To think all 6 years don't really want to face-time their teachers?

[Sliders]

I work in a school and I'm being bombarded with requests by parents of 6 year old children who apparently are desperate to have zoom/online chats with their teachers who they really, really miss. My children (now teenagers) at that age really wouldn't have wanted to do that at all.

Please can parents of 6 year olds tell me honestly if this is true? I'm inclined to think that the parents really want this and think their child has more of a relationship with the teacher than they really do. At least half of the children in the class won't speak to you face-to-face, why would doing it online be any different?

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I have a 6 tear old. I would love her to have live lessons because I am not a teacher and both she and I are struggling with honeschooling. FWIW - no contact from my school other than one phonecall in april and 1 worksheet a week with a few learning tasks on. Not been impressed with my school if I’m honest.

So sick of schools making up excuses why online lessons cant happen.

We are abroad and my Y1 ds is back in school now but before that we had extremely painful daily Teams catch ups where he refused to say anything at all. It did seem to be about 50:50 in terms of engagement. Some kids did seem to love it though.

Also, any live teaching with under 7s was a nightmare unless the parents were heavily supervising. A lot used it as childcare and their kids ruined it for the others.

It did work better in my dd’s class (y3) where the kids were better at using the technology appropriately.

My year 3 child’s school has had no contact with children apart from a pre recorded story being read on the website.

He would love to speak to his teacher and see his class online. School is not just about education, it is about safe adults and social interaction.

Instead the message we received from the head yesterday was “here are the classes for September, we’ll leave the children’s books outside the school in a carrier bag some day soon for you to pick up”

It is fucking heartless. It’s a junior school so he’s been there less than a year.

@Seesaw9when you were at school you probably didn’t go six months without seeing your teacher, friends, or any other structure to your day with your nearest adults frantically trying to keep their jobs and look after all their children’s needs. Times change.

My 6 year old would never have suggested this, but I think he would enjoy it. Yes it is the parents who want this, school is just a distant memory for my son and he doesn't make the connection between the long list of websites we were told to use and his previous life at school! It's becoming increasingly difficult to motivate him. I think reconnecting with peers and school is important. There are lots of children, him included, who won't want to go back to school when it finally opens.

Do you not have any ‘live’ meetings with them at all? My kids are in secondary school but they get 2-3 Zoom lessons a day. They found it a bit cringe to start with but it’s the norm now. I’m sure even a couple of short live sessions where you read a story, or did same drawing, or sang a few songs, or did some PE would be very much appreciated by parents and children. It sounds like couple of well structured short classes a week would be very valued.

My DD5 who is a reception age child but in class one at her School, goes all shy when I have to record her talking about her work for some of her tasks, or when her teacher leaves her a audio comment on her work and she needs to reply to it, she’s not a shy child at all, but three months in she’s still shy at any talking task, she talk all day long to family members on the phone, but her teacher is a different matter, plus last week her teacher dropped some booklets to our house and we talked at the door for five, DD5 just stood there staring and only give a little smile when her teacher tried to engage with her, it was my DD2 that was doing all the talking, her teacher is a lovely women and friendly I just think DD5 finds it all strange, so no I don’t think my DD5 would like video calls with her teacher I also know of two other children from her class who struggle with audio work and both their parents can’t get them to reply to a teachers audio comment

My daughter would have bloody hated it at any age.

My 8yo has a zoom meeting with his teacher on Monday. He's refusing to do it, he hates Zoom.

Good idea but please plan it well. Just a simple plan. My DD’s is a total waste of time with all the kids trying to talk at once. Would much prefer all the kids on mute when they enter and teacher lead the session. Explain a topic or read a story. If it is not planned then it is a waste of everyone’s time and is simply dominated by the kids with the loudest voices.

If everyone is on mute then it is easier for shy children to just watch and listen with no pressure.

I zoom once a week with my year 2s. I tend to get around 12 although had 18 once. I mute them all first then each one gets a chance to speak and share what they have been doing. It's always interesting. Some choose not to speak but just be there which is fine. We now have set zoom tasks on our home learning site which gives it more of a focus. I also do a weekly video where I am out and about or reading a story.

My 6 year old would love this. But it shouldn't be an expectation.

My 7 year old has a weekly Teams call with her teacher and loves it. Parents get 3 or 4 options on the time, which is handy and means it's just a small group on the call. After the first call, which was a riot, the teacher has planned some kind of activity for them. Looking at what other people have written, I think DDs school have been brilliant.

My daughter is 6. A teacher from school rang to speak to her and she wouldn't speak on the phone, just clammed up.
Some of the other kids did the same.

I don't know why but their teacher isn't in school anyway

Mine wouldn't be bothered.

My 10yr old would love this. He had one phone conversation with his teacher and was raving about it for days. Should definitely be optional though. A scavenger hunt might be quite fun - can you find something round, something you could use if raining. Keeps them active and might get some funny objects.

@Sliders We have been teaching Zoom lessons every day for about 12 weeks (before that it was online video lessons). The kids actually really liked it and made some progress - not as much as face-to-face obj, but better than nothing. We are back in class now, but still try to set-up Zoom sessions for those still overseas - it makes more of a difference than you might think!

I teach Y1 and my DC is in EYFS and took part in 3 daily zoom classes. Some he liked and some he wasn't bothered with, but overall positive experience.

My son most definitely doesn’t want to but he’s not keen on his teacher (along with everyone else that’s ever met her apparently). I can imagine that students of a nice teacher might want to.

Well I've sent my 6 year old to school. My 9 year old has had a zoom assembly this week and absolutely loved it, it was a bit of normality. A reminder he's not alone and that school is still there. We use DoJo as well to talk to the teachers, it also stops parents feeling so isolated. With all due respect but your teenagers weren't children in a global pandemic, you don't know what they would need in one at that age.