Dear colleagues,
This weird, and extraordinary year; all of this is coming to an end including distance learning, working from home, and even the school year. We have spent over 30% of our school year and over 70% of our second-semester teaching and learning online. As the world continues to figure out how to deal with the COVID-19, the opening of the economy, and the global question of racism and injustice, the ending of the school year may only feel like a partial relief to us all. In addition to all, many of us will have very vague or no plans for spending this summer holiday due to the travel restrictions impacting our lives as global nomads.
As we return to the campus, it is important that we all follow safety protocols established to prevent the spreading of coronavirus including wearing masks, ventilation of rooms, physical distancing, and most importantly washing and disinfecting hands. Also, please do recognize that every faculty and staff member has developed a personal view of the COVID-19 situation here in Japan. Hence, it is important that we all make our colleagues feel safe by following the safety protocols listed above.
We would like to ask the EAL and Learning Support teams to coordinate visits to the shared office space so that physical distancing is possible. Please, utilize classrooms and learning commons as your final working spaces this and next week.
Finally, we look forward to seeing all members of the CA faculty and staff on campus by Thursday at the latest. We will meet the students, say goodbye, and wish them happy holidays and then engage in reflecting the past school year and planning for the coming school year. Please, note that both the leaving and returning faculty are required to participate in both reflection and planning sessions.
Students are excited to come and visit the campus to say goodbye to all the teachers as despite the distance learning we have developed such a strong bond this school year. We share something very exceptional as a community.
Please see below the schedule for Thursday, Friday, and Monday to plan around your personal tasks still required for finishing of the year. Please check the End-of-Year checklist to make sure you have enough time to complete and get all signatures by Tuesday next week.
Let’s have a successful last full week of 2019-2020 school year!
Riana, Trevor, and Heikki
As a reminder, have a look at the Last Four Days - protocol on the blogger and read it carefully to prepare for the grand finale of the school year.
- Remind students to wear a mask to school as you see them in your last online meetings this week.
Helpful Scheduling Documents:
- Weekly overview of live sessions ie. for grade level slides
Faculty Meetings:
Wed June 10 Town Hall (Whole Faculty)
Thu June 11 afternoon (Reflection of 19-20)
Friday 12 afternoon (Planning of 20-21)
Monday 15 afternoon (Planning of 20-21)
Professional Development
Author to Author (Matt Glover, Kathy Collins) A parent resource
Articles worth skimming through
