To want to know what will happen with my year 10s GCSEs next year

[bigbananafeet12]

It’s now looking like schools aren’t going back in June. If teachers unions are not happy to return then, I can’t see what will be so different in September so who knows when they’ll be in. They’ve already had 5 weeks of ‘home learning’ with another 9 to go until they break up for summer. My ds has not been required to submit one piece of work since he left school on March 23rd. He has to do the work in his book and mark it as completed on Frog. Subsequently he’s had no feedback on anything he’s done. I’ve asked him to ask teachers if they can look at his work but he’s 15 and doesn’t like making a fuss. I try my best to look at what he’s up to but frankly have no confidence in my knowledge of physics etc! I also know that if I try to get too involved he will not be happy and at least now he is attempting to do the work. I don’t want it to be a battle.
I had a glimmer of hope that if he was back even part time in June we could ensure he was still on track and it would help restore his enthusiasm but obviously this looks unlikely.
So how on earth will schools have time to teach the GCSE syllabus plus revise as all previous years have been able to do. I know we’re having a global pandemic but to be honest I’m so worried about DS.
This is not a dig at teachers.

@lakeswimmer

From what I can see most schools are not expecting all of the work to be done.

Just what the children can do

I did one pre made video lesson. Took 5 hours to make, edit, upload. No way do I have time to do that a lot.
Should not take 5 hours! You can narrate a PowerPoint and it only needs a few tweaks from what you would teach if you were in the classroom

I wonder if work for Y10s will now change for those schools not currently providing much work or feedback, as it looks like secondary schools are not going back this term.

*@bigbananafeet12

The point is that posters (that don't listen about the reasons for not doing this) don't want an audio power point they want live lessons on zoom (or some other video chat) or the teachers to do a recorded lesson.

@cologne4711 - At no point - literally nowhere in any single one of these threads have I said I'm doing nothing. I've repeatedly said I'm recording videos, creating worksheets, setting tasks, linking to examples etc. Those kids who don't have internet are getting packages of work delivered to their house! They are disadvantaged if they cant access videos but we differentiate as best we can. We can't do zoom lessons because only a few will access them. The best fit is to set work and allow pupils to access it in their own time. WHICH WE ARE DOING! We recommend they stick to the their timetable, but if they cant, as long as they have the resources available to them when they need them, they are learning as best they can.

What do people make of this statement that the govt’s ambition is that Year 10s and 12s will spend “at least some face to face time” with their teachers before the summer? What do we make of this?

Presumably, if the reception, Year 1s and 6s are going back after half-term (June 1st), they’ll have to give that a fortnight at least to see if it raises the transmission rate. Then, by the sound of it, they would send other primary years back in the next wave if possible - so maybe mid June. Another fortnight (my guesstimate) to test the impact of this on transmission rates would take us to July. Well the schools mine are in finish on the 5th, 7th and 10th anyway - its hardly worth bothering!

Also: You cant email a pupil who doesnt have internet. If we recorded live lessons for pupils to access when they have access to a device it could very quickly become overwhelming. They might log on to find they have 25 hours worth of lessons to watch just to 'catch up'. It would be ridiculous.

Mine finishes on the 2nd so no point at all! It certainly doesn't sound like teaching to me as the sentence continues with "to support their remote learning' so I think the emphasis will be on that still. probably why they are trying to roll out laptops for disadvantaged Y10s.

Too much "can't do" and not enough "can do".

Whitestick

Its just another stick to beat us with from those that either don't know, don't care to know or just generally CBA.

It makes me think of all those inspirational posters that were popular for a while, with words like Ambition! Challenge! Perseverance! at the bottom.
Triple vom.

@BeltaneBride

I can't write maths on a PPT with a mouse. That's all the tech I have. It takes ages to use animation in Maths too.

My Internet speed isn't good, so uploading takes ages.

I know I'm not the only teacher in this position.

Luckily for maths there are lots of pre done videos far superior to anything I could bodge at home.

Just shows how different teaching maths is compared to other subjects.

Hercwasonaroll

When this all started and I pointed that out, I was told by some idiot that I should be paying for a faster broadband connect and all the equipment and claim it back off the school.

Like that is even remotely possible. But posters are that thick.

😂 😂 Yes I'll get BT to lay fibre optic cable to my town just for me!! What a at a lovely bubble some people live in.

When we've talked about it in meetings the issue in secondary is that they have to move around. In reality this means social distancing would be completely impossible really really tough and remember older years are more at risk. There are things schools can do to minimise risks for example teaching children in the same small group for every subject with the teachers moving round but whether they will be educationally beneficial is debatable. I teach maths and currently am setting work specifically for my year 10 who are all roughly working at the same level. If I had a mixed ability group with children aiming for 9 alongside others who might fail I'm not convinced it would be more effective for most children.

That said it WOULD be better for some ao one of the things I imagine the school would be looking at is offering more support and guidance to some who might be more at risk of failing or struggling at home.

The schools mine are in did a lot of homework tasks via Google Classroom already and this has BBEdit. The case got a long time, so this has just carried on, From the first day in the school, they had their log in passwords etc and they were in the habit of this style of learning. So I was helping my DD with English the other day (this is the one in Year 10). There were slides to read about techniques of analysing poetry and what makes a sonnet as opposed to other types of poems. Then she had come an example of how to “explode” the language of an image in the poem. Then she gave them a poem and they had to look for certain features like assonance, onomatopoeia, caesura, enjambement and so on and then they had to find another phrase in the poem and “explode” it. I learned quite a lot, as you can tell

My Year 7 has a whole timetabled week of exams via Google Classroom. If the exam is 9-10.30am, they have to submit it by 10.30 in the dot.

I would say about 40% of the sessions are face to face.

They feel like they’re working harder because they’re up against the clock to submit work by the end of the lessons. But they do have classmates online and they discuss if they’re stuck. Or the teacher obviously. Maths and science just get set as normal.

One of the schools have hired a woman who does Zumba with them.

Been the case, not BBEdit!

Sounds amazing @monkeycats I’d be over the moon if ds was getting stuff like that. I feel so sad for him.

We can't do zoom lessons because only a few will access them

I think most people in my son's classes are accessing them. My point is that you can record the session and then those who can't log on at the allotted time (eg 12.15 on a Wednesday) can watch it at 8pm on a Saturday if it suits them better. I can't see why this is remotely controversial.

I am a member of a networking group which has obviously moved online. As an extra they've been running an extra session each week with presenters and they record the session. So if I can't take part live, I listen to the recording.

Another example is another scheme my son is doing with British Athletics. As they can't do their next session live it is being recorded and uploaded and the kids watch it when they can and answer some questions on it. In no universe are those kids privileged.

Of course some teachers don't have decent internet. Ours has its moments and I've had to come off work calls or switch to audio or use an old fashioned phone. My son says one of his lessons finished early because the teacher's internet connection went down. But should she say she can't do any video lessons because it happened once? No of course not. And she has children too - ds says they occasionally make an appearance in her lessons. But despite the "green not envy post" there is a distinct "no can do" attitude coming from some posters (not just on this thread).

You cant email a pupil who doesnt have internet My son's college also sent out work by old-fashioned post.

At no point - literally nowhere in any single one of these threads have I said I'm doing nothing but you did say you wouldn't do Zoom lessons because it wasn't fair - if everyone didn't access nobody could access. Which isn't the same as saying you are trying to reach the kids in other ways.

I've already said we are reaching the kids in other ways. On this and similar threads. Our demographic means zoom teaching is not something that will work for us. It isnt a case of the teachers not being bothered. We are putting an awful lot of work in to deliver the best possible lessons to ALL pupils.

Also, recording videos is the same as recording the live lesson for the kids who are watching a recording. Which is what most teachers are doing.

Grade boundaries will be lower. Don't worry about it. Let your child cope with all the stress of this in whatever why they can. Their mental health is far more important. Leave the teachers to sort them when they return. Just do the work that's set and they will be fine

@maddy68 lowering the grade boundaries is not going to sort everything

Lowering grade boundaries will not fill in missing knowledge. The 10 year 10 pupils of mine who are currently not working from home because they have to look after their brothers/ they are struggling with their mental health/they are focusing on core subjects/they just dont want to dont seem to realise this. I have 48 pupils in two classes and I'm hoping for some dance to face time to support them in the coming weeks.