Lockdown Learning Musings

Lockdown Learning Musings

"The impact of COVID-19 on education has been significant. In the short-term, there has been a complete change to the day-to-day realities of educators, students and their families. However, there also are much broader and on-going implications. The physical closure of schools has shone a spotlight on some of the persistent and systemic challenges facing our education system, providing an opportunity to refocus our attention and efforts on them. It further has created a space for asking big questions about education; do we want to return to the status quo and business as usual when schools reopen? Might the lockdown period act as a catalyst for education reforms that many have been seeking? And if so, what should we be looking to change?" - Dr Nina Hood

Lockdown was literally looking into an unseen part of the lives of my students. Initially, it was very hard to get them to turn their cameras on and it was hard to hard to get them to engage, I think it was all very strange for the (and me too)! I struggled a bit with the online interactive board, but persevered when I saw how much my students enjoyed working collaboratively. 

Teaching remotely and face-to-face teaching share the same principles i.e. 

• The importance of relationships and developing a class culture based on mutual respect, care, empathy and warmth, and the need to attend to and ensure the emotional wellbeing of each student.
• Establishing a careful sequencing of content to be covered, which builds logically and consistently through a series of well-designed and clearly focused tasks.
• Designing learning activities in keeping with the principles of how we learn so as to avoid cognitive overload and to facilitate an understanding from comprehension, to remembering, to understanding and the engagement with higher-order thinking skills.
• Supporting students to effectively manage their time, establishing routines and habits and establishing clear expectations for what students will be doing
• The need to ensure plenty of opportunities for free play, for time in nature, for creative engagement, and rest