Q: Could instructional sessions or content be recorded for viewing at flexible and later times?
A: Yes. All the class zoom meetings are recorded and are ready for request. For protecting our students' privacy, we have decided not to post the recorded links on a public webpage; instead, it will be by request only. In this way, teachers can keep track of who receives the links to protect the students' privacy. This was stated on our 4/3 Newsletter sent out to all YA staff and families.
Q: Where are the recorded sessions so we can access them?
A: See the above answer.
Q: How is Yinghua Academy protecting my child’s safety and security while using Zoom?
A: Ensuring safety and security for Yinghua students over Zoom has been a top priority. To avoid people intruding on the Zoom meeting, or passing or sharing unlawful photos or documents, Dr. Chu has sent out emails to teachers to set extra protection for our Zoom meetings. These are the settings and tips for the security purposes:
Set up a waiting room to get approval to enter the meeting, and understand how to post rules in the waiting room;
Set up no re-join after kicking out by the host/teacher;
Set up no file transfer in the Zoom Meetings;
Set up only host/teacher can share the screen, and understand how to disable participants/students to annotate the shared screen;
Set up not allow private chats among participants/students;
Set up no virtual background for participants/students;
Understand how to manage mute all to participants/students, who can’t unmute themselves back until the host/teacher allows;
End the meeting, not leave the meeting after the class is dismissed, so no students stay after the meeting;
Set up not allow participants/students to rename themselves, so host/teacher can take attendance more easily and quickly; and prevent unknown guests join the meeting;
As long as our teachers know how to manage and control the Zoom Meetings, using Zoom securely has less issues; besides, Zoom has been recently highly used and questioned/challenged, they are working hard to improve, and a new security feature has launched last week which makes host/teacher easily controls the meetings; meeting IDs have become 11 numbers instead of 9;
We will continue monitoring the issues of Zoom security as well as evaluating other solutions, such as Google Hangouts Meet and Cisco WebEx.
Q: What if my child misses a class or day due to illness or anxiety?
A: It will be okay if your child misses a class or day due to illness or anxiety. Distance learning is considered a regular school day of learning. We would like parents to follow the procedure to submit an absent request via the school website so teachers are informed. After students feel better in a day or two, students will contact teachers to either request a recording to review the lesson or meet teachers during the teacher’s office hour to go over the key points, or simply go to the learning resources to find out what has been taught in the class and submit the work for teachers to review. If your child needs to take the morning off, and is marked absent after not attending the morning meeting. Completion of tasks for that day, sent in to teachers will count towards attendance for that day.
Q: What if we don’t get any homework done? Should there be homework?
A: We have extended each lesson to be hour-long that includes ample practice time for students to do their work during the class period. These in-class tasks are designed to be completed during class, so, technically, they should have no “homework” left. However, due to each student’s learning pace and working style, there might be some work students need to do after school hours. We would recommend students to go to teachers’ office hours (Monday - Thursday from 3:15 - 3:30 PM, Friday from 9:00 - 11:00) and seek assistance.
Q: What if I don’t have time to help my child figure out a technical difficulty in the moment because I’m on an important work meeting or call?
A: Your work is as important to us as your child’s classwork. If you don’t have time to help your child figure out a technical difficulty, it’s fine at that moment. The students can pick a book to read at that moment until you can help him/her. If the technical issues are related to school’s equipment work, your child can email Dr. Chu or in emergencies call his direct cell (612-800-5045) to get support. Dr. Chu will be quick to respond to emails during this time. In order to support all students and families, we have added one more tech support teacher to be part of the team. Dr. Chu will be your first line to go for technical support.
Q: What if our children only attend two classes a day, as suggested in the email from YA on 3/25/20? Is that truly acceptable to YA teachers and admin?
A: It is acceptable for the attendance that if your children only attend two classes a day. However, it will have an impact on students' learning in each subject. These gaps will exist and the teaching staff and administrators are prepared to accept this reality when school resumes. It is the reality, and we respect each family’s decision.
Q: What if my child only goes to the same two classes every day?
A: It will be fine if your child only goes to the same two classes every day. The difference is if your child will learn at her/his own pace for other subjects or not. Again, for the attendance record, students will be recorded as “present” in school, but the gaps will be there if students did not learn. It is our intention to provide consistent learning opportunities for all students. If a family has specific concerns or a difficult situation, we are happy to meet and discuss ways to support students.
Q: What if our child has constant headaches from all the screen time and needs an alternative?
A: The parents know their child best so we will work with parents to plan a reasonable alternative for learning. Screen time has been an important discussion topic since the distance learning started; while we know that technology and screen time could be a solution for the current pandemic situation, we also want to make sure it is not becoming another cause of illness for students.
Q: Can my child keep his/her screen off and just listen? (Teachers are not consistent on this)
A: We will be fine with parents’ choices. The teachers, of course, would like to see students on their screen to check their classes’ engagement and to assure every student is paying attention to the lesson. Some lessons may require students to turn on their screen because of visual aids that help students to understand the concepts better. We have discussed with teachers to keep the screen time maximized at 15 minutes at a time and then provide the rest of the time for students to get up, move around, or read and to write in their notebooks (work off-screen). This could help students to get more time off-screen.
Q: What if we choose to skip morning meetings – are we counted absent for the day even if we attend all the other classes?
A: If students are attending all the other classes but morning meetings, he/she will still be counted as present for the day. The only thing we would like parents to know is that the morning meeting time is an important time for students to connect to each other and for teachers to interact/relay information to students; it is also an important time for social interaction. For many students, it is an important time since there are so many friends and classmates they now can’t interact with on a daily basis like they did at school.
Q: How do I find a teacher's email address?
A: All staff emails are located in the Yinghua Academy employee directory. On our webpage under the ‘about us’ tab.