14th May 2020
Distance Learning started with a hiss and a roar. I found it easy enough to transfer what I would had been doing in class with my students and just move this online. The junior programmes seemed to be running well (apart from the myriad of questions I was receiving) and I really enjoyed what felt like more individual time with my seniors to give feedback on their internal assessments. However, prior to seniors completing their internal assessments I was finding that engagement levels weren't the highest and I felt that was partially due to my lack in creativity. Moving into Term 2 I was determined to create changes within my teaching and learning programmes to increase collaboration and engagement of students. So what were my key focus points of change?
1. Be creative
Our Level 3 students were moving into their biomechanics unit of work. At first I was stumped - how the hell was I going to teach this? Typically when teaching biomechanics students learn about a principle and then learning is reinforced with a practical and class discussion. How can I teach students about biomechanical principles while keeping it fun and how can I still check for an understanding? Students firstly learnt about the principle via Edpuzzle, before completing a practical task and then applying their understanding to some knowledge review questions. A few of my favourite lessons included homemade tenpin bowling to see Newton's Laws in action, homemade or online angry birds to analyse projectile motion and the use of yoga and pilates to identify principles of balance and stability in action. A few of the students awesome setups from these lessons are pictured below.
2. Increase Engagement
By being more creative with my lessons this instantly helped to lift engagement. As mentioned above I also used Edpuzzle to help me with this. Edpuzzle is a great way to set video tasks for students, while also tracking whether or not they have watched the video. However, the best function is the ability to pause the video to add a note or ask students either multi choice or open ended questions. In our following lessons we could then discuss questions all students struggled with or I could catch up individually with students regarding a principle they may have struggled with.
Other ways I tried to increase engagement in lessons was through completing knowledge review tasks on the content for the week. This worked particularly well with my IGCSE students who had tasks such as a Kahoot or to create a video applying their knowledge of the skeletal system. Not only was it a great way for me to see potential gaps within student knowledge, students also commented that they enjoyed these application activities and had more motivation to complete these rather than practice exam questions.
3. Increase Collaboration
I identified that while distance learning in Term 1 I hadn't been encouraging collaboration between students. Normally students are always collaborating in my lessons - why had I stopped? To introduce collaboration again I started off nice and slow such as a shared group document in Google Classroom where students had been separated into groups and had to work together to create notes on a particular joint. I then moved to Padlet where all students needed to contribute and then work with a partner to summarise all of the ideas presented on the Padlet and feed this back to the class like this example here. We then finally got back to the point where in a Webex call students were collaborating through the chat function, discussion and working together on a shared document.
4. Pre-recorded Videos
In Term 1 I found pre-recording videos really useful when helping to breakdown achievement criteria or specific questions in assessments for my seniors. Students also liked the idea of being able to go back and rewatch a clip of my explanation and how it was available for them to access when they wanted or needed it. To help with the myriad of questions form my junior classes I decided to enlist the same approach. At the start of the week we would meet for a Webex call. In this call we cover their tasks and expectations for the week. I would also prerecord a short video clip to post to Google Classroom of their tasks and expectations of the week and post this prior to their first lesson. This allowed us to briefly recap and go over questions in the Webex call and the breakdown of their task was also available for them to rewatch if they needed to. This was also followed up with an email reminder before the start of their remaining lessons for the week. This along with the familiarity of the routine meant that the number of questions I was reaching dropped significantly.
5. Wellbeing
The time in distance learning has also given me time to reflect on my own wellbeing. I noticed that before our 'holidays' I was so tired and felt like this distance learning meant that I was working harder and longer everyday. I also found that over the holidays I was turning to my school work for something to do leaving me feeling like I didn't get much of a holiday. I also attended a webinar on teacher wellbeing which helped me to put some strategies in place when returning to Term 2.
- Collaborate - I didn't need to recreate everything. Instead reach out for help and ideas, which also helped with my creativity!
- Work-life balance - Don't touch any work after 5pm & no work weekends (with the exception of a possible hour on Sunday to prepare for the week ahead - if needed).
- Self-determination theory - control what I can - let the other things go.
- Connect - catch up with colleagues and others in the profession, not only about work.
So What?
Although I'm looking forward to returning the the classrooms, continuing to build relationships and increasing collaboration once again I also plan to take a couple of these tips with me. I plan to take the pre-recorded videos with me, particularly for seniors with achievement criteria breakdown and explaining questions in an assessment. I also plan to hold onto the creativity of lessons rather than returning back to usual and what I have just always done. I am also looking forward to returning to more of a settled routine which helps me feel settled - I can also ensure I set time aside for myself.
Below is also an article I wrote in Term 1 for the school's e-news about our distance learning setup in PE.
