I've been teaching online for months AMA

[mosquitofeast]

I am a secondary science teacher. I can hopefully answer any questions about what has happened and what is going to happen, for one example school at least. I know a bit about what has been going on at other local schools, so I have a bit of an over view.

Are you reopening to all years in September?
How are you organising bubbles?
Do you think you will be using supply at all?
Did you secretly judge pupils who uploaded less than their peers?
How unfair/hard have you found the ranking for GCSE this year?
Do you foresee knock-on effects for year 7 coming up and year 11 next year and how is your school going about bridging gaps?
Have you enjoyed Zoom (if you used it)?

@MissJacksonIfYoureNasty

Are you reopening to all years in September? How are you organising bubbles? Do you think you will be using supply at all? Did you secretly judge pupils who uploaded less than their peers? How unfair/hard have you found the ranking for GCSE this year? Do you foresee knock-on effects for year 7 coming up and year 11 next year and how is your school going about bridging gaps? Have you enjoyed Zoom (if you used it)?

1)We are reopening to all years, but are fully expecting to be closing year groups down on a rolling basis, depending on covid infections, etc.

2)We have one department block for each year group, and they will stay in that department. Years 7 8 and 9 will stay in the same chair in the same room, all week, but the older years will have to move around a bit for their option subjects. We are staggering arrival time, and home time. Lunch has been abolished in favour of rolling break times.

3. I don't think we will use any short term supply. We will be sending children home if we don't have enough staff in.

4. No, I don't judge the pupils at all! Everybody has been finding their own way the best they can.

5. I don't know how the rankings are going to translate into grades, yet. Certainly, it was a very difficult job to rank everyone. It took hours of Zoom

6. yes, the year 7s will not have a proper secondary school experience. No practical PE, music, science, etc. Bridging the gaps, well, we are not really expecting the gaps to be any bigger than usual, it will be a case of asses, then differentiate.

7. I did quite enjoy the Zoom lessons, and interacting with my pupils, but they took a very long time to prepare, and it wasn't as good as being in a class room. Also, there was always a certain number of children who were having connection issues, in every lesson

Thank you!

Bridging the gaps, well, we are not really expecting the gaps to be any bigger than usual
That surprises me - my primary has been excellent but surely 4 months of homeschooling will have affected year 6 going up. I did some science with mine but not loads...or do you start your key stage 3 science curriculum over in any case? Have some year 10s not missed a whole term of science or did they all attend zoom lessons/work on your VLE?

No practical PE
Blimey, that's tough. Unless they are doing all the musculature study etc that kids doing GCSE do for written. I mean, how many sports kits or olympic logos can one design?!

How do expect to finish the curriculum on time for next years year 11? Isn't it only just finished with a couple of weeks spare in normal years?
How will the children be expected to do the exact same exams with 14 weeks of school missing? I understand you have been teaching the whole time but that doesn't necessarily translate to the kids learning.

Can I ask what the reason is for not using supply?

@MissJacksonIfYoureNasty

Thank you!

Bridging the gaps, well, we are not really expecting the gaps to be any bigger than usual
That surprises me - my primary has been excellent but surely 4 months of homeschooling will have affected year 6 going up. I did some science with mine but not loads...or do you start your key stage 3 science curriculum over in any case? Have some year 10s not missed a whole term of science or did they all attend zoom lessons/work on your VLE?

well, every year there are children with massive gaps. I had a boy in year 7 last year who had never attended school before, and others who have come from abroad, with no English, and a completely different educational background. In that sense, it will be no worse, ( I hope!)

No, not all year 10s attended all Zoom lessons. The top set children generally did. I also have a bottom set who attended very erratically. However, they attend school very erratically too, and don't make much progress when they are in. I don't know if they will get to where they would have been. I hope so. There are some quite severe special needs in that class, which means they would have been moving more slowly anyway. So, I don't expect it will have all that much of an impact on the top or bottom sets. The middle sets might be different. I suppose we will find out.

@MissJacksonIfYoureNasty

No practical PE Blimey, that's tough. Unless they are doing all the musculature study etc that kids doing GCSE do for written. I mean, how many sports kits or olympic logos can one design?!

In our school, and the two schools next door, PE has been taken off the time table for the foreseeable future. This is not ideal, obviously.

@chillie

How do expect to finish the curriculum on time for next years year 11? Isn't it only just finished with a couple of weeks spare in normal years? How will the children be expected to do the exact same exams with 14 weeks of school missing? I understand you have been teaching the whole time but that doesn't necessarily translate to the kids learning.

It depends on the school. I think the exams are going to be put back, and of course, all children are in the same situation. WE have finished the curriculum for next year's year 11. We just spend year 11 revising. I don't like this system at all, but this year, it has worked out for the best.

@flowerpower32

Can I ask what the reason is for not using supply?

Cross contamination between schools.

I am going to sleep now, but I will check back here when I wake up, and answer anything else. I can't answer for all the schools in the UK, but I can tell you about our experiences and decisions

no further questions?