Classroom Lessons via Zoom

[jjx111]

AIBU to expect the teachers at my daughter’s rs primary school to offer at least some lessons via Zoom? The feedback I have been given is that that they aren’t offering it due to a) safeguarding issues, and b) it would add to the teachers workload. Well, surely if we parents consent for our child to sign in for these lessons then no safeguarding issue. Plus, at present, we parents are doing at least 60% of the teachers work for them via homeschooling. (I appreciate that they are setting work for the children, but this is part of the planning they would do anyway).

I don't want the teachers to have to be back in their classrooms before it feels safe for them. I am happy for my children to be taught remotely. But they are really down about the total lack of contact from their respective schools.

@Nevertwerknaked I absolutely do care that this is the best are offering our pupils. I wish we could do more but it is nowhere near as simple as doing a couple of Zoom lessons a week, unfortunately. I work in a deprived area and many will be disadvantaged for years to come. It’s heartbreaking and I just want to be back with the kids. Many teachers, you may be surprised to hear, feel their same.

I don't expect Children to spend 6 hours a day working. But 15 minutes doesn't cut it either.

The message from government is that people have to stay going into work if they cannot work from home. I really don't see why the SLT and unions aren't trying hard to make remote teaching work to fight back against the push to open schools.

Yes, a few children in each class might be disadvantaged, but come up with a plan to try and catch them up rather than just accepting that all children should be held back at that level.

Even half an hour a day for the class would be helpful!

@NeverTwerkNaked I'm not saying to hold them back, but we can't do lessons in multiple formats for every group of students.
I have a cohort of 60 in my year 12 group and we do lessons on Microsoft teams. The workload as a teacher in a single teacher department would be unrealistic to deliver a lesson there, plus over video for all three of my groups.
Instead I add audio dictation to my powerpoints so they can access it when they like.

@Hoppyhops thank you. That's what I care about too. It breaks my heart for all the children, especially those like my son who love learning and love traditional lessons.

@NeverTwerkNaked perhaps if nobody had called your sons then you should take that up with their schools?

I had a meeting on zoom today. My broadband wasnt good enough and so I lost connection for 10 minutes. So it's not suitable for everyone. I've had to buy a new laptop as it is to prepare PowerPoints with audio recordings.

@18MinesAPintOfTea

The message from government is that people have to stay going into work if they cannot work from home. I really don't see why the SLT and unions aren't trying hard to make remote teaching work to fight back against the push to open schools.

Exactly this!

This is what I want to see.

@Hoppyhops I can and will (they are moving to private school but for the sake of other children I shall flag it)

Reckon due to parental dissatisfaction they should furlough teachers on 80% pay and get the volunteer army to deal with setting work that makes progress, marking it within a day, dealing with entitled parents then there would be no problem. The teachers are clearly sitting on their gin soaked arses in the sun anyway. Teacher bashers be careful what you wish for. Remember teachers aeent your maids and theres more important things going on than your previous kids

@18minesapintoftea This would be great. I would love to be freed up from the hub school to teach my own classes remotely. I sincerely mean that. It’s hard being in an unfamiliar school teaching kids you don’t know and preparing every day not knowing what numbers you’re getting, whether they’ll be engaged etc.

The main issue with remote learning that we have though (it might be different for others) is that lots of our pupils don’t have access to technology or unlimited internet usage etc. This has to be addressed before anything else but I don’t know how they’re going to do it. Some parents I’ve spoken to are struggling to buy food, let alone buy new equipment that wasn’t needed before ( we run homework club with ict facilities for the severely disadvantaged). This will be the biggest challenge for many.

@NeverTwerkNaked Please do! I’d hate to think that there were pupils struggling and I didn’t know about it. I hope the schools will be supportive.

Teachers do care that children aren’t in school, but it’s not true to say that they aren’t being taught. Plenty of children are learning effectively if they have both the support of school and their parents. I’ve seen the evidence of it.

Maybe some schools aren’t doing enough to support home learning, but some schools have done an amazing job, as have many individual teachers and even TAs. They have to work within the guidance they are given from above though, even in normal times they have relatively little control over what they can do in their classes.

op hasn't been back...

These threads have been done to death. I'm going to report.

Bell goes.
3 mins to lesson.
5 mins to settle
10 min.starter
15 mins. Explain/ discussion
15min written work
5 mins. Plenary
3 min pack.up
Trouble is, some kids can rattle through work in 15 mins. Teacher may well have planned for it to take an.hour. kid cab taking the time to do.it properly..they probably don't in school. But then.it's the teacher's fault for being uninspiring/personality clash/putting alan at the front/middle/back of the class.

I have a bright but lazy. Do i expect his teachers to fix him? No. Can i fix him? No. If he wants to do well, he will have to take some responsibility for himself.

Also, @MNHQ, are you ever going to act on the teacher-bashing threads, or are these all part of the “spirit of Mumsnet”, and you actually agree with them?

Teacher bashing? Ok then
You do realise that not all teachers are fantastic? There are some shite ones at my ds's school and I had to complain because he wasn't getting any maths through.

Op you should know by now you can't have a healthy debate about teachers on here. Too many of them and they are oh so defensive (and very sweary) 😂

I thought that key worker childcare was basic supervision without teaching? And in any event, saying this class would get half an hour 3 or 4 days a week when their teacher isn't on the rota for key worker childcare would still be a great improvement, and very understandable.

We had a class party with 20 on zoom. Assume a few more didnt prioritise the party and that's nearly all of the class with video call capability.

There are some teachers and schools talked about here that are clearly doing their very best and connected with their pupils. Sadly, this just isn't the case in all schools. I'm not teacher bashing as one school is saving my sanity right now with my highly anxious DC. However, my other DC at another local school are having the total opposite experience. This is a huge frustration. If one can do it then why does the other seem to be doing nothing. Photocopies once e very few weeks (no differention so one DC cant access any of it).

These threads have been done to death. I'm going to report.

Report for what? Because you don't agree with what op said?

People on MN confuse what is gvt policy and what schools are doing.

They feel angry towards an individual teacher perhaps not realizing that the method of teaching is dictated by the two above.

Head teachers are juggling.

The OP wants more via zoom

Fine in a school where every family has enough tech to go round. So little Jonny in reception can do phonics, big brother in yr 4 can work on his fractions, big sister in yr 7 can have her lesson on Shakespeare while parents sit alongside and do their work.

But how does that work when the only tech in the house is one phone????

Heads are balancing all these things constantly.

Some parents are screaming their gifted child isn't being stretched. Some parents are finding it stressful to do any work at all.

It's just so irritating to read threads where parents are saying "this is how it is in MY house, so why aren't teachers filling that specific need?" Doh... coz it's not all about you.

You know what, we are in a global pandemic and the best people can do is decide to start judging how other people do their jobs. Will this matter in the grand scheme of your child's life? Probably not. Will the teachers be working hard when we are all back to fill gaps in knowledge/check understanding of each individual student? Absolutely.

What happened to be kind? As a profession we are doing the best we can in a global pandemic as I'm sure you are yourselves in your job. Has anyone started judging your work and telling you it's not good enough anymore?

No, Moonface. This is another thread about why teachers are not on Zoom teaching and there have been many threads about this already, which all end in the same way. They all descend into teacher bashing.
Teachers have already said why they are not allowed to do Zoom lessons, over and over, but some posters are just desperate to hate teachers and accuse them of being lazy and doing nothing while on full pay. It's relentless and draining.

Also, the op has not been back. Why start a thread on this topic as a newbie and not reply?

@NeverTwerkNaked are your kids hard work hun?

You do realise that if we did care about our students getting an education we would report to someone a little bit higher ranking and more significant than you? We may not even consult you at all with our opinions.

It is of course possible that we all just chose this job for the holidays and couldn't give a fuck about the young people. I mean new teachers get a whopping £21k and it's well known for being a stress free job, that's why there's a huge surplus of qualified teachers waiting in the wings.