Looking Forward to School

What is school going to be like when we all go back.? 

Can we go back to “business as usual". 

What can we learn from this disruption?

Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano's blog post really got me thinking about when we go "back" to school. Silvia says we should look "forward" - not in the sense of something happy to look forward to but to go forward in terms of teaching practice.

Her image of a bubble that she created in 2009. It actually looks like so many schools today.

from Langwitches blog 

The challenge for all of us going back to school is to make the most of this disruption and change. This is the best chance we have to make change.

So what would you get rid of? On my list are...

• round robin reading
• individual tasks
• worksheets
• iPads only used for games/distributed practise
• looooong drawn out teacher instructions (use your site!)
• glass ceilings on learning 

And hey - if you don't know what change is needed - ask the kids!

Are you ready? Remote Learning here we come!

In the two days we had before schools closing down St Mary's decided to go ahead with their scheduled staff meeting. And as some teachers had selected to work from home, a Google Meet was set up so they could join in. What a great opportunity to practise the coming reality of delivering #remotelearning when school resumes on 15th April.

With the announcement on Monday of the lockdown it made the theme of this staff meeting very relevant. Helen, the Principal, talked about the expectation in their school for how they are using sites to amplify and turbocharge learning. Most classes in this school already had sites set up. Some had just started using them this year and some teachers have used them since joining the cluster 2 years ago.

In the past week we had been discussing with school show they will deliver online learning using the Manaiakalani "Limit the Links" doc as the guideline. St Mary's set to last week and ensured every class had a class site and that all content was visible. Their class sites and blogs are all linked on the school site here.

During the week the year 4-6 classes practised using Google Meet to familiarise the student with this Google App. It also gave the teachers an opportunity to set up protocols with their learners for connecting online in a video conference.

So are they ready? Yes indeed. Combine this with effective practice, Digital Fluency Intensive participation, online support from facilitators of The Manaiakalani Programme and a strong collegiality, they sure are ready.

St Mary's staff meeting before lockdown 25th March

Helen, Principal of St Mary's Catholic Primary School - Gisborne

History in the Making

Do you feel like history is being written right before our eyes? I do. Everyday there is a significant development in every way. And while I am deeply ensconced in isolation and working at supporting teachers to deliver online learning, I am staying in touch with (official) sources of information.
My 3 go to's are...

• COVID-19 NZ Government site
• The Prime Minister's daily press conference 
• The Spinoff's COVID-19 page

So how is history written? I think we can write history. We don't need historians or academics to do it for us. And yes, I think they will publish books on this pandemic and the responses will be analysed ad infinitum, but I reckon we can write history just as well as them.

How? By documenting and curating our experiences and understandings we can write history.

Teachers are in a position that we have never been in before. We are having to deliver learning online - uncharted waters for everyone.

We need to write and write and write as this new reality unfolds. I entreated a group of teachers at a staff meeting last week to document what happens over the next 4 or more weeks. The group I was with all have professional learning blogs and this is the ideal platform for them to write, reflect and amplify their experience.

I have been motivated to write this blog post by another blogger - Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano aka:  Langwitches. Her blog post We are in the Midst of Making History really got me thinking about history and not leaving it to the academics to write. Her blog post has many questions that will prompt thinking. Let's get this down for posterity and chronicle our growth as educators, because I predict that out of this disruption will come change. 

So get writing...and be kind.