List Detail
Middle and Senior Schools
Community Expectations
Community of Respect
A community of respect is a code that we want to live by in any environment. It doesn’t matter if we are at home, at school, or with friends, we strive to show respect for others and should be able to expect respect in return. Classroom norms in a virtual environment promote a community of respect.
Community Space
While you are not at school in classrooms or the commons, you will share a virtual community space. This means that when you are on video with teachers or peers, students can comply with the community space expectations by setting up a space at home that is conducive to learning. This includes assuring that what or who is in the background of a video conference does not detract from the learning, and that additional devices are out of reach.
Academic Integrity
We expect that compliance with academic integrity will be a standard that you follow while in Virtual School. It may be even more tempting for you to plagiarize while at home. Please remember that using proper citations and putting things in your own words is essential to learning and doing your best work.
While Honor Council proceedings in the Senior School will not occur synchronously during Virtual School, the Honor Council will be consulted for any honor code violations and decisions will be made by the Dean of Student Experience and Head of Senior School.
Attendance
Attendance is required for all scheduled meetings, including classes, advisory, appointments with teachers, and community events. Faculty will use MySewickley to report attendance for classes and advisory and will send Official Notes for students who miss scheduled appointments. Families of Middle and Senior School students should contact the division office to report an excused absence for their child. In the Middle School, students will register their attendance each day through the Virtual Check-In linked in the daily student and family email. In the Senior School, students must attend no less than 80% of all scheduled class blocks to earn credit for a course. Only absences documented by medical professionals and communicated through the Sewickley Academy Support Team will be considered excused.
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Community of Respect
A community of respect is a code that we want to live by in any environment. It doesn’t matter if we are at home, at school, or with friends, we strive to show respect for others and should be able to expect respect in return. Classroom norms in a virtual environment promote a community of respect.
Community Space
While you are not at school in classrooms or the commons, you will share a virtual community space. This means that when you are on video with teachers or peers, students can comply with the community space expectations by setting up a space at home that is conducive to learning. This includes assuring that what or who is in the background of a video conference does not detract from the learning, and that additional devices are out of reach.
Academic Integrity
We expect that compliance with academic integrity will be a standard that you follow while in Virtual School. It may be even more tempting for you to plagiarize while at home. Please remember that using proper citations and putting things in your own words is essential to learning and doing your best work.
While Honor Council proceedings in the Senior School will not occur synchronously during Virtual School, the Honor Council will be consulted for any honor code violations and decisions will be made by the Dean of Student Experience and Head of Senior School.
Attendance
Attendance is required for all scheduled meetings, including classes, advisory, appointments with teachers, and community events. Faculty will use MySewickley to report attendance for classes and advisory and will send Official Notes for students who miss scheduled appointments. Families of Middle and Senior School students should contact the division office to report an excused absence for their child. In the Middle School, students will register their attendance each day through the Virtual Check-In linked in the daily student and family email. In the Senior School, students must attend no less than 80% of all scheduled class blocks to earn credit for a course. Only absences documented by medical professionals and communicated through the Sewickley Academy Support Team will be considered excused.
Dress Code
In a video lesson with teachers or peers, students are asked to be in “day clothes” when they appear in a video conference. We are encouraging students to wear spirit wear when possible. Any shirt with inappropriate graphics or sayings should not appear on camera. No hats or hoods may be worn during video conferencing to ensure all faces are fully visible.
Device Use
There is no change to the expectation of how students use their devices for learning during class time together. Students may not record other students or lessons without permission from the teacher. Students are also asked to refrain from the usage of other devices during a video conference.
Schedule
Managing a full load of courses can be overly challenging for some in a Virtual School environment. For this reason, we allow students in Middle and Senior School to make a request to drop an elective course for the trimester without penalty. We will remove the course from their transcript. Seniors should consult College Guidance before initiating any course drop. In addition, students who find the schedule and the load beyond what they are able to manage in this environment should consult with our Director of Support Services and their advisor to strategize the best pathway forward.
Senior School Schedule
Middle School Schedule
Expectations and Delivery of Instruction
Synchronous lessons provide an opportunity to engage, discuss, and reflect. They take place twice in the 10- day rotation for each regularly scheduled class period. They are generally 30-60 minutes in length and are not used for lectures.
Synchronous lessons are planned in advance of a class and must take place during the scheduled class period.
All students involved are invited via Zoom or Google Hangouts Meet. The synchronous meeting will appear in the assignment tab on the portal, and a link will be posted there as well.
Synchronous lessons can be recorded, and a recording will help those who can not attend at the time of the meeting. Recordings are posted on the portal/in Google Classroom.
Office hours are designated extra help synchronous time for students to come and go as they choose and get answers to their questions.
The average amount of total time on task per PANTHERS cycle for each course, including both synchronous and asynchronous learning, should range from 4-5 hours. Synchronous lessons should be kept to under 60 minutes. We recognize that students work at varying paces. The asynchronous time limit is an average. Students who exceed the maximum expected time should be in communication with their teacher and potentially their advisor and Support Services.
Assessment Practices in Virtual School
During a lengthy period of Virtual School, it may be necessary to make adjustments to our assessment practices. Particularly in the Middle and Senior Schools, we want to be sure to reflect the changes in our students’ learning environment and to maintain our focus on fostering the strong, caring relationships with our students that are a necessary precondition to learning. During Virtual School, students will continue to earn grades as they have during the school year. A continued emphasis on performance-based tasks, mastery of skills, and on providing feedback to bolster and improve student performance (assessment for learning, also called formative assessment) will become even more important in the virtual learning environment than the assessment of learning that is typically reflected in traditional tests and quizzes.
The Role of Family Members
The family members of Middle and Senior School students are not expected to take the place of their children’s teachers. Families can assist, however, by ensuring that their children are engaging with their virtual classes each school day.
In a video lesson with teachers or peers, students are asked to be in “day clothes” when they appear in a video conference. We are encouraging students to wear spirit wear when possible. Any shirt with inappropriate graphics or sayings should not appear on camera. No hats or hoods may be worn during video conferencing to ensure all faces are fully visible.
Device Use
There is no change to the expectation of how students use their devices for learning during class time together. Students may not record other students or lessons without permission from the teacher. Students are also asked to refrain from the usage of other devices during a video conference.
Schedule
Managing a full load of courses can be overly challenging for some in a Virtual School environment. For this reason, we allow students in Middle and Senior School to make a request to drop an elective course for the trimester without penalty. We will remove the course from their transcript. Seniors should consult College Guidance before initiating any course drop. In addition, students who find the schedule and the load beyond what they are able to manage in this environment should consult with our Director of Support Services and their advisor to strategize the best pathway forward.
Senior School Schedule
Middle School Schedule
Expectations and Delivery of Instruction
Synchronous lessons provide an opportunity to engage, discuss, and reflect. They take place twice in the 10- day rotation for each regularly scheduled class period. They are generally 30-60 minutes in length and are not used for lectures.
Synchronous lessons are planned in advance of a class and must take place during the scheduled class period.
All students involved are invited via Zoom or Google Hangouts Meet. The synchronous meeting will appear in the assignment tab on the portal, and a link will be posted there as well.
Synchronous lessons can be recorded, and a recording will help those who can not attend at the time of the meeting. Recordings are posted on the portal/in Google Classroom.
Office hours are designated extra help synchronous time for students to come and go as they choose and get answers to their questions.
The average amount of total time on task per PANTHERS cycle for each course, including both synchronous and asynchronous learning, should range from 4-5 hours. Synchronous lessons should be kept to under 60 minutes. We recognize that students work at varying paces. The asynchronous time limit is an average. Students who exceed the maximum expected time should be in communication with their teacher and potentially their advisor and Support Services.
Assessment Practices in Virtual School
During a lengthy period of Virtual School, it may be necessary to make adjustments to our assessment practices. Particularly in the Middle and Senior Schools, we want to be sure to reflect the changes in our students’ learning environment and to maintain our focus on fostering the strong, caring relationships with our students that are a necessary precondition to learning. During Virtual School, students will continue to earn grades as they have during the school year. A continued emphasis on performance-based tasks, mastery of skills, and on providing feedback to bolster and improve student performance (assessment for learning, also called formative assessment) will become even more important in the virtual learning environment than the assessment of learning that is typically reflected in traditional tests and quizzes.
The Role of Family Members
The family members of Middle and Senior School students are not expected to take the place of their children’s teachers. Families can assist, however, by ensuring that their children are engaging with their virtual classes each school day.
