Returning to School with Brenda McPherson




Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

Today Brenda helped us to reflect on "Online Teaching" and decide what we want to take from this into our future teaching.

There is a sense that there is a 'new normal'. The playing field has changed and we can seize this opportunity to change too.

What are our top priorities when the students come back.

1. Whanauatanga. Relationship building and rebuilding.
2. Helping the students feel safe - wellbeing.
3. Routines and expectations

One suggestion I really liked was to 'informally' seek people who will be a 'coach.'.
Maybe start with the question,  "I think this [idea] would work... can you think of reasons why it wouldn't?" (My wife is pretty good at helping with this question... sometimes she even gets her answer in before I ask!)

Action points...

Help the kids feel like this:

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Start:
- Including play and being ok with it. Harnessing the power of play for learning specific learning goals but also realising that play is learning by itself. It is therapeutic, it helps students make sense of their world, it encourages creativity, problem solving and relationship building.

- Providing for choice / independence. Students choose how and when. I've tried this a lot in my career and the challenge is providing the right level of scaffolding.

Stop:  "Teacher Explaining Everything to Everyone"
Stop: Giving undue attention to kids who stuff around. But be prepared to follow up and have conversations about learning. I can spend a lot of time trying to 'make' students learn when they might get on with the learning if they are given the space to do it on their own terms.


Comments

  1. Michelle14 May 2020 at 09:58

    Finding the sweet spot for scaffolding can be really tricky. I think it's important to provide that gradual release and ensure any scaffolding is providing tools that the child will then be able to use independently of you. I've recently begun reading about Bernstein's Pedagogical Approaches and the "subversive" teacher really resonates with me. Here's an excerpt from Teaching with Intent you may find interesting.

    https://peta.informz.net/peta/data/images/ch2_TWI.pdf

    ReplyDelete

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