I’ve always had the deepest respect for teachers and teaching assistants – big shout out to Mrs. Russell and Mrs. Pitfeld at Bridport Primary School – but really, you guys, wow!
Dorset schools are taking different approaches to supporting children’s learning at home during school closure. My nine-year old’s school has gone digital for those families who can get on-line and have devices their child can use. I should say they’re also supporting the children whose families aren’t able to get on-line with paper-based activities. The importance of digital inclusion is pretty clear at times like this.
Small Boy was sent home last week with his own school email address allowing him to access Microsoft 365 and all its features including Word, PowerPoint, OneNote and Excel (which will be handy for compiling for a Pokémon spreadsheet in later weeks). And Microsoft Teams. Oh my word – Teams! Brilliant. Simple work assignments are posted on Teams at regular intervals during the day, the kids do the work and once complete, check in the work to “hand it in”. The chat function is great – their class teacher’s around to answer questions and give support and encouragement. It also means though that the children are chatting with each other ALL THE TIME which is pretty distracting and not much work is getting done in this house. Again, teaching staff – your patience is a thing of wonder.
One very important thing I’ve had to learn this week is that it doesn’t matter that not much work is getting done. These are very strange times and it’s more important that Small Boy stays connected to his friends than cementing his understanding of fronted adverbials. School is very supportive and their message is “do what you can”.
One positive is that Small Boy is getting a crash course in digital skills. Which is very helpful, as I am an enthusiastic amateur when it comes to Teams. BC (Before Coronavirus), our team had been tentatively using Teams, but in recent weeks, we’ve been getting up to speed on it pretty fast. Working exclusively from home has forced me to learn some of the digital skills that had been languishing at the top of my “To Do When You Have Time” list. Luckily, I now have an in-house IT Help Desk in the form of Small Boy who, after about 15 minutes of using Teams, was able to show me how to create a group chat.
So far, and it’s early days, we’re finding that short bursts of on-line assignments, scheduled Zoom video calls with friends and time away from the screen is best for keeping happy and productive. This afternoon, we’re skipping the assignments and bunking off to sort out a tadpole habitat in the garden. Don’t tell, OK?
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
