Since the pandemic has hit New Zealand, we went into lockdown for 4 weeks. Our level 4 lockdown will end in the end of next Monday, and will go into Level 3. We have been and will continue to provide online learning during level 3 too.
It has been a very interesting experience as because this has never happened before for me, it is about setting up routines and trying new things in a creative way to connect to the children and their families. There has been some positive feedback for my online learning content. I am also very aware of how busy families are at home as parents are often working from home.
So what? This is the sense-making section that asks you to surface general meaning, significance, your position/view point: actions; emotions (pre-during-post)
I think for me, I have decided that I will upload a video every day to connect to students. Being able to see me will be reassuring and it can create a sense of sameness. I include today's date, karakia before starting the session, and try to make the session as fun and interactive as possible. I have uploaded various songs, reading stories, craft time, alphabet sounds, word reading and etc onto the class blog. I have found that children/families like watching song videos as I can see that there is a great number of people watching. So this also makes me think about what people are wanting to see and enjoying watching.
When I put a task, I make sure that I show what the task looks like and what I expect from it. I engage with it showing my experiences like collecting different shapes at home to show children what I have found. I think this is really powerful for children to watch as they will develop an idea of what I expect them from but it is also nice for them to see me try the task and engage with it. I think this is really important for students to be able to connect to the teacher online.
I am working on creating a video of children singing the same song together, having multiple videos in one screen so we can all see everyone's faces. I thought it would be a good idea as they cannot see each other for a long time.
Although I have always taught songs and music to our children, connecting to the children through music and using creativity have become even more important for me over the last 4 weeks.
What’s next: Things I might change…
As we are still experiencing the lockdown and providing online learning, I will continue to provide fun and interactive online contents for the children. There has been some families who are not engaging in online learning but this is because their family lives are extremely busy and I think the teachers also need to understand that the families are trying their best. If they cannot complete a task daily, that is fine. I have said to one family, they can take a photo of their child at play. Many families are engaging with their children at home in productive and positive ways. I don't know what will change when we go back to school. I could possibly ask my children about what they liked about learning at home online, and what they didn't like. Hearing children's voices will possibly influence the way I teach when I go back to school.
No comments:
Post a Comment