Principal’s Corner by Mark Grossklaus

In the Sept. 15 Principal’s Corner, I talked about how students at Albert Lea High School started the year with Chromebooks to add to their educational experience.

This time of year, students look forward to seeing snow and sometimes wish for a lot of snow so school might be canceled. They listen to the radio, watch TV, wait for an email, wait for a call,  Facebook post or hear from a friend that school has been canceled.

In past years, if a school day was canceled due to snow or cold temperatures, the learning stopped for a day. With students having access to Chromebooks at school and home, the learning does not stop due to weather anymore. On Thursday, due to weather, we had an eLearning day.

Teachers provided students with their assignments by sharing the assignment ahead of time through Google Docs or by students going to the teacher’s website, Schoology, to get their assignment.  Students were able to continue learning for all of their class while they were at home.

If students or parents had questions for the teacher during an eLearning day, teachers are available via email and phone/text (Google voice). Students and teachers can communicate, and teachers can provide support students might need.  Teachers and students can also share documents back and forth as needed. If the student needs a teacher to demonstrate the activity or problem, they can use the Google Hangout feature to have a live chat. Students will have two weeks to make the work up for an eLearning day so they can get additional support if they did not understand it or need more time to complete the assignment. Learning continues no matter how much snow or how cold it gets.

During the winter season, please come and watch our students who are involved in many activities, including basketball, hockey, swimming and fine arts.  All Tigers activities can be found at big9conference.org/public/genie/4/school/4. Our students appreciate the community support they receive and enjoy having you watch them participate in their events.

Daily information about Albert Lea High School can be found at alschools.org/our-schools/albert-lea-high-school.

It’s great a great day to be a Tiger!

Mark Grossklaus is the principal of Albert Lea High School.