Hi everyone,
I didn’t post yesterday as I was trying to stay away from the laptop for the day.
Today has been so overwhelming, I feel like the reality of distance learning and isolating ourselves has really hit home. Trying to find ways to self-regulate so brushing and mopping floors was my go-to today, the smell of Zoflora around the place is lovely. I also had to catch up with my class on Edmodo and SeeSaw. Distance learning must go ahead eh! My class still want to hear from me.
I sent a survey out to the parents of my class to check in and get their feedback on distance learning and it was very positive overall. Parents were happy with the daily outline on Edmodo and the children were really enjoying the activities on SeeSaw too which was great to hear as we were really thrown in at the deep end for some things.
Parents also wanted to hear from teachers regularly, only a few said they wanted to hear from the teacher once a week which I found surprising. I think parents need the support just as much as the class do at times.
This week my colleagues and I have started a daily family challenge, taking inspiration from so many teachers on instagram. Today’s challenge was to build a Newspaper town from Designer Minds on facebook. I also shared a Padlet with parents where they can post their efforts for Family Challenge 1. I wonder what the response will be. I thought a family challenge might bring siblings together and build on their creativity skills too. Wait and see what the results are eh?
It can be hard to plan for Irish for distance learning, some text books are too difficult to send home for independent work. This year I have been using Irishhomework.ie as the main focus in my Irish lessons and now it is paying off. On Irishhomework you set a lesson a week and it is based around a drama. The drama along with audio files are available on the site and the children can also get the translation for new words. Each day in class we revise the drama and as the week goes on the children can add to and develpo their drama leading to them writing their own drama with a peer at the end of the week. Our Irish lesson on a Friday is often longer to get through the many dramas they have written. Now the class will build upon their dramas during the week and try extend the drama themselves. I’ve also given them the option to record their dramas with siblings and add them to SeeSaw.
Irishhomework.ie is free for all teachers until the end of the year, it is so easy to set up and share with your pupils. It is engaging for the class and you can monitor their progress on your teacher dashboard.
I hope everyone is staying safe and staying indoors, maybe some of you are in the same boat as me and feeling overwhelmed with it all. I’m sure lots of people are in the same boat today.
Stay Safe everyone,
Aistear Muinteoir
Aistear Múinteoir 