BVS Information for Teachers
For the K-5 full-time virtual program, teachers will be provided by our selected partners, K12, Inc. Teachers interested in full-time K-5 positions should contact K-12, Inc. directly.
BVS will be hiring middle and high school teachers for adjunct/part-time positions in July/August 2010. The virtual school year will begin and end according to the 2010-2011 Bay District Schools school calendar.
Minimum Teacher Requirements
- Highly qualified in subject area and valid Florida teaching certificate
- Instructors will establish weekly office hours during which students and parents may contact them by phone and email.
- Available and willing to meet face-to-face with students and parents as needed
- Operational knowledge of the Internet and web-based technologies
- Strong communication skills - written, oral, telephone, e-mail
- Computer with high speed Internet connection
- Publishable telephone line with message capability
- Completion of individual on-line training before the face-to-face training
- Attend face-to-face follow-up training with FLVS staff on July 28-29, 2010
- Complete 5 follow-up conference calls with FLVS mentor
- Attend mandatory faculty meetings after school hours throughout the year
- Participate in professional development sessions offered throughout the year
Is On-line Teaching for Me?
Take the Self Evaluation Quiz at OnlineLearning.Net.
There are many guides to help potential students determine if distance learning is appropriate for them. OnlineLearning.net has developed this quiz to help potential instructors answer the same question. OnlineLearning.net is an online supplier of professional development courses. After answering the quiz questions, a recommendation and analysis is immediately returned based on the answers submitted.
Download the Application for Adjunct Instructional Position with Bay Virtual Schools/Beacon Educator.
Teacher Expectations/Policies
Email Policy
- Check email frequently; at least twice per day. If you are going to be away from email for more than 1 day, use the "out of office" feature to alert people of your availability.
- Archive all student communication via email for the current semester or year you are working with your student.
- Create a system for storing email that would be logical to anyone.
- Spell check all emails before sending.
- Do not use email to address difficult or controversial issues with students or parents. This includes concerns over the tone of student's communication with you or with other students, concerns about the authenticity of student work, etc. Use the telephone. If you are unable to reach a parent and/or student by phone, it is certainly acceptable to send them an email but try to refrain from using email as the forum for airing your concerns. Use email to alert them to the fact that you desire to speak to them via the telephone and identify some times in which you will be available should they desire to contact you.
Grading Student Work
A major component of proper communication is returning student work in a timely manner. It is BVS's policy that all communication be returned within 24 hours. Responding within 24 hours does not have to include the grading of all work that was submitted the previous day, only the acknowledgment of receipt of assignments or questions. It is the responsibility of the instructor to inform students about the expected turnaround time on grading work that has been submitted. All work should be graded in a timely manner and within a period of time that does not prevent the student from progressing through the course. BVS uses the state-adopted grading scale.
Progress Report Policy
Progress reports are created and sent via email to students and parents by the 15th of every month. If the 15th of the month falls on a weekend, reports will be sent on the previous Friday. As always, you are more than welcome to send your reports out early. If you are going to send them earlier than the 15th, please be sure that you are communicating with your students.
Telephone/Voicemail Policy
- Instructors are expected to check voicemail daily.
- Instructors are required to make contact with each student by phone at least once per month.
- Instructors are required to enter all telephone calls to students and parents into VSA. These logs are reviewed periodically by the BVS administration and are used for school accountability reporting.
Welcome Phone Call Policy
Prior to being granted access to their on-line course, student must have a Welcome Phone Call conversation with their instructors.
TECHNICAL INFORMATION
What are the minimum computer requirements for teacher's home computers?
Please see this document for hardware and software requirement information. If you have any additional questions, please contact the BVS team.
What management system do virtual teachers use?
Student data is kept on a system called Virtual School Administrator (VSA). The coursework is maintained on a customized version of U-Compass.
Who provides the technical support for teachers?
FLVS provides tech support for our virtual teaching staff, parents and students.
Do virtual teachers need a separate designated phone line?
Since all phone calls will be local, we encourage teachers to use a home/land line telephones for BVS calls. If you choose to use a cellular telephone, BVS will not be responsible for minutes used on cellular telephones for school-related calls. Teachers might consider using Internet telephone services such as Skype. It is a requirement that BVS teachers have a publishable telephone number for parent and student contact.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
How will BVS teachers receive initial training?
Teacher training occurs both online and face-to-face. Teachers are required to participate in both the 15-20 hour online teaching modules and the face-to-face training provided by FLVS.
What other training will occur throughout the year?
Teachers will have the opportunity to participate in a variety of trainings provided by FLVS and Bay District Schools both online and face-to-face. These trainings are voluntary unless otherwise noted.
Will BVS teachers have mentors?
BVS teachers will be assigned an FLVS mentor teacher who will help and support them. Teachers and mentors will have 5 follow-up conferences throughout the year.
TEACHER SCHEDULE
What would be the calendar for virtual school?
The calendar would begin and end according to the Bay District Schools calendar.
What is the typical class size?
Approximately 30 students "per section." Keep in mind that virtual teachers do not have classes in a traditional sense, and the number of students you facilitate will fluctuate at various times throughout the year.
What would be a full load for a full-time virtual teacher?
Although we don't anticipate having full-time teaching positions for the 2010-2011 school year, if we did, a full-time student load would be approximately 150-180 students.
What is the typical virtual teacher's schedule?
Teaching virtual courses is not like teaching in a traditional school that is structured by bells and schedules. For any particular hour of the day, a virtual teacher may not actually "work" the entire time. The teacher may make 20 minutes of phone calls and then put in some laundry and pick up the children from daycare. Virtual school teachers are expected to be available until 8 PM at least some nights each week. You may find that some students that work late must be reached even later or on the weekend. On the other hand, teachers are not expected to be "on call" 24x7. Messages left by students and parents must be returned within 24 hours. Virtual school teachers "chunk" their time within these availability windows. In the end, the actual working time is basically the same, but it is spread across more hours of the day.
How long does a typical phone call last?
Teachers are to make contact by phone monthly with the student/parent/guardian. Length of phone calls vary based on purpose.
VIRTUAL TEACHING POSITIONS
How do I apply for a BVS teaching position?
Download the Application for Adjunct Instructional Position with Bay Virtual Schools/Beacon Educator.
Do you anticipate growing into full-time virtual teaching positions?
Yes
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