DDs have been in school for about a month now (DD2 started first week of August, DD1 2nd week of August). DD1 is a freshman in high school, has different classes every day, but is very meticulous and self-sufficient. No problems with her yet....DD2 is in 6th grade and returned to the same K-8 public school she's already been in so she knows the routine. She also has 3-4 (or more?) special apps for math, English, etc. She seems to be navigating it well. Or so I thought. But Long Distance Learning has instituted a whole new system and I think everyone is frustrated with the tech challenges.
I got a lengthy email from the art teacher yesterday afternoon (on a SATURDAY!), and she also made sure to cc the 6th grade teacher and the principal. I don't know if she copied and pasted it to every student who didn't submit artwork but she laments that DD2 hasn't submitted a single assignment (and "half the trimester is done"). She also says she has "requested and instructed and discussed and reviewed and rather exhaustively explored" the process of taking photos of their art and uploading it to Google Classroom. Then she added that she also gave the students a "tedious lecture" on Monday of this past week that the deadline to submit work was Friday. It was quite a dramatic email. I can clearly tell she is frustrated that DD2 (and likely some other students) aren't following her instructions.
DD2 has been showing me her artwork over the past month (since I work from home full-time) so I know she's been doing the work. I was immediately embarrassed and lectured DD2 about being responsible and asked how could she not submit her work when I know full well she has done it?!?!
Apparently, DD2's Chromebook doesn't have a good camera so she was taking photos on her iPad but couldn't figure out how to get it to Google Classroom. Instead, she pasted the photo into an email to her teacher and has been doing that. I asked her what the teacher replied and she showed me that the teacher asked her to upload it to Google Classroom. DD2 basically just ignored the reply and kept emailing them!
I went back and re-read the art teacher's email. She wrote, "[DD2] HAS sent some through gmail, which is a little like not quite finishing the work." Well, technically, she did submit it but the teacher gave her a 0 on all the assignments so DD2 has an F in Art.
I immediately downloaded the Google Classroom app to DD2's iPad and watched her upload each of the 7 art photos to Google Classroom. I wrote an apologetic email to the art teacher, principal, and 6th grade teacher acknowledging that I should have been more closely monitoring DD2 (despite the fact that I'm working full-time). I also was a bit annoyed that the art teacher only emailed me (DH did not get an email) so I added him to the email and explained he's seeing patients so I am the only one home to monitor DD2.
I also had DD2 write an apology email to the art teacher (cc'ing the principal and 6th grade teacher). I was frustrated that DD2 did not ask for help when she couldn't figure out how to get the art to Google Classroom and then just ignored her art teacher's email asking her to still upload to Google Classroom. When we talked about it, DD2 explained she didn't want to bother me as she's seen how stressed I've been with work. Of course that made me feel so guilty. I reassured her that even if I can't help her immediately because I'm in a Zoom meeting or on a deadline, I will always make time for her.
So yeah, that's how month 1 of LDL has been going for us. Anyone else having a similarly frustrating time due to the new tech requirements?