Teachers just ready to teach

Maths will be the easiest and writing will be the hardest, reckons Bronwyn Haddon Jones, as she contemplates online teaching.

Thirty-seven Marlborough schools went into lockdown on March 26 due to the coronavirus pandemic, but teaching is to start again next week after the Easter break.

‘‘We have a really good maths programme that we invested some money into, which is New Zealand curriculumbased and it goes from year 1 to year 13,’’ said Jones, of Bohally Intermediate.

‘‘The hardest to teach would be writing, because writing is all about discussion, feedback and comments from other students.

‘‘I could give comments to them online but it’s not like having a one-onone conversation with the students,’’ Jones said.

Bohally Intermediate was predominantly using two platforms to engage with the students while working remotely, Google Classroom and Google Meet.

‘‘Google Classroom is where the assignments are uploaded and we can look at their work and give them feedback and it’s more about the programme and study.

‘‘Google Meet is more about the social interaction to catch up with the students and talk and discuss things.

‘‘We are going to Google Meet with them every couple of days – that’s when we are going to do it all together,’’ she said.

Bohally Intermediate principal Shane Campbell, who is also president of the Marlborough Principals’ Association, said that although his school would be using Google Hangout and Google Meet, other schools might use other online platforms.

However, students would require devices such as laptops, tablets, or smartphones to use those platforms.

Campbell said the Ministry of Education

was collecting data from every school to get an understanding of how many students needed help.

‘‘Schools have been sent a survey from the [ministry] . . . to ask how many students in the school may not have access to a device at home.

‘‘And that information is provided to the [ministry], they will be doing their best to provide devices to their homes,’’ he said.

The ministry was doing ‘‘background checks’’, to look at internet access at home, to ensure students got the appropriate help from Government, Cambell said.

‘‘It’s going to be a slow process, not everyone is going to get their device tomorrow, but [the ministry] is doing the best they can to provide devices.

‘‘The devices won’t be sent to the school as such, the ministry will have all the contact details to every student, my understanding is that devices may be sent directly to their homes,’’ he said.

The ministry was also working in the background to develop a television channel to support with distance learning. What that would look like Campbell was not sure.

Redwoodtown School principal Aaron Vercoe said he was optimistic that the students could learn online on their own and he did not think a few weeks of distance learning would have a severe impact on their academic career.

‘‘It’s a challenge but I think a lot of classrooms have adapted to the online learning environment and studentcentred learning for a long period of time now, and students are very engaged with managing their own learning and managing themselves,’’ he said.

The ministry had asked his school about teaching devices but had not confirmed what devices his students would get, he said. ‘‘Each school takes their learning needs from their community. We will be using Google Meet for our students to maintain some visual connections with our teachers and engage in real time with them, and a variety of other Google products to collaborate on documents and learn together,’’ he said.