Learning at home - some insights from teachers

How should teachers communicate with learners? Facebook, Twitter, email, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Google Duo…..? 

How can teachers actually teach? Do we expect the whole class to log on to Microsoft Teams at 10.00 on Thursday?

How do we set assignments and give feedback? By email, Show My Homework, OneDrive, Forms, Google Drive……

How can secondary school teachers coordinate teaching so that it works across the subjects?

What can we reasonably expect learners to manage at home, especially if they have working parents?

Do we really want learners to spend even more time staring at screens doing school work at home?

How will learners with additional support needs, who normally have close support from an assistant in class, learn at home without this support?

We're all still working out how to actually do this teaching and learning at home, and from what we hear, practice and pedagogy varies quite a bit.

Some answers

So I really enjoyed reading the insights from Marc Andrew, a primary teacher in East Lothian, and Barry Whelan, a maths teacher in West Lothian because they give some practical advice and answers to these and other questions. 

Marc suggests:

• Set aside time to engage with pupils and families - so you don't get distracted and overload yourself.
• Limit contact with families - so you don't overload families and learners.
• Consider families who have English as their second language - who may have difficulty accessing information.
• Encourage your learners to come up with a timetable - to help get structure that works for the family.
• Avoid ‘Live Lessons’ if possible - they may not be practical.
• Don’t try to recreate the school day - give work at the start of the week so that learners and families can tackle it in their own time.
• Extra challenges - for learners who finish faster.
• Share examples of great work - for encouragement and so that we 'know what a good one looks like'.