mrtmullins

COVID-19 has provided plenty of challenges for children, parents and educators during lockdown but this is certainly a time we will never forget.

It has required innovation, flexibility, patience and empathy to minimise disruption and to ensure learning is varied and engaging but most importantly to keep students happy.

Furthermore, we can easily focus on the negative impacts of remote learning but there is an undoubted positive legacy too! Consider:

⁃ Many students have exercised outstanding resources resilience over the past months and this can be celebrated and builds on when we return to school.

⁃ The creativity shown through online learning, in particular on our Seesaw journal, has shown that when given the freedom to do so, children can display their learning in a myriad of ways.

⁃ This type of learning has suited some better than others. With some finding online learning a less intimidating way to express themselves but everyone misses and can benefit from community and collaboration.

I have led my Year 5 class online and through a combination of differentiated tutorials, integrated activities and even emojis 👍 👏 🤔 😃 to express support, students have kept key skills up to date and had an online community during isolation.

On top of that, I’ve spent time in school with Key Workers’ kids and more recently the Year 6 leavers who have not always been the easiest to engage. They aren’t the most expressive at the best of times but with two weeks to go at the end of lockdown before a move to Secondary School – let’s give them a break! We’re going to end the year with a barbecue and a bonfire with marshmallows and hopefully plenty of smiles.

Times of crisis gives us good chance for reflection and ways we can improve. Let’s try to remember some of those and implement them in whatever the new normal may look like!