Dear IUSD Virtual Academy High School Families and Students,
We are excited about the upcoming school year and the unique learning opportunities your student will be engaged in through our IUSD Virtual Academy. We truly appreciate your patience and understanding as we continue to enroll and schedule our students. Students will have a structured and consistent weekly schedule that includes live instruction, teacher office hours, and targeted small group instruction. With that in mind, we want to share the IVA student schedule for middle school.
Student class schedules will be able to be viewed in AERIES portal on Monday August 17th.
THE FIRST TWO DAYS OF SCHOOL
On Thursday, August 20th and Friday, August 21st, all IVA students will be meeting ONLY in Advisement on both days. The Advisement teachers will be working with students to complete the IVA orientation unit. We want to ensure that all students have the tools and skills needed to be successful in online learning.
On August 20th and August 21st, all students will log into their CANVAS Advisement class at 8:30am and participate in live instruction with their Advisement teacher. Students should read the announcement in CANVAS in their Advisement class, which will provide them with directions on how to log into the live instruction. A student should expect to participate in Advisement with their teacher for at least 2 hours on both Thursday and Friday.
A TYPICAL WEEK OF SCHOOL AT IUSD VIRTUAL ACADEMY
Students will access course information through Canvas, and participate in “live” instruction for each class on their schedule. During “live” instruction, teachers and students will be together online for instruction, discussion, and other synchronous activities for the duration of the period. You will notice a time for Office Hours. During office hours, teachers will be live online and accessible for students.
MONDAY ADVISEMENT
Starting Monday, August 24th, we will have our first typical week at IVA. On Mondays, students will access their courses through Canvas. Teachers will be available by department during designated times. This time is for teachers to provide small group targeted instruction. The teacher will let students know who should attend during the department times. Students not attending targeted instruction should be accessing their course work through Canvas and engaging in the lessons and activities that are assigned for that day. The only “live” requirement for students on Monday will be for Advisement from 1:30-2:00 pm. Attendance will be taken during Monday’s Advisement, so participation is mandatory.
TUESDAY/WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY/FRIDAY CLASSES
Tuesday through Friday will be a block schedule with students meeting with their odd periods on Tuesday and Wednesday, and even periods on Thursday and Friday. On Tuesday, periods 1 and 5 are “live” and on Wednesday period 3 and 7 are “live” for the entire 90 minute block. Similarly, on Thursday periods 2 and 6 are “live” and Friday period 4 and 8 is “live”.
The “live” class meetings require that students are online and engaged in synchronous instruction throughout the entire 90 minutes.
For the “independent lesson/targeted support” class meetings, the entire class will participate online for the first 10 minutes for attendance and instruction, then students will work independently on tasks, assignments and projects for the remainder of the time. The teacher may use this time for small group instruction. The teacher will identify the students who will participate.
OFFICE HOURS
Teachers will be holding live office hours on Tuesday through Friday from 7:55-8:25am. This time is designated to allow students to ask questions and seek support from their teachers each morning.
We are excited to start the 20-21 school year with you at IVA and we hope that this schedule provides our learners with a successful virtual learning experience.