Kiddipedia
The unprecedented times of COVID-19 have brought about many restrictions and strict rules for living and interacting with others. It has impacted everyone in many ways and changed the traditional methods of classroom learning.
Nobody saw COVID coming and no one could have predicted how fast it would spread or the ripple effect of change that it would cause for the people of the world. Looking to evolve teaching methods as a result of the pandemic and share their experience with other teachers, Emma Bird from St Paul’s Lutheran Primary School and Sandra Torcasio from Casey Grammar School have shared their thoughts on how classroom learning has changed because of COVID and how schools can also change/grow.
Below are their key takeaways from the pandemic experience:
Emma Bird
Integration of technology
Be prepared for a home to become a digital classroom. When COVID first hit we already had many things in place to ensure a smooth transition to distance learning (like a 1 to 1 iPad program with BYOD in our school, and the use of learning tools such as Wushka for reading), along with some great key ingredients that aided in the creation of our Distance Learning Program. This meant that when students and teachers had to move online, the change-over for us wasn’t a difficult process.
Makeshift ‘drive through’
As a school, we needed to consider not just the digital challenges of COVID, but also how to ensure students that may not have as much access to technology would still receive the best education possible. Our students and their families were at the forefront of our mind as we created what came to be known as a ‘Daily Learning Placemat’. We made a make shift ‘drive-through’ for parents to pick up emergency packs (which included some physical resources and a 10-day plan for learning, should internet connectivity be an issue), and designated time for passion projects where students directed and chose their learning on a particular area of personal interest once a week.
Emma said “The changes made during COVID has seen our school community give very positive, affirmative feedback about their experiences. It has seen our teachers reflect on what we may be able to innovate on moving forward, and it has seen our Executive team wonder how we can support this innovation of learning in our school. “
We already had some excellent models in place to enhance our students’ academic skills and to allow them to develop the essential soft skills for the 21st Century workforce, but COVID Distance Learning has allowed us to reflect on how else we can be innovative to provide even better opportunities for growth and learning for the students in our school”
Sandra Torcasio
Awareness of home reader handling
Following COVID, it became apparent that we had to be prepared to be more flexible. On returning to the classroom, we were more aware of issues such as the handling of home readers by a number of people within a week. Fortunately, this is was one issue we were easily able to solve by continuing to use Wushka for home reading. Since the pandemic, we have also added additional online programs, which supplement the resources we have at school, allowing us to decrease the amount of potential risks that come with physical handling.
Upskilling in IT
Our teachers have had a crash course in digital learning because of COVID. As we move forward in our teaching, staff will now be able to continue using skills learnt to integrate platforms such as Google Classroom and Seesaw into their lesson plans on a regular basis. We also acknowledge that it is important for staff to continually build on these skills and ensure they don’t become complacent. This will allow them to support students when using online platforms such as Wushka, giving them the greatest benefit possible for their learning. If time permits, our staff will attend Professional Development and ensure they are using online platforms to their optimum capacity.
“In these unprecedented times, we could at any moment, be required to return to Remote Learning so we need to be prepared and stay vigilant ensuring that the best education possible is provided to the students in our care at all times. Online learning is here to stay.” – Sandra Torcasio
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