Pres educators reacing a much wider audience
THE onset of the countrywide lockdown provided teachers in Presentation Castleisland with an opportunity to broadcast teaching and learning in the classroom to a wider audience.
At the heart of all teaching and learning is the overall wellbeing of the student and wellbeing has never been more important than it is now.
This academic term, via the use of padlets and remote learning, the teachers are involved in many subjects combined to create a range of resources to help students cope with the challenges presented to our school community in recent months.
“It provided a suitable avenue through which to continue wellbeing classes in an engaging and informative manner,” explained Pres teacher, Mairéad Lane.
“Padlet is a user-friendly app which enables educators to share a wide variety of learning resources. “Each subject padlet is filled with numerous resources which include video links, podcasts and informative blogs.
“Collaboration is possible with students encouraged to involve their parents and siblings in the exercises and activities.
“In the subject of Physical Education students have continued their learning in the topics of dance, athletics and health related fitness.
“New topics covered this term include an introduction to pilates, yoga and skipping.
“As smart TVs have become commonplace in many homes, students can broadcast the PE lesson to their TV or can choose to participate through the medium of their smart phone.
“What makes padlet so useful, for both students and educators alike, is the creation of a single link. “Although resources and classes are added to the padlet frequently, the student can access the updated model via the original link received.
“Hence, the students receive access to the padlet once and each time they return it is filled with new information.
“It enables classes to continue in a step-by-step learning model through which students can review the previous week’s learning and progress onto more difficult challenges.
First year student Emily Walsh highlighted the importance of the padlet for her during this time. “My favourite activity so far on the padlet has been the daily meditation, it allows me to relax and focus my attention on something positive.
“While third year student Abigail Martin loves the fact that each day on the padlets there is something new and engaging to offer:
“I really enjoy the mindful walking and the exercises shared with us daily as they have really encouraged me to keep active during this time.”
The Presentation padlets feature fitbit, dance and skipping challenges as well as meditations, mindful walking and recipe ideas to name but a few.
“The links are accessible to all students of Presentation Castleisland and we hope to continue to use these to promote positive wellbeing in our school for the future,” said the very enthusiastic Ms. Lane.