School community’s effort, cooperation and innovation in crisis an inspiration
Big Rock Primary School principal David Grant considers a challenging time for pupils and teachers, and how communities are banding together in the face of Covid19.
The following days, weeks, months and possibly years are going to present challenges, frustrations, sadness and anger. However, in the community I live in and the one I work in, I have witnessed and continue to witness a strength of spirit, understanding and kindness that has been inspiring — and I’m sure that the communities of Brighton/Ocean View/Taieri Mouth are a genuine reflection of Dunedin, Otago and the country.
When the news broke that schools would be closing and the country would be going into lockdown, my school’s community response was collective and remarkable. Staff came together to try to prepare, and the board was ready to assist. Parents and families called into school to collect equipment and offer their services, as well as sharing their anxieties, and encouraging others. This has continued within the school Facebook page with daily challenges being undertaken by children and adults alike. It has been truly inspiring to witness. Local businesses have set up an account at school to support families after the lockdown, they have provided prizes for the Facebook competitions — incredible kindness and selflessness.
The future will hold many challenges in most aspects of our daily life, many beyond my comprehension or experience, and I guess that is true for most of us. However, school will now return from the holidays, albeit with noone returning to school.
The challenge for our school will be to try to provide meaningful learning to our pupils. We may be successful, we may not, but we will be doing our best and with parental support and tolerance we will stand a much greater chance. Currently, there are many online learning sites, a number of which will provide some good learning opportunities. Others will provide little more than entertainment masquerading as education. They will, of course, help with keeping children busy, engaged and happy.
The approach our school is going to take will be a little bit of a combination of oldfashioned and modern. Is this the right approach? Honestly, we don’t really know yet. While online learning (educational websites) will be utilised, we will also be trying to deliver quality learning, online. This will mean that our teachers will be undertaking deliberate acts of teaching. It should include providing learning experiences, giving feedback to the children on their work and providing the opportunity for children to share their work with their mates.
These learning experiences need not be screenbased. Real practical learning opportunities such as baking will include reading (following instructions) and maths (measurement), as well as sharing photos with their classmates so as to try to keep that social interaction up as best we can.
Will it be as effective as a classroom? Probably not, because children are social beings who need the social interaction of their classmates, the magnificent chitchat that children have when working in groups, not forgetting the playground. We must try to replicate social interaction as best we can online.
My dad often said 75% of something is better than 100% of nothing.
Parents always play a key role in children’s learning, more so now, as they will need to help at home in a variety of different ways, encouraging, assisting, showing patience, establishing routines and contacting teachers for help. The parents at our school are more than up to it.
So, yes there will be challenges in education. There are also opportunities. An opportunity for children to learn in a new way, a chance for parents to have a more 1:1 opportunity to help with their children’s learning, a chance for teachers to think creatively. New Zealand teachers have always been good at that; I know our ones are.
Sadly, the people of New Zealand will not be able to show their respect and aroha at services across the country for Anzac Day. Perhaps, just perhaps, we can all commemorate by demonstrating the Anzac spirit and do the best we can to get ourselves and others through an immensely challenging time.