Day One - Done!

Woo hoo!  You made it through the first day of the new year.  I know that there were some stressful moments for some students.  I will remind you again to use my blog post from yesterday if you are having trouble following the access steps.

But... the number one question/ concern that I heard today was "my Schoology course isn't showing up."  It took a little bit of time and one very aware student who ended up finding the solution to this problem and so I'd like to share it with you just in case you run into this issue tomorrow for any of your courses.

When you get to your courses on Schoology, you see them all as boxes of tiled course titles.  There are only so many tiles on a page.  (I don't know why - it just is.)  But on the right hand side of that same page with all of the tiled courses there is a blue hyperlink that says "My Courses" and if you click on that then it brings up all of your classes as a list.  When you get the list of classes it will show ALL of your classes and not just the tiles that happen to appear on the initial course screen.

Good luck tomorrow with the rest of your classes!  Also, please don't forget to do the work that your teachers provided you today to work on independently tomorrow.

A School Night

It's a school night!  It's been over 5 months since you went to bed knowing that you had to be up for classes at a particular time the next day.  I know that it will be quite a bit easier to adjust to the start since your first class won't begin until 9am, but if you have been sleeping until noon every day, tomorrow morning is going to be rough... so please, try to go to bed soon!  :-)

My email inbox has been FLOODED all weekend with students asking how this will work.  And my guess is that once you make it through tomorrow your fears and uncertainty will quickly fade away.  But here is my quick reminders to you before tomorrow...

1. This is school!  Be prepared.  Have paper, pencil/ pen, calculator (depending on the class), and any of the materials left in your bag that you picked up from school that pertain to the class readily accessible to you when it is time for that particular course.  

2. Log in on time.  Camera on and microphone off unless your teacher directs you otherwise.

3. When you log in - you can go to the new portal access point: http://wscloud.helloid.com/ from there you will log in using your wscloud email (without the @wscloud.org part) and password.  

4. You will then see a range of applications - Schoology will hopefully show up on your list, but if it doesn't just search for it and select it.

5. By selecting Schoology you will then see all of your classes.  Pick the class for your assigned time.  Just a reminder here is the link to the whole schedule, but tomorrow 1st, 2nd, 5th and 6th periods are the classes that will meet.  The Zoom links for your classes will be in that class Schoology page.

6. You have 10 minutes between 1st and 2nd and again between 5th and 6th periods.  Get up and MOVE!  Use the restroom, get a drink or snack, run up and down the stairs a few times, walk outside and take a lap around your house.  It will be an adjustment to keeping your brain fully engaged for the hour of online learning so help yourself in that effort by not just sitting at your computer for 2 hours and 10 minutes straight.

7. People have asked other things such as "what is connections" and we have posted additional resources on the WKHS Counselor page - www.wkhscounselors.com - to help answer some of those and to have one place where the information that the administrators or district staff have sent home to help use Schoology.  Check the website if you have questions or feel free to email me.  Just be patient as I try to respond to help everyone who has questions.  (Even as I am sitting here writing this 6 emails have arrived to my inbox...)

8. And last, but definitely not least, remember that we are all in this together.  I know there will be some hiccups.  There always is on every first day, but we will get through it.  There is a learning curve to this and you absolutely WILL adjust just like your teachers will and I'm still here to try to help support you because we are Worthington Strong and we have made it through far more challenging times than how we do remote learning... so this, we can do this!

CC+ Class Questions

There are lots of questions coming my way every hour of every day related to how things will work with the remote schedule, but there is no question that the most common question has been about the CSCC CC+ Classes.

Let me first remind you that I am NOT talking about your COTC Math CC+ classes.  Those classes are taught by a WKHS teacher and are functioning EXACTLY like all of the other WKHS classes.

But the CSCC classes... those are taught by professors from CSCC and they are COMPLETELY different from the WKHS classes.

You need to forget what we talked about last winter when you were doing your schedule planning and we talked about how classes would meet for 2 periods twice a week.  That is gone now.  CSCC is completely online.  There is NOT a designated meeting time for your classes.  You will do the work when it works for you and you MUST stay on top of it.  I know that for some students, this will be a struggle.  You know yourself and what you can juggle.  If you are not going to be successful in this format, let's talk about your schedule and if keeping the CSCC CC+ class in this completely remote format is going to be setting you up for success or failure.  There is no question you are smart enough to do this work - it is just going to be a question of are you prepared to be disciplined enough to do the work.

Yes, I know your schedules still show your CSCC CC+ classes during particular periods.  In Infinite Campus that is to help reflect what you are actually taking.  On the sheets that they printed out what your schedule would look like - don't worry about where they put or didn't put the CC+ courses.  The mail merge didn't really know what to do with those classes because they aren't typical HS courses - they take up 2 periods and there were often two classes set in the same periods... so the computer didn't know how to process all of that on your print out.  Please don't let that stress you out or confuse you!

The bottom line is that your HS classes are synchronous.  You will all log in at the same time on the same days and learn the same material.

Your CSCC CC+ classes are ASYNCHRONOUS.  Meaning that you will NOT be online with your whole class working at the same time.

One thing that I actually do love about this new format is that all of you who are taking a CC+ class will hopefully get practice in reaching out to your professors through their office hours.  This is something that a lot of times when the professors are coming to Kilbourne to teach students don't always take advantage of, but now, since the teaching will be so different, I am thankful that you will get used to using the office hours of your professors.  Looking back at my college years, that is one of the greatest lessons I had to learn and it paid off in many ways to be able to meet and work with my professors through their office hours.  So this is not all bad, but it will be different... and it IS different than your WKHS classes.

Keep sending me your questions.  I want to make sure you feel as prepared for Monday as possible!

Fall ACT/ SAT Testing

The ACT/ SAT College Admissions tests have been completely frustrating for seniors who had hoped to test in the spring or summer.  Many colleges are giving the option of students applying "test optional" and we will talk more about that in great detail in the future.  But for tonight, I want to remind you that if you are planning on taking either the ACT or the SAT this fall you need to register ASAP... and you need to understand that there are very limited locations available for testing so you may be frustrated as you realize you will have to drive somewhere a distance away to be able to test.

For the September 26th SAT, today is the deadline to register without a late fee.  (Sorry that I'm just now getting this reminder posted for you.)

For the September ACT tests they now have 3 test dates: Saturday the 12th, Sunday the 13th and Saturday the 19th for students to pick from and the registration deadline for all 3 of those tests is Monday, August 31st.

In October the ACT will have 4 test dates (2 Saturday and 2 Sunday dates on back to back weekends) and the registration deadline for all of those is September 17th.

The SAT will have one test in October, one in November and one in December.  The registration deadline for the October SAT test is also next week, September 4th.

So, if you have spent part of your summer preparing for the ACT/ SAT or want to give it another shot knowing that most students tend to do better on the tests when they take them a 2nd time, watch your deadlines and make sure you sign up for a test date that works for you.

How are you?

If I were face to face with you right now and asked "How are you?" what would you say in reply?  Let's be honest, most of us hear that and just assume it is an in passing greeting and not really a question so we would quickly respond back with "good," "fine," or "okay."  And hopefully all of those responses apply and are true, but can we go a little deeper for a second?

How many of you feel almost as if you are holding your breath?  Are you feeling almost like you are walking on egg shells watching and waiting to see what twist is coming next?  In the brief conversations I have had with some of my students as we work on schedule changes and the start of college stuff, I think this is a really common feeling that most of us are experiencing.  The uncertainty is tough!  Not knowing if we are just going to stay remote learning or if we are going to switch back to hybrid is tough.  Not knowing if we get to come back to hybrid if we will then have to switch back to remote again is tough.  But, here is what I know for sure... you CAN do challenging things!  I have seen it!  I have watched students overcome obstacles far greater than learning remotely or adjusting back and forth between remote and hybrid.  

So I am going to encourage you to exhale!  For real, pause right now and breathe out.  Let some of that tension from your shoulders, jaw, and chest relax out at least for a moment.

Even though there is so much unknown yet to come, I need to remind you that there is a lot that is for sure...

1. Your WKHS teachers want to make this new learning set up work for you.  

2.  It will be different, but different isn't always bad.  (In fact, today was our first ever Common App 101 Workshop and I am so thankful that we were able to do that!  It was great to see students remotely and hopefully all of the attendees got a solid jump start on their Common App.  Seniors, if you didn't attend today's workshop there is one tomorrow, Wednesday, and Thursday so check your wscloud email and register for one!  But I am giving the workshop as an example, because it is something we had never done before, but now, with the platform of being able to have kids on their own computers and with the extra time when you wouldn't have to miss classes, we were able to do something that we think is important for students and had been on our wish list of things to do in past years.)

3. You can manage this stress.  I am here to help support you as are your teachers and your family.  And, when I ask "How are you?" I really mean it and would like to hear your genuine answer.

4. I believe in you!  You have been through hard times before and have overcome things that weren't going the way you wanted.  You can do that again.  Try to believe in yourself, and if you are struggling to hold onto that hope, please know I will help hold onto it for you.

5.  This will get better.  I don't know what the future holds.  I can't say what we will be doing in 2 months, 2 weeks or even 2 days, but truly, we never actually know that.  So this is a good chance for all of us to try to stay in the moment and focus on today and the areas where we can actually have some influence. (And yes, this is a message for me as much as for any of you because I really, and I mean REALLY, like to try to have control.) But even if it is hard to see right now, it will get better.

6.  I am still here to support you!  Let me know how things are going and remember that you never have to tackle any of these stressors alone.  

Breathe out again... release that tension... I believe that next week once you start getting into the new structure and rhythm of school it will make everything feel at least a little better.

Remote Learning 2.0

How are you feeling about the fact that we will be on remote learning to start the school year?  I have heard people talking that they believe it will be a really easy format and way to learn.  And I need to clarify something to make sure that you are all completely aware... this is NOT going to be the same as last spring!

Last spring, we were all in crisis mode.  It was as if the world was turned upside down and we all were making do in the best way possible to finish out the year as effectively as we could.  But now your teachers have worked hard all summer to learn, push themselves, and grow in technological approaches.  The district has invested in platform opportunities and chromebook resources.  This fall, we will be doing remote learning, but I like to think of it as Remote Learning 2.0.  Bigger, better, and definitely improved.

But, here is the thing... this new format will be different than what you have experienced before.  This won't be primarily review of past content.  This is full go learning.  And you can TOTALLY do this!  But it will be different and it will have some growing pains as you adjust to the new format.

So let's talk about what will be expected of you...

I assume by now you have seen the schedule for remote learning.  All students will be expected to attend the online, live class sessions via zoom during your designated class period just as if you were in school.  You will only have to sit through 4 classes a day (except for Fridays) because we know that sitting and staring at a screen non-stop can give you "zoom burn out."  On Fridays, the schedule is shorter periods, but students get to interact with and see all of your teachers across the whole day.  This way you end the week with that oppotunity to touch base with your teacher and clarify that you understand what you need to work on over the weekend so that you are ready again when we get to the new week.

Because all students in every grade will be expected to log online at designated times each day to work with their teachers, sharing devices will be a challenge.  If you normally share a computer or chromebook with others in your family, I would suggest that you sign up to request a loaner chromebook that you can use this fall.  And if there are 3 kids in your family that are all in school and you only have one device, you will want to sign up for 2 more devices so that everyone has one to be able to use.  You definitely don't want to be marked for a class "cut" because you couldn't join zoom because you didn't have a device to use.

Even though you will only have 4 classes that meet live Monday-Thursday, you will have independent work that you will be expected to work on EVERY day.  This means, perhaps even more than when you were face to face with teachers, you need to have some type of an organization system that you will use to track your school work assignments so that you don't get confused on what you need to do and by when.  I don't care if that is a calendar, a planner, a to-do list, post-it notes on your wall, a dry-erase board, an app, or the reminders in your phone, but you need to start thinking about how you will get organized and prepare yourself to learn successfully this school year.

School supplies are also still needed even though you will be learning at home.  I can't even begin to count the number of times that I would be zooming with students over the last few months and we would be trying to do a math problem and they'd say they didn't have their calculator nearby or we were working on science and I'd suggest they jot down a key point that was made in a video only to learn that the student didn't have anything to write on or with nearby.  That will NOT work.  You wouldn't come to school with absolutely nothing... this is school.  So you will still need your pens, pencils, paper, notebooks, folders, etc.  Setting up an area where you will keep all of your school supplies will help you be prepared and ready to learn. I don't care if it is your backpack and you're going to carry it with you if you and your chromebook are going to go to different areas to study, but I will say that most students find it way more successful if they set up a designated area in their house or their room where they will go to do their work - ideally a spot that is free from other distractions.  For example, maybe you want to work in bed, but you know that if you are in bed you are not going to focus, take notes, or be engaged with the learning.  As a result, you may choose to use the kitchen or dining room table as your work area.  Or, if your kitchen is the center hub of your house and your parents are working at home or your grandma lives with you and will be cooking and watching soap operas loud in the next room, this might not be the best choice.  So in that case, maybe there is a small table you could set up in a corner of your room or in the hallway away from distractions.  It isn't really about where you are working - it is about where the dynamics and circumstances will be best for setting you up for success.  I will remind you that if you play video games on the same computer you will be using for school work, that you are probably going to have to give yourself some type of visual and physical cues to remind yourself that this is school time and not relaxing time - especially in the beginning.  After summer break, that transition away from constant relaxation time is always a shock - when you don't have the physical cues of driving to school to help get yourself in the right frame of mind for learning, you will need to create some of those cues for yourself.  I promise, it really does work and help!

You will be zooming every day starting at 9:00am.  That also means that for those of you who, last spring, spent the day sleeping until 12 (or 2) will have to make sure your sleep schedule is adjusted so that you are awake and functioning at 9am each day.  No more procrastinating on your school work each day until the wee hours of the night knowing that you could sleep in during the morning.

Teachers will all be using Schoology as the standard platform for students to use for their classes.  I know that will be an adjustment for some students and parents, but it appears to be pretty straightforward and clear on where you find information and how to use and navigate it.  I took an implicit bias class using schoology over the summer and quickly learned how to move through the different features of the class so I am confident that will be easy for you as well.

I have also had lots of students asking about CC+ classes.  If you are taking your classes with a CSCC Instructor, then your class will be completely remote and on your own time schedule for the fall semester.  If you are taking a math CC+ Class through COTC with a WKHS teacher then you will be following the typical Worthington school schedule.

Last, but perhaps most importantly, I need to stress to all of you the importance of regularly using your wscloud email account.  That is one of the key ways that your teachers (and others like me) will be using to communicate with you.

I know that it is hard for us to still be dealing with the effects of COVID impacting our lives, but this is a great opportunity for you to learn, grow, and push yourself in new ways... and I have complete faith in you and our teachers that we will be able to have a great year no matter how distanced we are at any point in time.  Remember, I am still here and am just an email or phone call away if you are struggling or need to talk.

Information To Know...

 I have been waiting for additional information so that I could share it with students and parents and today, our first day back at school, seemed to open the information floodgates.  As a result, I have a lot of details and events to share with you, but I will try to keep it as simple as I can.

• Schedules are now available!  If you log into Infinite Campus you will be able to see your course schedule for this coming school year.

• On Tuesday and Wednesday night, August 18th & 19th, the WKHS Administrators will be hosting live Q&A sessions for parents related to the start of the school year.  The remote learning schedule, attendance expectations, independent work guidelines, and more will be addressed as a part of each session.  On Tuesday, August 18th there is a session at 6:30pm and a session at 7:30pm.  And on Wednesday, August 19th the session is at 6:30pm.  These are open to families in every grade and parents should have received an email with the zoom links and password in your email today.

• Seniors... We are going to be hosting College Kickoff Workshops next week!  These are a great time for you to get moving with your college applications.  We will host 3-4 of each workshop so that you can select the date/ time that will work best with your schedule.  Sign up soon though because space will be limited in each session. Seniors will be sent a link to register for these workshops tomorrow, but here is your first chance to register: https://forms.gle/fUzBb6dsfrkKHv4RA  (For the parents who read this, please note that these workshops are for students only.)

• Common App 101 Workshop: This workshop will walk students through the sections of the Common Application and help answer many typical questions and provide input so that you can avoid frequent Common App errors.  There will be 4 sessions of this workshop.
• Monday, August 24th at noon (Hint, hint... all of the sessions are open to all students, but for my students, if you want me to be your facilitator in the workshop, this is the session you'd want to register for as this is the one I will be leading.)
• Tuesday, August 25th at 2:00pm
• Wednesday, August 26th at 10:00am
• Thursday, August 27th at 11:00am

• College Essay Topic Brainstorming Workshop: This workshop will help students to generate ideas for unique, interesting college and scholarship essay topics.  (I will be taking the lead on all of these workshops with assistance from the other counselors so I will get to see you for any of them.)
• Tuesday, August 25th at Noon
• Wednesday, August 26th at 1:00pm
• Thursday, August 27th at 2:00pm

• Back to school drive through pick up of books and materials.  All needed text books for student schedules and any other resources and supplies are being bagged up for students/ families to pick up based upon student last name.  As long as families have requested Chromebooks, internet hot spots, and loaner calculator's in advance, then we hope to be able to have those ready for distribution during this pick up time.  Please remember, with all students being expected to log in during the school day at designated times, if you have more than 1 person in your family that is currently in school, you will likely each need your own device and the district is working hard to make sure we will be able to meet that need.  So please, be honest and communicate your needs to us.  I can't guarantee we will be able to meet it, but I do promise that if you tell us what you or your family is needing then we will do our very best to help!  If you aren't sure who to communicate your needs to, just send me an email as your starting point.  Also, if you or your parent cannot come during your designated time, please call Student Services at 614-450-6455 to arrange for a different time to pick up your books and materials.
• Tuesday, August 25th: 8:30-10:30am - Last names A-D
• Tuesday, August 25th: 12:30-2:30pm - Last names E-K
• Wednesday, August 26th: 8:30-10:30am - Last names L-P
• Wednesday, August 26th: 12:30-2:30pm - Last names Q-Z

• School starts on Monday, August 31st!  If you have summer work for your Honors, AP or IB classes, please make sure you are finishing that up before the first day of school.  Also, if you are in a CC+ class with CSCC for the first time, don't forget to do your online orientation meetings this week!  (You have an email from Mrs. Gratz or Mrs. Mann about the online orientations if you are registered for a CSCC CC+ class this fall.)

Resume

I'd like to encourage every student to put together a resume (or update one you have already started.)  You can do this informally on a sheet of paper - as long as you are confident you won't use it or you can type it in bullet points or using a formal resume template.  The format isn't nearly as important as having an organized, detailed list.

For what it is worth, most word document programs have a template, but they aren't necessarily focused on the types of activities and format that high school students might prefer and find applicable.  The Ohio Means Jobs K-12 website has a resume option that some students have liked using so that is also an option you can check out.

Examples of information that you should include in your resume:
- all of your activities including clubs, community groups, and sports
- awards received - it is helpful to know the award name, who it was from and the reason for the recognition
- community service commitments with hours (total or weekly)
- employment with hours (estimated weekly)

Adding to and keeping this resume list updated is an important step for students of every age, but especially for seniors, because when you sit down to start working on your college applications they are going to ask you over and over again to list out these types of items so having a complete list available as a reference is key. 

I also hope it goes without saying that not only should the list be complete, but it should also be ACCURATE! Do NOT make up activities, awards, or other involvement that you did not participate in and did not earn!

Wscloud Email Access

Have you tried to access your wscloud email account lately?  The district has made updates to the login page and, as a result, the way you will login to all of your Worthington technology resources has now changed.

Students and parents will use a new login page: wscloud.helloid.com 

I suggest that you bookmark that page so that you have it for easy access in the future.  This will serve as your new single point of entry.  When you go to this page it will ask about accessing your camera, but that is not needed for HS students.  

A key component that you will need to know is that your user id is the beginning of your email address without the "@wscloud.org" part.  So it will just be the first two letters of your name and the 4 numbers which follow it.  Your password is the same as it has been in the past.

If you still have any problems with it, please check the document linked on the WKHS Counselor website.

August 1st

Today is August 1st... do you know what that means?  For seniors, it means that it is officially college application time!  :-)  Woohoo!  Here we go!

Common App went live today for the students in the Class of 2021.  I have been on their website exploring and the updated site looks user-friendly and straight-forward.  Granted, I say that having worked with the system a lot and I know that it isn't always quite as easy for all of you who will be working on applications for the first time.

In fact, let me back up a step... the Common Application is a centralized application that students can complete for over 850 different colleges using this one application. The colleges that participate in this application commit to treating applications received through the Common App with the same consideration as if students had applied through the institutions individual application or through the Coalition Application. This will generally mean that you have to spend less time filling out all of the basic information about yourself and can mean that you have fewer essays to write (but maybe not).

On the Common App there is a 650 word essay that typically must be completed for all colleges, but you do have a choice about what essay to pick from a list of prompts.  There are some colleges which will identify the essay as being optional.  We probably need to talk about how "optional" the optional essay really is so before you decide to skip it completely, let's discuss it.  And then for this year there is an "optional" COVID essay question of 250 words.  The other optional essay is to give you the chance to explain any special circumstances.  Most students won't need that one, but if you do, we have likely already talked about it previously.

One of the more confusing parts of the Common App for many students is that in addition to the main and COVID essays, many of the colleges will also have supplements required which are other questions of their own that they want students to complete. Sometimes it is just simple questions that weren't covered on the Common App, but would have been if you had applied through their individual application, but often times it includes short or long answer essays. Be aware and be prepared for that when completing your application and read those questions in advance so you know what to expect.  You will find this information under the "My Colleges" tab and then select each college down the left side of the page and click on "Questions" under both Application and Writing Supplement for each of the colleges where you will be applying.

Not all schools use the common app, but a lot of them do.  There are 46 Ohio schools which will utilize the common application this year, so as you are getting ready to start applications for the schools you are considering it is worth looking to see if more than one school from your list utilizes the Common App.

I anticipate that I will be hosting zoom sessions to help walk interested groups of students through the Common App to be able to help you with specific details, but here are a few broad-overview things I want to make sure you are aware of to help as you are starting with your application...

- On the Explore section where you can look for colleges that use the Common Application there are search criteria filters that allow you to select colleges that don't require recommendation letters or don't require essays.  Both are good to know if you are doing things at the last second, but for what it is worth, that is NOT the best way to select your future college.  :-)  It made me laugh though because I am sure there are plenty of kids who will use that to help narrow their options in finding a school.

-  The general information that you will complete for all of the colleges is under the "Common App" tab.

- After you have selected your colleges and added them to your list you will see specific questions that each individual school wants to ask.  You will find these specific questions and writing supplement pages for the individual colleges under the "My Colleges" tab.  

-  If you have attended WKHS for all 4 years of high school, then you entered Kilbourne in August 2017.

-  Your graduation date is May 25, 2021.  (Exciting!)

-  It will ask you about other schools you have attended.  Obviously, if you moved into Worthington you have other schools to list, but I also want to remind you that if you took summer classes through a different school district (such as TRECA or K-12) then you need to include that school on your common app form too.

-  If you are a student who has or will be taking classes through College Credit Plus, you will list the schools in the Colleges and Universities section with the checkbox for "Dual Enrollment while in high school" marked.  Don't forget - if you are taking COTC math classes along with CSCC English or Psych types of classes that you would have 2 colleges to list.

-  I strongly encourage you to make a complete list of your activities and honors BEFORE attempting to fill out the Common App.  For example, you will need to give a total number of your honors before you start naming them.  If you haven't developed that resume list then you'll have a tough time filling it out.

-  In the activities section, you can write about your top 10 activities.  Be sure to put them in the order of importance to you.  You can use the arrows to move them up or down if you get out of order.

-  There is a student self-reporting transcript section called "Courses and Grades."  Please know that your transcripts WILL STILL BE SENT to the colleges so you absolutely MUST be sure that you enter the information in the system exactly like it appears on your transcript.  The good news is that once school starts again you will be able to download and print your transcript off of Infinite Campus to use when completing this section.  It is very straight forward to use, but I have to admit that you will likely find it a bit tedious.  For the record (although I suspect you know this), our grading scale is A-F and we are on semesters.  Also, when you are filling out this section the "Other Courses" section is where you will list any high school classes that you completed during middle school or summer school.

-  As you are working on each area there is a panel on the right side of the page titled "Help Center" and I found it helpful as I was going through the different areas.  Some of the typical questions kids have asked me in the past as they are completing the Common App are now answered in the help center.

Let the fun begin!  Good luck as you start working on your applications and keep an eye out for information for later in the month about the remote Common App Completion Workshops.