At the end of last term, our staff met with parents via Zoom, to maintain connection, to reflect on the challenges of Off Campus Learning during Term 3 and to discuss ideas that may help parents as they support their children at home. The following is a summary of the discussion topics.
Engaging Reluctant Students at Home
Because not all children, or adults, are intrinsically motivated, and we know how hard it is through Zoom to motivate some students it is important to have routines at home, to help the students to be organised, for example:
- Setting alarms on the iPads to remind students of their Zoom sessions;
- Print the day plan if possible, so students can tick tasks off when completed;
- Create reward systems at home to connect home and school (for the extrinsically motivated);
- Have positive and encouraging conversations at home about the learning tasks, ask, ‘what are you proud of today?’;
- Check the ‘what’s coming up’ sections on the day plans to help your child to be prepared.
Helping Student Learning at Home
We would love parents to help their children with their Zoom etiquette, especially reminding them to sit up and face the screen, listen to instructions and to other students, to try not to be distracted by the tool options on Zoom and to ensure their child/ren has/have a quiet space to work.
We like it when parents can help, especially the younger children, however please encourage independence at the same time, with the following three questions:
- What are you trying to achieve?
- How much progress have you made?
- What are you going to do next?
By all means try not to do the work for them… if your child has to submit work that is not up to scratch, then sobeit. Children need to learn from their mistakes and teachers need to know where each child is up to. Encourage your child to ask the teacher online for help, and do not feel pressure of teaching their child themselves. Focus on the process and effort, rather than the correct answer, even though it is hard to do this when you as a parent know the answer yourselves. Don’t forget that the learning is in the process.
Celebrate the ‘small’ things and achievements if you are feeling guilty/concerned about your child not completing all tasks. Learning happens consistently throughout the learning process not just by getting the correct answer.
Assessments & Student Learning
All teachers are trying to assess student learning on an ongoing basis. The teachers have spreadsheets where they record who is completing and submitting work. There will be times when parents are asked not to help their children so please don’t, as this will be a specific assessment task. When we return to school teachers will naturally teach from the point of prior knowledge, so if students have gaps in their learning we will cater for these through differentiation. During OCL, the Blue-White-Pink-Purple tasks aim to differentiate according to student needs.
Please encourage your child/ren to come onto Zoom one-to-one with their teacher where they will receive differentiated instruction just for them. Students are learning many different skills during Off Campus Learning, more than the outcomes of the Key Learning Areas within the classroom.
The curriculum has not been watered down during Off Campus Learning, the students are still following the learning planned, even though some tasks have been changed to suit Off Campus Learning.
Student progress will be reported at the end of Term 4, however if you have a particular concern about your child’s Learning, please don’t hesitate to request to speak to your child’s teacher via [email protected]
Social Interactions
This is a BIG issue for the students. The surveys of the students' thoughts about OCL (in the newsletters last term) have shown how much the children have been missing their friends. It is a tricky situation for us, where we have to balance curriculum delivery with providing social situations and... technology free time vs Zoom catch-ups.
Every grade is providing various break-out rooms and opportunities for students to interact, however we cannot provide all of the interactions the children normally have with their friends before school, at morning tea, during lunch, after school, and it is hard to provide enough natural interactions during show and tell, friendship break-out groups or collaborative learning groups. We understand why the students feel they are not getting enough social interactions.
The recent introduction of the ‘Kids bubble’ has been a positive change for children and we encourage you to reach out to other families to connect and socialise safely.
Year 6, Transition to High School, End of Year Events
We are planning to have as many of the planned events as possible, even if we have to change the format to be COVID safe.
For Year 6 in particular, we will meet via Zoom with the Year 6 parents to discuss these details ASAP.
Throughout Term 3 and 4, the Year 6 focus has been on developing independence, organisational and time management skills. This has still been happening through Off Campus Learning, where students are encouraged to use their diaries to plan out their days, and to set specific time frames for tasks. When we return to learning on site, depending on what restrictions look like in the classroom/school setting, we are hopeful of still being able to run our two High School Transition Days at school.
Technology Free Time
We agree that there needs to be a balance of off-screen time during OCL. Unfortunately because of the increased emphasis on explicit teaching we are needing to have students on screens more. However, moving forward, we are trying to be more mindful of opportunities where students do not need to be on their screens at all times throughout the day/week, so this might be a good strategy for home time as well.
Plan technology free time with your family together, for example, no technology before school/work, and/or during your family walks or when at a park; use play or playing together as a reward not technology. Modelling technology free time is a researched based approach that helps: Ref., Let the Children Play, Pasi Sahlberg, https://pasisahlberg.com/let-t...
Teachers are happy for children to print their tasks, work on these, then take a photo and upload these. This is particularly beneficial for subjects such as Mathematics where the students need to show their working out.
Student Learning/Mental Health
This is obviously very important, and the children are REALLY missing their friends.
Think of every day as Are You Really Ok Day - have conversations with your children; plan together to do the things that make them happy/smile/laugh out loud.
If you have a particular concern about your child please don’t hesitate to email [email protected] which goes to Ms McKersie and Mrs Cameron only.
Janelle Ford
Co-Principal
