The Forty Third Republic - Lockdown learning continues - when is half term?

[Staffdontblowitnow]

You are most welcome to this school staff support thread to get us through stressful times. It is meant for school staff only – a sort of room of requirement. Baiters, haters, goaders, and bashers can jog on somewhere else.

If you are NOT staff and just have a general education query please start your own thread.

You can play here if you are a member of one the following groups-

-ABBA - anti bashers and baiting association
-SWAB - school workers against bashers
-SWOT - school workers opposing teacherbashers
-STARS - schoolworkers together against ranting + slurs

Do not give the staffroom password just in case it attracts the wrong sort

Other requirements for staff room entry include the ability to find the staff room, the ability to find a clean mug in the staff room, knowledge of the photocopier codes, and the ability to sniff out where the booze is stashed - Thirsty Tuesdays, Fizz Fridays now in operation.

If you come with a stick to goad us then that is not allowed in the staffroom and you will receive a detention

why the hell have the MS media not been all over this

You can absolutely hear presenters on R4 news programmes (Today, PM) swerving it if it’s touched on. There’s a significant pause and then they change the subject. They may as well say out loud “no, not going there”.

Bloody hell we're going to have to start our own undercover twitter account at this rate. And acquire body guards. (And no muscley men are not my type!!!) 💪🏾 😂

Critical that they keep doing maths otherwise they forget it all.

In my experience, things that many people who have been out of school for a number of years remember from school Maths:

The value of pi, sometimes to quite a few decimal places
How to calculate the mean average
The mnemonic BODMAS/BIDMAS

Things they forget:
Everything else, including what BODMAS/BIDMAS stands for.

Just suggest you read the Owen Jones chapter on the Media in 'The Establishment'....

@borntobequiet

Critical that they keep doing maths otherwise they forget it all.

In my experience, things that many people who have been out of school for a number of years remember from school Maths:

The value of pi, sometimes to quite a few decimal places
How to calculate the mean average
The mnemonic BODMAS/BIDMAS

Things they forget:
Everything else, including what BODMAS/BIDMAS stands for.

Random words like hypotenuse and sohcahtoa remain rattling around in my head decades later, but I have no real memory of why or what they do.

Same with biology A level and the islets of Langerhan and Golgi apparatus!

I should add that these are not people who did well in Maths at school! My easiest learners are bright boys who got decent D/3 grades and would have done far better if not naughty or lazy. My most difficult are women in their 30s who always struggled and have zero confidence.

@noblegiraffe

twitter.com/peterstefanovi2/status/1352178465785700352?s=21

Piers laying into Gav is quite a good start to the morning.

They’re going to give two weeks notice of opening schools so that we can mass test them all is my bet.

I have been watching this and giggling all day!

From now on when I'm explaining alliteration to children, I'm going to use "Gormless Gav" as an example.

I quite like quadratic equations. If I go to a lesson and observe that it's okay.
HT and I once did a job interview with a maths trainee teaching area of compound shapes. Every one was a phallus. We struggled to keep straight faces, as did the kids. It was a bad lesson and she was dull but pretty.
These days he seeks her advice 🤮

They are learning to become managers -sit in endless zoom meetings and pretend to pay attention. presenteeism.
Depressing article in DM about how oxford vax wont give herd immunity (obviously ). Because of low %. And they dont expect take up. And children etc
But hcp pushing for pfizer for themselves. The r will rise etc.

So there was me happily teaching away to my year 10s today. No "hands up" emojies so I'm assuming they get it (I keep them muted and cameras off due to previous issues) - set up a whiteboard to get them to do some work, send them the link.... None of them do anything.... Turns out the ENTIRE CLASS had stopped paying attention! I'm not sure some of them were even in the room!
GAH.

I think there is value in providing a sense of normality for our students.

I don't think most of the stuff I am teaching is critical to learn during a pandemic (or ever, for some of it).

But I think providing some structure and things to do for students is useful- and I am trying to make it fun and enjoyable where I can! And I do think the safeguarding is critical, because I don't think anyone else is doing it.

I do worry school work is becoming a stressor, rather than a distraction, which I don't like.

A lot of ours are definitely benefitting from having the structure of getting up for tutor time, attending lessons etc - last year a lot had turned nocturnal and many had put on A LOT of weight.
This time, it's me that's put on weight... Ah well.

I threw four year 11 out of my lesson when I guessed they weren't there. One came back saying his internet was playing up. The others didn't. 🤷‍♀️

I get almost no interactions in chat for lesson stuff - they will send me private messages while they’re working though - but I do get quite a lot of chat now I’ve started doing a slightly manic “bants” session (I do not call it this) while I’m registering them. I say hello to everyone as I see them appear and then do my “random middle aged woman” chat of talking about the weather or my dreams or something, and it usually goes somewhere. Ended up with a bit of chatter about zombie apocalypses and various ways people’s pet fish have died. It’s exhausting though! Like being a CBeebies presenter.

@EnemyOfEducationNo1

So there was me happily teaching away to my year 10s today. No "hands up" emojies so I'm assuming they get it (I keep them muted and cameras off due to previous issues) - set up a whiteboard to get them to do some work, send them the link.... None of them do anything.... Turns out the ENTIRE CLASS had stopped paying attention! I'm not sure some of them were even in the room! GAH.

But I bet their parents are blithely under the illusion that live teaching is fab.

Two teachers in our place posted solutions to these problems today actually, things like at random points asking everyone to put their hands up in the Chat. Of course you wouldn't do it in RL but this is a whole new world, and kids are kids!

Been looking at Byline Times, it's really interesting. I thought it would be bright young things but its founders are older than me, uncovered things like Cash for Questions. They also ask anyone who knows about a story not reported elsewhere to Contact Us.....

I actually don't care and was unrepentant about chucking them. Want to fail your gcse? Go ahead bozo.

@MrsHamlet I do the same as you. I do loads of activities where I can see if they are working or not live. If not I ask a couple of times verbally and in chat - no answer remove from lesson...

The really annoying thing today was hoy emailing the parents of the greatest fuckmuppet praising him for being in some lessons. I emailed him to ask what those teachers are going to get him in. His reply was "to be honest I think he'd logging in and going to sleep. He's not doing any work"

😡🤬

@MrsHamlet

I actually don't care and was unrepentant about chucking them. Want to fail your gcse? Go ahead bozo.

Hear hear!

[quote MrsHerculePoirot]@MrsHamlet I do the same as you. I do loads of activities where I can see if they are working or not live. If not I ask a couple of times verbally and in chat - no answer remove from lesson...[/quote]
We would probably get in trouble for that as the child may have anxiety. Even if it was the whole class.

Byline Times is excellent. Jonathan Lis and Alex Andreou are both really good on Twitter and podcasts too. The Bunker for e.g.

Yeah I was a bit peeved that they obviously found atomic structure so boring, but I wasn't that upset as I ended the lesson early and went to see how my own home learners were doing