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).

Lenny,

To answer your question of why I mark less now than normally:

I mark as little as possible normally, mainly assessments sat in controlled conditions in a classroom. The rest of the time I normally go through prep in class. Firstly, and most importantly, social media has made marking prep in Sciences (and, I would guess, maths) fairly pointless. The pupils are all in chat groups and (positively) help each other and, far less positively, just nick each others’ answers. Secondly, I find it boring and am just not prepared to spend hours doing it for very (if any) limited gains in pupil progress and attainment. I make exceptions for the sixth form and Year 11.

I now also have my own (primary aged) children half the week, who do not have the benefit of any face time with their teachers, so I teach them too.

It is very important for teachers, IMO, to enjoy teaching and ‘have a life’. They can then bring this to the classroom.

There is a perception here, and many teachers even buy into it, that ticking every SLT box by working 14 hours a day makes one a brilliant teacher. It really doesn’t.

If you think back to your school days, the inspiring teachers were the ones who walked into the classroom saying ‘erm, where were we..’ and them delivered a totally fascinating lesson complete with diversions into totally unrelated areas, with energy and enthusiasm obviously present throughout.

I do think some schools have been pretty slack though, my nephew is 7 and they were sent one pack of work via email and it was all on non writable PDFs so only possible to do if you had a printer. It took the school a week to amend it. I dont think that is good enough for any school. That's what needs dealing with isn't it, the schools that aren't doing a good job. I have 3 GC at 3 different schools, they offer a very good overview as it is a bit Goldilocks with one very poor, one OK and one doing a fantastic job.

@ehct - your attitude does your profession no favours.

@echt that's pretty vile

At the end of the day this is a new situation to us all but I know that personally in my job I am doing my best to adjust and to help my team adjust and do the best job we are able to do during difficult circumstances. I don't understand why anyone wouldnt want to do the same. I also don't think it's the teachers anyone is blaming, I think it is the school management as presumably the teachers are doing as instructed.

Don't get me wrong that there are certainly varying levels of lessons set from my DCs school but for I don't actually know the individual circumstances of the teachers amongst other things so I am not going to criticise individual teachers.

@Kiwi09 We’ve had no safety concerns. How would you feel if your child was one of the children who was suddenly viewing another child being sexually abused when the zoom call got hacked?

Why this total obsession with live Zoom lessons? I am recording videos for my classes but they are not live. I can stop and start it again if I get interrupted, the kids can watch at their own pace, when a device is available, they aren’t distracted by the others in the class making faces at each other and there aren’t the safeguarding issues. This constant demanding for live lessons seems to totally misunderstand the nature of teaching 30 teenagers who have varying degrees of IT access, motivation and parental support. PS we are working very hard!

I think the reason I am posting on these is because I think that understanding goes a long way. A lot of threads I've seen that have been accused of teacher bashing have actually seen the op come back with an "oh right. Thanks for explaining. I get it now." This one included.

Obviously some people are just here to argue, on both sides. It really is a shame.

I agree with you @Changeofname79, most people are trying to do the best they can in their jobs and lives at this difficult time. Some aren't, but that's always true!

We start lessons at 9, and finish around 4

I'm a teacher. Not in the UK but I've just looked up what age a child is in Year 3. 7 years old? And you're doing that much schooling?

I would advise you to get a life!

Most teachers have children of their own. So how can they do video lessons with their own babies, toddlers, or children around? Parents need to take some responsibility for their own children during this difficult time, rather than moan and blame others who are doing the best they can.

So many of us keep coming on here and explaining what we do. On.so many threads. It's pretty much like being in school, where some kids 'don't get it' because they just don't want to. I am.curious who.these teachers are who are doing nothing. But I must admit, I'm enjoying days where I don't have to repeat the same basic instructions all day and deal with open.defiance from teenagers who resent having to be educated. Can't wait for a these bored teenagers to turn into model students when they're back.

So how can they do video lessons with their own babies, toddlers, or children around?

Welcome to the struggles of those of us with jobs outside of teaching.

Just wanted to highlight safeguarding goes both ways - the children are needing safeguarded but so do the teachers. We would be video calling 30 odd (at least - in my case 230) children from OUR HOMES. This can leave you open to lots of accusations. Unfortunately I work in a school where malicious accusations are not unheard of. No way would I feel comfortable providing pictures of rooms in my home in case it comes back to bite me in the future.

Also, have you tried a video call with 30 odd children? Do you honestly think much learning would occur?

echt That's a pretty horrible attitude

Does my face look bothered?

ehct - your attitude does your profession no favours

Oh, how it all becomes about "the profession" when at eacher has something to say about the the nature of their, ahem, critics, i.e. culpably ignorant.

echt that's pretty vile

As so many of those attacking teachers on MN. If the hat fits....

You know what, sometimes the flowers don't just cut it.

We start lessons at 9, and finish around 4
I'm a teacher. Not in the UK but I've just looked up what age a child is in Year 3. 7 years old? And you're doing that much schooling?

If it's true, it's absolutely ridiculous. School day for a year3 would be 9 to 3, with play times, lunch break, assemblies, PE, councils.. to break the day, keep them interested and willing to learn.

If the OP is one of those parents, that would explain the reasoning, but private school would suit a lot better. I feel sorry for the child.
But that completely twist the discussion about individual schools not having stepped up - even if posters willingly ignore that even state schools don't all have the challenges.

My children both have full timetables and a mix of live lessons, with pre-recorded stuff on Microsoft Teams. They are 7 and 8. The only thing I would say to do online learning well requires a lot of energy on the part of the teachers. We get weekly emails on the plan, what will be covered, handed in etc. Also each child needs access to a laptop, desk, headphones, exercise books, printer, stationery, a desk and ideally everyone needs to be in different rooms but with a parent nearby to support. This is not be viable for all state school children. We are both working full time and come the end of the day we are all tired. It's very resource intensive to do well.

@ehct
You're fuelling a division between teachers (I am one fyi) and parents that is unhelpful to the profession.

Yes, some non teachers are fuelling the division too. No need to be vile to every non teacher.

Also, have you tried a video call with 30 odd children? Do you honestly think much learning would occur?

many posters don't actually care about the educational level, they want to make sure that teachers are having just as a shit time as they have themselves. They have realised that it's their little darling the problem, not the horrible teachers they have moaned about for years, and that they can't be bothered with their own kid. So they want to share the misery.

That's what come across all these threads, the Welcome to the struggles of those of us with jobs outside of teaching cohort. It's not about their child, it's the resentment because they imagine that teachers are on a jolly when they are not.

That's one of the reasons I could never have been a teacher myself: the parents!

Those without sympathy for those with their own children, would you be ok with your child being seen by 30 different families, when you have no knowledge of who is in their house? How can you really expect a teacher to teach 30 children and keep a baby/toddler safe. Videos fine, because you can perhaps record them in the evening/ nap time. Everyone I know working with a toddler is having to be creative with their time, Work in chunks/ swap with partners etc but zoom does not allow that. ( plus no idea how you could keep the attention of 30 5 year olds through zoom- and unlikely they could all access it at the same time)

@NeverTwerkNaked
I find it astonishing teachers don't care that children aren't being taught

Are you reading a parallel thread in an alternate universe?? Of course we care, we’re just not bloody allowed! Also, out of 32 Year 8s, 6 have never appeared on either system we use. Heads of year are supposed to contact parents, I have done, about 4 times each, directly and a few times through the sanction system. Once a couple of sanctions have been issued, letters are sent. We’ve even given out laptops to help.

Despite teaching in a very affluent area, some kids for whatever reason just have not engaged. Whether this is due to lack of technology, or lack of desire, I don’t know. I’m meant to now leave it with management.

@qweryuiop I definitely agree with you on the one size doesn't fit all approach. Our school had stressed to parents that the most important thing is children's mental health and wellbeing Yes our school has emphasized health and well being but they are a highly competitive school and they have also been piling on the work. I have hard working kids who don't feel comfortable not doing everything that is expected of them - it's a hard lesson for them that they have to manage their teacher's expectations of what can be achieved, but that won't do them any harm to learn to be more assertive.

@MrsTolerance that is great though, my DCs have found this useful especially for practical subjects as they have been able to pause and rewatch (science, PE etc) many schools are not providing this either. We would have been happy with that for our DCs for sure even without zoom.

@echt I have not attacked teachers whatsoever. Most posters on here haven't actually. And yes it is pretty vile of those personally attacking teachers also. I don't think it is unfair for any poster to suggest that a school who has provided 1 pack of worksheets for primary age children each couple of weeks is acceptable. That is not teacher bashing.

I wonder how many people in favor of online lessons have ever tried running one?

One to one they can work quite well and are close to the real thing. As student numbers increase so do problems. For a start the more people on the lesson, the more likely it is that some of them will experience technological and connectivity problems. This eats into the lesson time, diverts the teacher's attention and leaves everyone else bored, doing nothing while it is being sorted.

Even if there are no technological issues, contact online is quite different from face to face. It is much easier for students' attention to drift off and more difficult for teachers to keep everyone engaged. Discussions can be confusing with sound issues as more than one people try to talk at the same time. There is no option of approaching any one student privately to explain something or find out what is going wrong. It is very difficult to redirect the attention of any student who gets distracted by whatever is happening in their home.

Even pre-recording lectures is really tough because you get no feedback from the audience. You have no idea if your jokes were funny, if you have put everyone to sleep, if you need to speed up or slow down, etc.

If you've never tried it, don't assume that online teaching is the same as face to face but just uses a screen.

There are issues with zoom. We're not allowed to use it in Government as it is insecure ( foreign states are breaking into calls apparently).

We do though use it for beavers, but we insist on having 2 DBS adults on the call at all times, and we ask that a parent stays in the room. That's to protect both the children and us. I'm not sure that schools could manage 2 teachers on a call.

Potentially a different platform might work. A school local to be is delivering some lessons this way using Teams. But the issue is would the kids have access to it?

Live lessons are not appropriate for our school. We weighed up all the pros and cons of live lessons early in and for the majority of our school community, taking all of the children into account and their needs, background, etc, we made a school decision backed by the LEA. And that's before we even start to consider safeguarding of specific apps.

We offer alternative home learning to live lessons in a number of formats. Parents and pupils can choose to do them or not.

I've no idea why some people thing live video is the A* option for home learning. Whilst it may work for some smaller groups with older teens, or for businesses or for holding your family get together - it often isn't suitable for whole class teaching at all.