Tips for covid workload

[Lizay27]

I'm a primary teacher (not in UK) and last academic year had 50percent of my kids online and 50 percent in class. Teaching them all at same time with SEN students was so difficult and the workload was immense to the point I broke down constantly and was really ready to throw in the towel! My own children suffered as my patience and mental health was all over the place.

I know all teachers and students alike really struggled this year, but are there any useful tips anyone has that can help for a smoother year? As for September we aren't sure what the plan is but it looks like it will be the same.

We taught exactly the same whether to children at home or in school so only one set of planning for both, some topics had to be amended from the long term plan but the rest we carried on with. All the resources for the week were posted on a padlet so they could be accessed from home ( so worksheets, powerpoints, explanations etc) These were then used in class and at home- all lessons were taught live via zoom. TAs used breakout rooms during the lessons to support specific groups or children with SEN. I can't say it was easy but we got through!

Our "at home" kids just joined the regular lessons during the input. I'd then mute them during independent activities and that generally worked quite well. For English, I sent my "at school" kids off to the library with our TA, to Music with another teacher or whatever and then did dedicated sessions with the kids at home during that time. It made it easier to focus on them. We also did check ins in the morning and the afternoon for about 30 minutes each time (my TA covered or the other children were getting ready for hometime). I usually used that time for Phonics.
We used Seesaw to allocate tasks for those at home, to get activities back and feedback on them. Ours also have workbooks for Maths they took home and worked in.
We only had to cover Maths, English and Phonics. I might have set up activities for other subjects but they weren't compulsory.

I had one day a week where they didn't join any of my lessons and just did the check ins. It made it more manageable for both them and me. I teach Year 1.