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Original poster

School only providing 1 hour of live interaction a day!

584 replies

NotLookingTooGood · 07/01/2021 10:25

What is everyone's school experience? I am going a little crazy. We have live online learning of 2 increments of 30mns (maths & english) a day + homework that we have to supervise.

What is everybody else's experience?
The school is relying entirely on us to do the work.

OP posts:
Deliaskis · 07/01/2021 12:38

@noblegiraffe

My understanding is that feedback is quite an important element of learning and improving?

Indeed, and marked maths work can be looked over by a teacher to provide feedback.

It doesn’t have to be every piece of work either.

I appreciate this, but does it not need to be quite quickly? Especially for young children? I would also venture to suggest that where a child of 9 or 10 has been given a maths worksheet with no teaching and no explanation or opportunity to ask questions or say 'I don't understand', and is then told to mark it themselves, and given no indication of when or if feedback will be provided, there is a fairly high risk of zero actual learning taking place, not to mention disengagement and distress for those who struggle.
BewareTheBeardedDragon · 07/01/2021 12:39

We have access to two live lesson per day but my dc haven't got on with them at all so we're just doing the work and I'm supervising them. I have to supervise them anyway in the live lessons, because they are so distracted because it's so slow, takes ages to answer various questions, and generally it seems like it's just impossible for a teacher to properly supervise younger primary aged children remotely. It's not the teachers fault, and I'm sure the lessons work for some kids, but with mine we can get through the concepts quicker and more efficiently with me delivering it to them from the worksheets and power points that are also available.

Our school are doing an excellent job I would say. Enough work provided, not too much or too little.

YouBoughtMeAWall · 07/01/2021 12:39

@MrsMomoa

So you want teachers to teach ALL the kids and school and ALL the kids at home all day, at the same time? Hmm okkkaaaayyyyy.
Yes- all children should be taught. Confused. I’m not sure what is so outrageous about that? Should the ones who aren’t allowed in school just accept less than their peers?
MrsMomoa · 07/01/2021 12:39

Parents shouting for schools to close, what did you think would happen?
That teachers would turn up on your doorstep a la Mary Poppins?!
If your kids are at home, YOU teach them!
The teachers can provide the work.

Xerochrysum · 07/01/2021 12:40

I think marking part doesn't need to be done by the teacher. If child makes mistakes, or don't understand the question, they can ask the teacher. Better for teacher to actually spent time answering/interacting/planning than teacher spending time marking 30 or whatever number of children. And they did exactly the same in dc's school, children mark each other's work in the classroom.

Ineverpromisedyouarosegarden · 07/01/2021 12:43

As a front line worker of a child with additional needs we are struggling to get an hour a day done. None of that is live interaction. It may not suit you but different families have different issues.

Dh working from home. Live meeting etc all day
Ds(12) ASD online homeschool but not able to do without support.
Dd (16) online homeschool.
Ds (18) online university
Dd (20) online university
Me front line healthcare out of the house 8am - 7pm (and little energy left for anything else!!!)

rant over Smile

Lucky to have the broadband and devices needed but just need "one to one" for Ds.

poshme · 07/01/2021 12:44

I think teachers should mark some maths work periodically.
It's not just always a tick or cross.

DD gets some maths questions wrong because she transposed the wrong number, rather than misunderstood the method.
Other questions she totally misunderstands the method- but just 1 part of it. If the teacher never looks at the work, they can't see which bit she's getting confused about.
Marking maths isn't always simple.

Deliaskis · 07/01/2021 12:45

@zaphodbeeble

Providing answers that the kids mark themselves - self assessment, is totally normal
I know it is, and in the context of a taught lesson and supported and guided activity of course it has its place. Surely people aren't saying it is good practice, where the entire maths 'lesson' was a worksheet and a bitesize video, with no opportunity to ask questions or say 'I don't understand' or ask for something to be explained again or in a different way, to then follow that with self assessment and no indication of when or even if feedback will ever be provided. For a 9yr old? Is that really what people are saying is good?
MrsMomoa · 07/01/2021 12:45

@YouBoughtMeAWall

You can't have it both ways!
Either teachers are with students at school or teaching students remotely at home, they can't do both.
And let's not forget planning for both as well as the ridiculous amounts of admin needed.

buckeejit · 07/01/2021 12:46

I wish we had an hour a day-that would be fab. Our school is fucking shit & didn't even make a single phone call to families last time, do anything recorded from the teachers & basically just put revision sheets online which parents had to Mark & they didn't even want to see any of the work. Utter shite

Deliaskis · 07/01/2021 12:46

@Xerochrysum

I think marking part doesn't need to be done by the teacher. If child makes mistakes, or don't understand the question, they can ask the teacher. Better for teacher to actually spent time answering/interacting/planning than teacher spending time marking 30 or whatever number of children. And they did exactly the same in dc's school, children mark each other's work in the classroom.
But if there is no facility for a child to ask a teacher? And no answering and interacting happening at all?
noblegiraffe · 07/01/2021 12:47

I would also venture to suggest that where a child of 9 or 10 has been given a maths worksheet with no teaching and no explanation or opportunity to ask questions or say 'I don't understand', and is then told to mark it themselves

They aren’t supposed to be given a worksheet with no teaching. This is where bitesize/oak academy come in.

I would hope that a 9 year old would be able to ask a parent for help. Teachers can’t provide instant help because they may be in with keyworker kids etc. You should be able to send them a message, but not expect a reply straight away.

YouBoughtMeAWall · 07/01/2021 12:49

You can't have it both ways!
Either teachers are with students at school or teaching students remotely at home, they can't do both.
And let's not forget planning for both as well as the ridiculous amounts of admin needed.

And yet some MNers are reporting that their DC are being taught online at home all day. So there are no KW or V children in these schools? Going by other threads where pretty much the whole class is in school I doubt that.

poshme · 07/01/2021 12:50

@noblegiraffe

I would also venture to suggest that where a child of 9 or 10 has been given a maths worksheet with no teaching and no explanation or opportunity to ask questions or say 'I don't understand', and is then told to mark it themselves

They aren’t supposed to be given a worksheet with no teaching. This is where bitesize/oak academy come in.

I would hope that a 9 year old would be able to ask a parent for help. Teachers can’t provide instant help because they may be in with keyworker kids etc. You should be able to send them a message, but not expect a reply straight away.

An awful lot of patents of 9 year old would not understand the maths methods they are using.
noblegiraffe · 07/01/2021 12:51

And yet some MNers are reporting that their DC are being taught online at home all day. So there are no KW or V children in these schools?

Much fewer in secondary than primary. A lot of secondary can be at home on their own.

zaphodbeeble · 07/01/2021 12:51

We are supervising kw children on a rota, so on the days we are in school we are not expected to provide live lessons as we will be supervising a mixture of children (secondary).

YouBoughtMeAWall · 07/01/2021 12:55

Much fewer in secondary than primary. A lot of secondary can be at home on their own.

Much fewer secondary children at school, so then the priority should be teaching the majority- the ones at home. Surely?

Sayonaraa · 07/01/2021 12:56

Our school is doing registration and tasks live on Teams 9-10am. They they break and have time to complete the task, which they upload to Teams. Then back on from 11-12.15 for a different subject. Lunch and then back on 2-2.30pm for end of the day and any questions. They are then allowed to chat to each other on Teams Playground from 2.30-3pm.

Same schedule for the whole school, I have two in yr 1 and one in yr4.

I’ve been really impressed with them, they’re making a huge effort with the dc. They’ve all been enjoying it up until now. Let’s see how next week goes after the novelty wears off!

52andblue · 07/01/2021 12:57

My Y11 has NO facility to ask a teacher, get worked marked or ask a peer group even. Nothing. If he doesn't understand it he is stuck.

Deliaskis · 07/01/2021 12:57

@noblegiraffe

I would also venture to suggest that where a child of 9 or 10 has been given a maths worksheet with no teaching and no explanation or opportunity to ask questions or say 'I don't understand', and is then told to mark it themselves

They aren’t supposed to be given a worksheet with no teaching. This is where bitesize/oak academy come in.

I would hope that a 9 year old would be able to ask a parent for help. Teachers can’t provide instant help because they may be in with keyworker kids etc. You should be able to send them a message, but not expect a reply straight away.

So we are agreed that this isn't how it supposed to be, which is a relief! Bitesize and Oak are fine but if something is not understood from that, home learning children need to be able to ask a teacher.

I struggle to help DD when it is needed because I am on the phone and in meetings, many with patients, for most of the day.

I do think it is important for primary children to have some interaction with a teacher, and for them to get some feedback from a teacher. I don't think that's an outrageous expectation. We had 23% of children in KW provision which required about 35% of teaching staff to cover. I had hoped some of the others might be available to respond to queries and support those learning at home.

ichundich · 07/01/2021 12:57

@Mrs Momoa I did not want schools to close. It was mostly teachers, if this forum is anything to go by.

52andblue · 07/01/2021 12:59

This was the same in Lockdown 1 as now.
I know that in LD1 the Secondary school had 'a handful' of kids (in whole school of around 600) I do not know the attendance this time.

Shall I email the school (they don't reply, or to phone calls)
Gavin Williamson?
What would be the point?

MarshaBradyo · 07/01/2021 12:59

@52andblue

My Y11 has NO facility to ask a teacher, get worked marked or ask a peer group even. Nothing. If he doesn't understand it he is stuck.
That’s crazy. I’d look at the guidelines and see what the deal is there and bring it up with the school.
Pandoraslastchance · 07/01/2021 12:59

Y3 has a 20 minute video from the class teacher and then 2 or 3 hours of English, maths as worksheets or videos and questions to answer. She also has a book to read and spellings to do every day.

Y2 child has pretty much the same, online reading, spellings and phonetics and to practice handwriting by answering questions.

MarshaBradyo · 07/01/2021 13:01

52 I can’t see that it meets the requirements for teaching if they can’t learn when stuck