So apparently all the state schools could have had interactive lessons

[chopc]

As per GW today all were given access to a Microsoft Teams/ Google classrooms and could have had interactive teaching like the private schools. Not sure if he mentioned anything about the safeguarding concerns of zoom which miraculously have been overcome recently ...........just sayin

Did some teachers say they have been instructed by their SLT not to give interactive lessons or mark homework etc?

Sorry I know you must be bored of these threads but couldn't help myself

My internet is shit. I am constantly being kicked out of staff meetings when it drops out. There's no way I'd manage it, especially in competition with my two children also using broadband for their own lessons.

It's interesting that so many people think live lessons are the be all and end all. They are the most time intensive method for teachers yet the most minimum effort required for children - tune in, zone out.

We're doing a few live lessons for Year 10 but they're only support sessions so they can ask questions. We're on camera or audio and they're only allowed the text chat. It's only vaguely useful tbh, and some of them want to disrupt a live lesson just as much as they want to disrupt a classroom! Setting PowerPoints adapted for distance learning with teacher voiceovers has had more of an impact. They take hours and hours and hours to create. And yes, there are a surprising number of kids without tech. Believe it - it's true.

@tilder you may be doing calls with kids at home - it's hard for us all but that's not the point, it's because we're broadcasting TO kids. Our staff are not allowed to do live sessions from home if they have small children. It's all safeguarding and I'm glad we have safeguarding!

Isn't it funny how when a goody poster, that would be you chopc who's been on a few teacher bashing threads can never provide a link that relates to the point they want to make.

Here's something that should form a corrective to their "where there's a will there a way" Pollyanna-ish shite.:

www.theguardian.com/education/2020/jun/19/its-a-basic-equality-issue-home-learning-gap-between-state-and-private-schools

I had some training on teams last week. I can use it for meetings, including parents and outside agencies, but I can't teach children because I don't have a school laptop that will run it, our department ones are reconditioned and too slow. Can't record students on personal equipment and have to record lessons.
Lots of our teachers are having issues with their broadband not being fast enough to run it. We've also got kids without broadband or computers.
As a school we haven't invested much in IT for years.

Goady!!!

And while I'm here the OP needs to realise that teachers are using their own IT equipment for the most part, so she and her ilk need to STFU about what teachers and schools do.

Dd has had live lessons this week, they were mostly useless as they had up to 100 kids on the lessons, no interaction, no differentiation, would have been better to record a video.

I honestly don't know why I keep trying to explain this stuff on here. I'm part time. I'm paid for two and a half days a week and I haven't stopped working since lockdown. I worked Easter and half term. I'm knackered and I'm out.

It is tiresome hearing that because some parents have not supported their children by providing the everyday and basic equipment that on-line teaching requires that lessons should not go ahead.

A pandemic happened, life changed, parents should be responsible for ensuring their children have what they need, and it's up to every family to make the necessary sacrifices themselves. A 220 pound laptop and internet access is perfectly reasonable to expect parents (and teachers) to provide in 2020.Just make it law and prosecute those who don't equip their children for school or who don't come to lessons.

If interactive lessons are not really needed, then lets get one teacher to record all the lessons for the country and we can re-use them every year. Unless there is of course some real benefit of having interaction and feedback loop?

I actually agree that recordings are really good - especially when the best person out of thousands are used to provide the videos - but interactivity and being able to adjust is the next level up.

That wasn't to you @wonderstuff - I agree, live sessions are definitely not the be all and end all! Sadly there is just no substitute for good classroom teaching in my subject (English).

We started live sessions this week, primary school. So far less than 50% of children have joined (limitations being technical - know how as much as equipment), and of the 11 who joined my groups this week, 2 had connections that were so poor that they couldn’t join in the activity.
My class does have over 90% of children returning work through the Google Classroom - ppts, reading comps, activities, videos. I’m extremely proud of that statistic and would like to think it’s due to our choice of varied activities. My lessons are carefully organised for our pupils who don’t have tablets, laptops, printers or even A4 paper in some cases.
Which channel is the most appropriate for our school ? Should we drop the system that’s working for one that most children would miss out on because parents who have never worked in a school tell us to?

I thought the issue with video lessons were that some students might decide to, ahem, doctor the videos to make their teachers look stupid then upload them to YouTube. Safeguarding the teachers not the pupils.

In a country where a million people access food banks each year and we have teachers unable to access decent broadband it's a stretch to imagine all parents can buy a laptop for their children. I've got one family of 7 I'm supporting. They've been given one laptop, but they are struggling to use it.

I tried joining online lessons, my son just ran off and hid behind the sofa. He hates it. When we watch the school videos, he doesn't look at the screen, he just stares out the window. That's with me constantly reminding him to concentrate. I'm sure I'm not the only parent with these problems? Online teaching just won't work for some primary age kids.

@WifeofDarth

You should inform parents that to provide the closest experience to the classroom, that they are required to ensure they have XYZ in 14 days time - and then provide the best experience possible.

Its so interesting how so many connections are so poor, yet in our company people who are at home and on the same type of connections can have 600 people joining a departmental video and slide session. Maybe its luck every time.

I'm using Teams to teach my A level classes, but only after I bought a new laptop as my school one didn't work, and we have no more. Do you think school will reimburse me the £500? It was also well after Easter when we were given access to it, and still no training, so I watch YouTube clips to figure it out. Most teachers are doing what their SLT ask of them; for us it is live lessons once a week for Y12. We record videos, PowerPoint and give interactive quizzes/kahoots to other year groups.

We are a school of 2500 and for our 270 odd students eligible for a free laptop we were allocated 11. We haven't had any, so there are still multiple staff in school printing and delivering work to at least 400 students. That in itself is a mammoth job, on top of replanning for online teaching, and going in on rota and now being in with Y10 and Y12.

Engagement is less than 50%, I ring home for my form and for my 6th form and I am sworn at weekly for disturbing parents or because they are offended when I explain that waking up at 2pm means they miss their online learning. One parent cracked me up with "what makes you think I can make him do anything? He just tells me to fuck off!" Well, welcome to my normal world....

You should inform parents that to provide the closest experience to the classroom, that they are required to ensure they have XYZ in 14 days time - and then provide the best experience possible

ODFOD - what makes you think they can afford it?

@pinksauce you appear to have had a lucky life. If you cant imagine that a family cant just buy a laptop, you're very lucky.

Which channel is the most appropriate for our school ? Should we drop the system that’s working for one that most children would miss out on because parents who have never worked in a school tell us to?

Good point. Despite having teams, there is no real need now. We've adapted our school website a bit and it works really well.

@MaryBerrysBomberJacket

It's either important or it isn't. People were being fined for having time off of school, when clearly they could have just taken a few recordings or worksheets.

Completely understand the difficult situation with engagement. IMO parents should be fined exactly the same if they don't submit work every day and engage in lessons. Nothing has changed.

No teacher should need training - its 2020, and within 30 minutes there is nothing more to learn from just having a go. It really is no different to everyday use of technology. Any graduate level profession should have been using this level of technology already and much beyond.

It's been a huge replanning job for any organisation - we basically moved over 2,000 to home working within 4 days. It took a couple of weeks to iron out some issues, but its down to normal management to be able to cope with such things and planning ahead at the local level.

@echt

If there is a TV, carpets, and furniture in the home, then its just a question of priorities. If not, I agree they probably cannot & in these very exceptional cirumstances we should find a way of renting the equipment.

@pooiepooie25 this is the issue we had at the primary school I work at. We had complaints from parents that we were expecting kids to do too much work and that although they had the tech in the house, parents needed it to work from home and so it couldn't be spared for children to complete school work. I have set a range of work daily and replied promptly to children's requests for help.

@ohthegoats

Not lucky, just frugal and able to prioritise. A Chromebook is 220-300 pounds.

And like @MaryBerrysBomberJacket the reason that I, as a teacher, have been able to provide online learning to my class is because I have the use of a personal laptop paid for by myself.

You should inform parents that to provide the closest experience to the classroom, that they are required to ensure they have XYZ in 14 days time - and then provide the best experience possible.

I’m not going to engage in such goady posts

@rc22

and....? I assume you also pay for your clothes and getting to school. It's everyday equipment that is commonly used in everyday life. No different to a pen.

I work in an Academy primary and we've run full time online school since day 1. We started prepping when it became clear lockdown was inevitable - about 10 days before it happened. All children who needed one were loaned a laptop. A combination of year group meets and smaller group teaching alongside an all-day drop-in support meet. 4 pieces of work to hand in each day which are marked before the next day. It's been very intense.

DS's school has provided a weekly learning plan which was emailed to us and more recently they have set up Google Classroom. 3 pieces of work to be handed in each week. We've had one phone call in 12 weeks and exchanged a few emails. I like the school and I think the work set is thoughtful and appropriate so I have no problem with either approach, but I can see how more children will slip through the net at DS's school.

I think the government has let schools and children down. They could have looked at schools which were running successfully and put together a range of flexible learning approaches by the end of the Easter holidays which schools could choose from. Found ways to provide the technology needed. Utilised people who understand education to help schools implement what was needed within their capabilities, or to partner with other schools.