Is anyone finding the continual recording and uploading of primary school kids work stressful

[whatthefuckishappening]

The continual recording of young children's work is really frustrating for us. To try to get an uninterrupted video of young children doing their "work" to send to school is driving me insane and is sucking any enjoyment out of activities. Anyone else? I'd rather school just stopped and we focused on reading and writing activities that we chose for our "work" without having to send and record everything. It is dong my head in asking them to repeat stuff they've done and shushing other kids, moving mess out of the way, stopping to upload onto slow portals etc, constantly trying to recapture the moment. I'm hating that part. Think I just needed to rant!

Wow thats asking alot! We just either pick up a work pack or download from the website, then do at leisure. The school haven't requested that we submit anything and I certainly don't send staged videos in 🙄

I find Class Dojo a crap app. Especially the fact I have twins and it's not made clear which work is for which. Teachers posting to general story rather than the child's portfolio.

Some teachers have set up portfolios for completed work. Some haven't. Some just don't bother to respond.

Poor and uninspiring.

I'm not. I can't work out the technology, and there are several different places/ websites that stuff is put for my Reception child. I write down what we do and what books she is reading (from Oxford Owl online so she is reading the same level of Biff, Chip and Kipper as before), but I haven't worked out how to upload photos. I have only taken a few.
Her teacher is apparently going to phone tomorrow (everyone in the class, not just us), but I will be at work in a hospital so won't be able to ask.
Fortunately my other DC in year 4 doesn't seem to require photos. I can't tell whether the website the work is set on (BGFL 365) makes it possible for the teacher to see what she has done or not, but we are just doing the best we can.

No. Our school hasn't asked for this. Is this widespread? Ours are lovely and supportive, with weekly phonecalls to check on wellbeing, plenty of options, ideas, links and suggestions on the website, and tasks set within some websites- but no pressure or insisting on evidence of work being done. I would find that very stressful.

Our primary school had a rethink over Easter - we now get a weekly list of work on a Monday morning, I then get children to pop their work in a pile and scan and upload everything in one go, takes a while but so much less stressful than it was before Easter.

So you’re having to film stuff? Fuck that.

I’m just taking pics every day of what they’ve done and even that is a pain in the backside especially having to flip between two Seesaw accounts. They never actually said you have to upload it but I just always have since they started at home.

Ours have class dojo but we're only putting up photos of work. School sent out a letter at the start of this term saying they'd had families requesting more/less/more structured/less structured work and wanting feedback and support or wanting to be left to get on with it, so I think they can't win. So we can now choose one of four streams - one is pick and mix from a list of tasks, one is quite structured with set work every day and a weekly theme, one follows the BBC bitesize lessons and one uses the government Oak Academy. The carrot/stick of submitting work for their teacher to see is working for us at the moment. They are commenting on everything we send.

One of mine has sent fuck all work home and I'm having to plan everything from scratch for that child.

The other has gone for the "sign 'em up for an online provider and let 'em go" approach - teachers ARE monitoring what the kids are doing in terms of what they've completed and coped with, but not requiring reams and reams of uploading stuff to a portal at least. My only issue with that approach is the parents who are less well set-up with tech - the site they've used only works with the most recent of browsers and so a fair few parents who've got an ageing tablet that works OK for opening the odd email are finding they can't access the online learning stuff. I've been raking around the hall of forgotten laptops in our house to sort friends out for their kids - don't really think the school appreciated these days just how many people get by with only an old tablet or a smartphone for internet access.

Both kids have been doing other stuff and wanting to send that on for their teachers to see (science experiments mainly) and the staff have been responding to and encouraging that - but fuck compulsory uploading things to portals.

DS (yr4) has to have me sitting with him for him to even attempt any of the work set.

DD (reception) keeps being set ludicrously long tasks - make puppets, a theatre, write a show and perform on video! That was for 1 day along with maths and English worksheets to do as well.

The platform the school is using is so crap, videos and documents won't upload, worksheets aren't in a format that prints, however teachers do respond to any work done quickly. It's so frustrating, I've got a destructive 2yr old as well and spend my day alternatively shouting at them and swearing at the computer.

No one else using Seesaw? It’s pretty seamless tbh for the uploads and downloading stuff to print off too.

My primary age child has been using Seesaw but they only set it up at the end of last week. So far there hasn't been any uploading because it's all been online worksheets but it is obviously a double edged sword as it means he can't work without the computer which means I can't work while he is.
I like it as an interface - it's easy and age appropriate.

It's been a struggle but I've tried my best with DS 5 and 15 week old baby.

What winds me up is I manage to get the work done and upload videos/voice recordings (usually with the baby crying loudly in the background) and the teacher posts back challenges to DS's responses and expects a response to that! (She doesn't get a response!)

I know many friends where both parents are working full time and some have started focusing on 3 mornings a week on school work and are finding it less stressful for them and DC.

The head at our school said nothing done at home will be marked. they ask for nothing sent in. Today is the first time we have been asked for something specific to be done online at a certain time.
Other than that, they put a load of resources online and we have cherry picked what we want to do along with reading, and twinkle resources.

The school where I work is preparing online resources for children to do if they and the parents want. We have suggested only an hour or so a day and have made it clear that even if the children do nothing, ultimately our concern is that the laments and children are not feeling stressed at what is already a stressful time. We have asked that where possible, children are encouraged to read and maybe practise
tables. We have also suggested lots of fun activities and have asked parents to get children helping around the house, in the garden etc. Our HT is writing a weekly letter to parents and our staff are contacting every child every week, to make sure they are ok. Where we know some homes have no technology , or are limited to a mobile phone with limited data, we are sending information as paper packs, delivered by members of staff. The feedback from our parents has mostly been positive - both about the amount and quality of work set and about the regular contact with school. The work we have sent doesn't really need marking as such, but it has all been acknowledged, whether by email, twitter or in the school website.

I'm a teacher.

If it's stressing you out don't do it. I've got parents that are doing loads, sending it in via Class Dojo, others that are dipping in and out, others that are totally doing their own thing and some who we have seen zero work from.

The latter is worrying and we have emailed a few parents who haven't engaged at all just to make sure they're ok.

I think as parents you are all amazing. When I teach, I'm just doing my job, you are teaching various age groups, maybe working from home, caring for pre-schoolers, pets, elderly parents not to mention just general house stuff.

No one will judge you if you don't send stuff in. Do what you can

I would just refuse to do it. I don't have time for that. My son is just reading and doing a bit of classwork when he feels like it. I'm working and I have several children. I couldn't do it all.

Thanks PP who mentioned scanning work. I can't think why it didn't occur to me.

We're encouraged to load up pictures to Evidence Me. But DS's teacher told me today that she's already written his end of year report, so I rather wonder what the point is.

We don’t have to do anything. It’s up to us and no one is asking for work to be recorded or marked. It’s just so different from school to school!!

We've been asked this week to send photos of completed work, I suspect it's to scare people into doing it who haven't been previously. Videoing then working is absolutely ridiculous and I wouldn't do it.

@Patchworksack, I think the idea of four different streams is excellent - I wish our schools were doing something like that. Our first week actually went quite smoothly - most of their work was set via the online tools like mymaths and all three kids were able to get on with everything independently while we wfh, and they all had a satisfying list of things ticked off each day. Over Easter they had feedback from lots of parents who understandably struggled with the technology (we are very fortunate to have fibre broadband despite living rurally and the kids have their own chromebooks) so they came up with a new approach which has been a fucking nightmare - lots of random piecemeal activities and the youngest in particular needs 10x the support from us to make sense of it. I wish they had have recognised that the people who didn't complain might actually have found it was working well, and suggested two different approaches.

The teacher probably can't be arsed either but has been instructed to. Can your cam and scanner mysteriously break so you can only confirm what has been completed at the end of the day?

Yes it's stressful. Putting the stuff up and receiving it. Very stressful.

We don’t have to do videos and I would refuse if asked. We’ve got Dojo but I couldn’t get the app on my daughter’s phone so it’s on DH’s laptop. Trying to tahr photos of her work with the laptop is a pain in the arse. The teacher rarely comments so I’m wonder why we are bothering. I’m trying to get a some writing, a bit of maths and 30 mins reading a day. DD can’t get on to TR Rockstars but is managing to do her reading quizzes on Accelerated Reader. I have a year 7 with ASD and we are both working so had it with the whole situation to be honest.

We have stuff to do but it’s not online and no one will ever check it so I can’t be too fussed.

Filming is so they can be assessed, so e.g. if I put he did Jo Wickes/went on trampoline/did assault course round garden etc for exercise, then the next comment will ask for a video of it. Ditto if I say reading or writing is coming along. He is 4 and in nursery. It's tricky. I have another of 5 with separate work and I have a baby. Videos of reading. Videos for retelling story. Video for baking etc. Suggestions to put together PowerPoint presentations with help. I also have a baby so am not even working at the moment, but finding it horrid. This morning one task took about forty minutes to re-record. It's shite. I'm starting to throw my own hissy fits! Think they're going to get put off learning for life. I wish the school would just stop and let them read, write in a workbook or something and just play! It's the videoing that's doing my head in most or saying no need to print, just use computer...trying to video a four year old using a laptop which he is not used to, with a baby on my lap doing a PowerPoint presentation is a task I've not bothered to try yet!! I would want to shoot myself if I had to watch a class full of nursery kids on separate videos every day doing the same task.