April 2020 has been a month like no other in New Zealand.
The commencement of Level 4 lockdown from March 26th changed the way we exist and by necessity, changed the way we look at learning.
Within a week, many of our teachers were becoming far more competent at delivering learning online. Something that had been long considered either impossible or unnecessary was suddenly the only option. Teachers' and Principals' inboxes were being inundated relentlessly with new shiny platforms and tools that were purported to be the saving grace of a teacher struggling to find their way into remote learning for their tamariki.
Here locally, 14 of our local schools are involved in The Manaiakalani Programme Outreach (T.M.P.O) and have been since the beginning of 2018. Two of these schools had joined at the beginning of 2019 and so understandably, were not quite as experienced as the others, but during the transition to online or remote learning in April, were equally as committed to the necessary growth.
It became apparent very quickly that the schools that were already having support found the whole process much less of a journey and as facilitators it was so rewarding working alongside all of our incredible local educators as they geared up for this process.
As a team, we wanted to support as many teachers and schools as possible, so with the support Manaiakalani and our local Connext Trust, we set up a Top Tips page on our local Tairāwhiti Cluster site dedicated to remote learning. Online workshop sessions were run from here using Google Meet and across the week we explored the use of highly effective tools such as Google Sites, Google Meet and the Screencastify extension app.
Click here for our Top Tips page: (scroll towards the bottom for recordings and original workshops)
One of the most exciting aspects of being able to support a number of schools was to know that we were helping our local tamariki to be able to continue their learning and in particular, the connection with their teacher and peers, which globally, we were hearing was the most valued aspect during this time of physical distancing.
The growth in the digital fluency of our local educators from Manaiakalani schools has exploded! Exponential acceleration is the only way I can explain it. I consider myself in an incredibly privileged position in that I am privy to the exceptional commitment to growth in our educators. Our local tamariki are blessed to have both teachers and Principals who are dedicated to doing the very best by their education at a time when the world has literally changed as we know it. It is an incredibly uncertain and challenging time for our teachers who are often learning to work from home, supporting their own children or spouses in their 'learning from home' (even if this is just timetabling support and sharing space and wifi!) as well as parenting and running households under lockdown. While support in the form of hard packs for schools and educational tv etc for learners has been provided by the New Zealand government, which is outstanding, I personally feel that not as much acknowledgement has been given to our wonderful teachers who have really been 'thrown in the dee; end' and have had to simply 'get on with it'. Although this is reflective of the kiwi can-do attitude, I feel we certainly do need to commend our teachers on their resilience and resourcefulness throughout this time. They really are amazing!
This morning, I was lucky enough to join a local school Google Meet for a staff briefing and PLD session. I was lucky enough to be able to share some ideas for teachers around recording the Google Meets they are doing with their learners so that they can be displayed on their classroom Google Sites where they can be rewindable. This means learners can view learning over and over again and help them to consolidate learning.
But what really stood out for me was the digital capacity that's growing within their school. One of their younger teachers demonstrated today how she's using Screencastify in her lessons to provide visual instructions for her learners AND to provide feedback to her learners and additional support. She also shared that the feedback from her learners is that they have really valued receiving instructions and feedback in this video format - that it has been powerful and a wonderful support mechanism for the kids at the moment. As a teacher, she also shared how providing feedback to learners in this way was much more time-efficient than sending a number of emails back and forth. I mentioned to her how useful some of these screencasts would be housed in an FAQ folder on her class site, as likely other learners may have similar problems.
Helping our teachers manage their time at the moment is vital as online meetings are incredibly taxing of energy levels and the additional support learners often need in order to learn how to function in this way means that teachers are often spending a massive number of hours a day on emails and phone calls as well as their scheduled online meetings. Another reason why we need to be celebrating our great teachers as they model exponential learning at this time. I for one, take my hat off to them.
