instruction once students are allowed back into school buildings. This integrated approach, called Integrated Virtual Empowered Learning, allows the same high-quality virtual teaching practices that will be used during the first 3 weeks of school to continue for our students in the school building for in-person instruction after September 7th. If you have not read my previous communication to parents about the procedures that will be utilized on campus once in-person instruction begins, please Click Here.

With Integrated Virtual Empowered Learning, all students, whether they are in Virtual Empowered Learning remotely or in-person in the school building, will access the exact same live synchronous instruction from their teacher at the same time. Students physically inside the building will participate on their laptops, just like the virtual students. Both groups of students get the same instruction at the same time. After a 90 minute class period is over, students inside the building will transition physically to the next classroom to participate in Integrated Virtual Empowered Learning with their next teacher which will also include a mix of in-person and virtual students learning remotely.

This instructional model allows the classroom teacher to customize the independent work portion of classroom instruction to include small-groups, conferences, check-ins with students, feedback on assignments, etc. with groups of students whose composition could include only virtual students, only in-person students, or a mixture of both at the same time. Independent work time will also consist of activities where students might work individually on projects, writing pieces, practice, and other class assignments.

Why Are LISD Secondary Schools Implementing Integrated Virtual Empowered Learning?

LISD Secondary schools are implementing Integrated Virtual Empowered Learning (IVEL) for several reasons:

1. The IVEL model allows for teachers and students to build stable, long-term relationships that will last the entire school year. With the 7-day average background positivity rate for Covid-19 in Williamson County currently over 20%, it is highly likely we will have coronavirus cases in our schools this fall. With the IVEL model, students can transition more smoothly from in-person to virtual and back again to in-person (either because of quarantine, illness, or parent choice) as they will have the same teachers, the same curriculum, and the same classmates regardless of the student’s location. In our previous model, where virtual classes were completely separate from in-person classes (different teachers and different classmates), a student moving between in-person to virtual (say for quarantine or illness) or changing from virtual to in-person (for parent choice) would be forced to have different teachers and classmates with every transition. We feel building long-term, stable teacher-student relationships will be critical for student learning and emotional support this school year, especially in a COVID-19 learning environment.
2. Teacher staffing for our previous model of in-person and Virtual Empowered Learning (VEL) had a major complication with which we could not find an adequate solution. For in-person classes to be socially distanced (student/teacher ratio of about 15:1) then the Virtual Empowered Learning classes would have to be staffed at a student/teacher ratio of approximately 45:1. Class sizes of 45 students in an academic course are not conducive to student learning regardless of whether it’s virtual or in-person. The teacher workload (class management, student feedback, grading, etc.) for the virtual teachers would also be overwhelming with virtual teachers responsible for approximately 270 students instead of a regular class load of 162 students (if a teacher taught 6 classes). With the Integrated Virtual Empowered Learning, each teacher is assigned classes of approximately 27 students each (162 students for 6 classes), since there is no difference between a virtual student or an in-person student when it comes to student schedules.
3. With the IVEL model, teachers will only have one preparation per course taught (all students access the instruction virtually regardless of their physical location). Under the previous model, many teachers would have to teach in both environments (in-person and virtual school) within the same school day thus doubling their lesson preparation for every course taught. The fewer preparations with which a teacher has to instructionally plan for daily allows them to focus more deeply on their lesson planning to create high-quality and engaging lessons for their students.
   
   

For these reasons, we believe the Integrated Virtual Empowered Learning model will allow for the development of stronger teacher/student relationships, more stable instructional arrangements for students throughout the school year, increased student achievement, and has the most likelihood of success during this unprecedented pandemic.

If you have not already done so, please complete the Virtual/In-Person Selection Form as soon as possible to help us prepare for the 2020-21 school year. Parents and guardians will have until August 6th to submit their choices. The selection form also includes questions about internet accessibility so we can work with individual households to ensure connectivity and access to learning resources.

If you have any questions about LISD plans for either in-person or virtual classroom instruction, please do not hesitate to contact me at David.Ellis@Leanderisd.org.

Sincerely,

David Ellis

Principal

Henry Middle School