Dear Odyssey ECCO Families and Students,

I hope everyone is well and in good spirits. This communication is to help provide clarity about questions that have been raised over the past week of distance learning.

Academics:

• There have been questions from students and families regarding what content will be covered and the timeline in which it will be taught. To help assist families and students, Odyssey ECCO has created academic timelines for you to view.   Odyssey’s timeline can be viewed using this link. Career Pathway’s timeline can be viewed using this link.

Attendance:

• Odyssey students have been doing a great job of attending both their asynchronous and synchronous sessions! We recognize that attendance might be difficult at times. Please communicate with your instructors if you can’t attend, so you don’t miss out on potentially important instruction. Instructors are taking attendance for accountability. If students fail to show up to class or log in to Schoology or Microsoft Teams on a normal basis, the Dean of Students will be contacting families directly to better understand the situation and help support regular attendance.

Grading Practices for Distance Learning:

• For semester-long high school level classes that offer 1 credit, all teachers will continue to enter quarter 4 assignments, grades, and evaluations of skills and then post 4^th quarter grades as normal. The goal is that a student can improve on their 3^rd quarter grade, but at the end of the 4^th quarter they cannot have a grade less than their final 3rd quarter grade. As you know, Odyssey ECCO is a unique school due to its early college high school designation and the mixture of college classes, college prep high school classes and quarterly classes.  Hence, this applies only to the following courses: English 092, US Multicultural History, Economics, and 9^th and 10^th-grade AVID. All other courses are either college-level courses or offer high school credit every quarter and will be given the grade the student earns at the end of the quarter.

Graduation:

• District level conversations concerning graduation begin this Friday. There is no timeline to announce plans. We know this is causing anxiety for many of our seniors and we appreciate your patience. More to come soon!  

Prom:

• Unfortunately, Odyssey ECCO prom is cancelled for the 2019-20 due to the current COIVD-19 outbreak, the governor’s Stay-at-Home order, and social distancing protocols.

To conclude this email, please take the time to view this video. I asked staff to share messages of encouragement and a little fun with students and they did a great job!

In Partnership,

Sean Norman

Principal

Odyssey Early College and Career Options

Dear Odyssey ECCO Families,

Starting on Wednesday, April 1^st, students will begin their distance learning instruction via online delivery. Many of our staff have gone above and beyond to support student success and this migration to distance learning. Our distance learning model is developed to reflect what colleges and universities are doing, as to hold true to our early college school status. As you know, Odyssey ECCO distance learning will be a combination of synchronous (live web conferencing, live chat rooms, etc.) and asynchronous (recorded video lesson, discussion board, self-paced assignments, etc.) learning. Please be aware these expectations are for on-campus Odyssey ECCO students.  If you are an off-campus student, please check your PPCC emails for details regarding the start of class on Monday, March 30th. As we prepare for starting class this week, we would like you to be aware of the following:

• Synchronous learning involves showing up to class at a specific time for live-streamed lectures or demonstrations.  The purpose of these meetings is twofold.  It allows students to interact in a fashion similar to normal classroom content delivery and will allow instructors to deliver social-emotional learning check-ins to support mental health wellbeing. Sessions will be delivered two days a week per instructor for no more than 45 minutes per session. Instructors will be tracking attendance, but students are not mandated to attend. Live streaming will be recorded for students to view as needed.
• Asynchronous learning involves self-paced activities and learning that does not require students showing up at a specific time.  Asynchronous learning days will occur two days a week per instructor.  This method of delivery allows students to design their learning schedule and spend more time on challenging areas to work towards mastery of content. It also allows students to reach out for help when they need it and work with the material at a deeper level before sharing it with the instructor or peers. Login attendance will be monitored to make sure students are actively working on content-specific assignments.  
• Student workdays will be every Monday. This day is designated for students to prepare for the coming week, check their D11 student emails, communicate with instructors, and work on assignments. There will be no scheduled synchronous events.  It is a self-paced learning day for all students.

Instructors will be using their chosen Learning Management Systems (Schoology, Microsoft Teams, D2L) as their digital hub to post announcements, assignments, due dates, links, and documentation or content related to their instruction. Students should check their teachers Learning Management System on a daily basis.  Whole school or class communication emails will be sent to D11 students on Mondays, as to avoid a barrage of emails during the school week. To help prepare for school next week, please use this next section to plan a bell schedule.

• We will be using the Wednesday bell schedule daily for planning synchronous class times. This will allow students to have a later start time, yet keep a similar schedule. Here is the bell schedule:

• Synchronous learning days for specific classes will happen on different days of the week. Please use the information below to plan.
• AVID Classes- Tuesday and Thursday
• English Classes- Tuesday and Thursday
• Math Classes- Tuesday and Thursday
• Psychology- Tuesday and Thursday
• Science- Wednesday and Friday
• Social Studies- Wednesday and Friday
• Spanish- Wednesday and Friday
• Asynchronous learning for courses will be on the days that class is not scheduled to meet synchronously.
• Example student schedule:

• Attached to this email are links to a distance learning schedule planner, as well as a bell schedule for all instructors.  Please feel free to use it as you see fit.
• Odyssey ECCO Distance Learning Bell Schedule for Synchronous Learning Days
• Synchronus Learning Schedule Planner

All Odyssey instructors will be contacting their 5^th-hour students and families via phone on Tuesday, March 31^st, with counselors and adminstrators reaching out to students without a 5^th hour. They will be using this time to connect with you, listen to your concerns, help connect you with resources, provide you directions, reassurance, and hope.  All other instructors will be emailing you directions for their courses to student D11 addresses. If you have any questions or concerns you need addressed, please use this link to our staff directory. You will find staff emails, website links, and direct phone numbers. Click on the instructor to view all their information.

Our goal is to support our Odyssey families with quality education during this unquestionably difficult time.  Thank you for your continued partnership and trust.

Phoenix R.I.S.E,

Sean Norman

Principal

Odyssey Early College and Career Options

Dear Odyssey ECCO Families,

I hope that this posting finds you all healthy and well. We appreciate your understanding, patience, and partnership in supporting the Odyssey ECCO team and your child as we prepare to transition to distance learning.  We recognize that this situation has brought undue hardship for many families. As you are well aware via Governor Polis’s declaration, we have been directed to have no “in-person” schooling through April 17^th. As we look at the final quarter of the school year, instructors are gearing up to provide distance learning throughout this historic closure.  Over the past two weeks, an amazing team of educational leaders have been working to prepare for our transition to a “virtual return.”  

Odyssey ECCO has been busy crafting a distance learning plan that will incorporate synchronous (web conferencing, live messaging boards, etc) and asynchronous (pre-recorded video, online discussion board, self-paced) learning approaches.  Full details will be released to families Monday, March 30^th, in the evening, with distance learning scheduled to begin the morning of April 1^st.

It is important that all students stay engaged and fulfill the requirements of our college prep, articulated credit, and concurrent enrollment college classes.  Articulated and concurrent enrollment course grades will pick up where they left off before our extended spring break, per Pikes Peak Community College. Regarding college prep course grades, students will not earn a grade lower than their posted 3^rd quarter mark and will be given the opportunity to improve that mark by the end of the semester.

Thank you for your patience and trust. Please check your email no later than Monday evening, March 30^th, for detailed directions for distance learning.

Your Partner in Education,

Sean Norman

Principal

Odyssey Early College and Career Options

Odyssey ECCO Distance Learning Plan 3/16/20 - 3/20/20

Odyssey Students & Parents,

Thank you for your patience as the school district communicates about our closure, and as Odyssey prepares their plans for distance learning. Now that the school district has released the bulk of their messaging, we are releasing Odyssey ECCO’s distance learning plan for 3/16-3/20.

Odyssey ECCO instructors have established district teacher “office hours” (see link below) to help student learning during our extended spring break. This is in line with our PPCC partner, as we are a PPCC satellite campus and try to reflect their college learning experience. Instructors will be available directly one hour per day via phone and in some cases via video conferencing. Students are encouraged to call, email, and video conference (if available) with their instructor. Instructors will return any emails and calls within 24 hours during the school week. To help prepare for this distance learning event, instructors have and will be updating their class website during the week to keep students apprised of classwork, provide resources as needed, and to keep students aware of due dates.

Attached to this email is a complied list of available office hours, teacher and staff office phone #’s, and additional communication methods.

Additionally, Educational Support Professionals will be available to help you with questions regarding attendance, registration, records, or counseling. Please refer to their office hours on the attached document. Educational Support Professionals will communicate with you within 24 hours if you have to leave a message.

To recap:

Instructors

• Have established distance learning office hours (one hour daily, Monday-Friday)
• At a minimum, instructors will be available via phone to answer student questions, parent questions, return calls, provide coaching and academic support.
• Staff will answer and return emails within 24 hours.
• Some staff have the option to video conference with students using MS teams or their preferred video conferencing app
• Instructional staff will set reasonable due dates for assigned work. 

Educational Support Professionals

• Have established distance learning office hours (one hour daily, Monday-Friday)
• At a minimum, Educational Support Professionals will be available via phone to answer student questions, parent questions, and return calls
• Educational Support Professionals will answer and return emails within 24 hours during the work week.

Our key goal is to reduce the risk of the transmission of COVID-19 virus and maintain a high quality of educational support. To support this, students should be checking their student email daily for information related to their courses. If you have questions, please feel free email any instructor or contact me at 719-328-2022 or sean.norman@d11.org

Thank you for your trust and support in these uncertain times.

Odyssey ECCO Staff Office Hours

Odyssey Senior Georgiana Aweanung Overcomes Odds to Make Dreams Come True

Seventeen-year-old Georgiana Aweanung isn't letting anything stand in her way as she pursues her dreams of becoming a top cyber security analyst. Originally from Cameroon, West Africa, when Georgiana was just two years old, her father escaped from Cameroon in 2004 because he was wanted by the government for fighting for human rights. Georgiana remembers her life in Cameroon, stating, "When my dad left we lived in our village (Tinechung) hiding in fear of being killed too. We depended on farm work for food."

In 2009, Georgiana's dad started the legal process to file for her mother, Georgiana and her five siblings to come to the U.S. However, when they arrived, Georgiana soon learned that life would be different for her. "When we all came, we lived in a two bedroom apartment. There was eight of us. Don't ask how we did it!" As Georgiana learned, school in her new country would be much different than in Cameroon. "First my mom dropped me off at school and I started crying 'cause I didn't know what to do. I didn't know my classes, I didn't know anything. I didn't even understand how to speak English the way people here do." After overcoming the language barrier, Georgiana soon became more familiar with school and started to impress her teachers and principal. "I was selected to share my story at my 8th grade graduation in front of all of the students, parents, and staff."

As Georgiana continued to pursue her education goals, she started to ask more questions about her options for high schools. She asked about how concurrent enrollment worked and if there was a high school she could attend where she could earn college credits because money was tight for her family and she knew college was expensive. "By the time I finished 8th grade, I had found the Wasson Campus." 

Today, Georgiana is a senior at Odyssey Early College and Career Options (ECCO). Her goal? She wants to be the world's top cyber security analyst. Georgiana is now pursuing a prestigeous full-ride scholarship called the Daniels Fund Scholarship. "When I started my application for the Daniels Fund Scholarship, at first I thought, 'They're not going to want me! I don't deserve a scholarship. I'm not as smart as other kids.'" Georgiana continues to get support from a counselor who sends her encouraging notes and motivates her to apply for the scholarship. "It's like a dream come true, for someone like me, who has come a long way to be where I am today.

This spring, Georgiana will be graduating, not one time, but two. She will have earned her high school diploma and a college associate's degree. "I'm looking forward to graduation!"

Watch the full interview with Georgiana here.