Why are some kids doing well with distance learning?
There is no doubt that distance teaching is hard work. I am fortunate that my Team Leader is a wonderful woman who has lead from the front, so that the burden of planning what to teach and even how to teach it has been largely removed from us. We have a whole school, in-house online platform to set work and have "bought into" Century Learning which means that our time is spent monitoring, helping and supporting students. There are some online lessons, a bit of Loom, and a lot of emails and phoning home.
A lot of kids are really not happy being away from friends and are really missing school; some are doing the minimum to keep my emails and phone calls at the "kindly prompt and encourage" level; some are clearly struggling.
That's the bad news - and it is bad. Knowing that any child is struggling is awful and I hate it.
But some of my students seem to be doing really well under the circumstances. They might be missing their friends and wishing for more freedom, but the work they are submitting is really great.
They all have a place to study and all the tech they need - that must not be ignored, as well as supportive and stable homes - but so do many of my students who are not doing so well. So what is the difference?
One student found that he rather enjoyed writing a piece in which he was asked to create a character. He got positive feedback - there was a lot that was good about it - and some detailed pointers on how to improve. He did his "green pen" improvement work and then emailed it to me. Could he write some more and would I mark it? Of course I would! Off he went with a will like Scrooge's boy fetching the turkey.
He came back a few days later with a story - much improved. At GCSE I would give it a 6. He's in Year 9. He has continued to write - sending me bits and pieces - and we have a back and forth of suggestions and improvements. He is finding the writing cathartic. I am finding reading his work a real pleasure.
Another boy clearly puts a lot of time and effort into his work at home. His work in lock-down has been consistently at a level that suggests he is capable of a higher GCSE grade than I imagined - and he is not standing still. He revisits work, he asks questions and acts on feedback.
A third boy is a real attention seeker in class - always looking to distract others and be distracted. He finds English a bit of a challenge, and avoids writing. I really like him, but he does demand a lot of my time - I have to manage him because he cannot manage himself. Under lock down, there are no distractions. He is working hard I suspect because he has parents who are really on it in terms of monitoring him - one email from me and the work is done and done well. Now he has got into a rhythm with it and there is no stopping him.
A lot of kids are really not happy being away from friends and are really missing school; some are doing the minimum to keep my emails and phone calls at the "kindly prompt and encourage" level; some are clearly struggling.
That's the bad news - and it is bad. Knowing that any child is struggling is awful and I hate it.
But some of my students seem to be doing really well under the circumstances. They might be missing their friends and wishing for more freedom, but the work they are submitting is really great.
They all have a place to study and all the tech they need - that must not be ignored, as well as supportive and stable homes - but so do many of my students who are not doing so well. So what is the difference?
One student found that he rather enjoyed writing a piece in which he was asked to create a character. He got positive feedback - there was a lot that was good about it - and some detailed pointers on how to improve. He did his "green pen" improvement work and then emailed it to me. Could he write some more and would I mark it? Of course I would! Off he went with a will like Scrooge's boy fetching the turkey.
He came back a few days later with a story - much improved. At GCSE I would give it a 6. He's in Year 9. He has continued to write - sending me bits and pieces - and we have a back and forth of suggestions and improvements. He is finding the writing cathartic. I am finding reading his work a real pleasure.
Another boy clearly puts a lot of time and effort into his work at home. His work in lock-down has been consistently at a level that suggests he is capable of a higher GCSE grade than I imagined - and he is not standing still. He revisits work, he asks questions and acts on feedback.
A third boy is a real attention seeker in class - always looking to distract others and be distracted. He finds English a bit of a challenge, and avoids writing. I really like him, but he does demand a lot of my time - I have to manage him because he cannot manage himself. Under lock down, there are no distractions. He is working hard I suspect because he has parents who are really on it in terms of monitoring him - one email from me and the work is done and done well. Now he has got into a rhythm with it and there is no stopping him.
Yet another just wants to get 100% every time. He is willing to revisit and revisit until he gets it. The lure of the perfect score. He sent me a very happy gif when he realised he was allowed to redo!
Finally, there is the boy who did very little for me until we switched to online learning - a platform that gives him content in bite-size chunks, gives instant feedback and an opportunity to go back and get a higher score. He loves it. The 'gamification' just works for him and there is no stopping him. He is warm and happy in his Skinner box! Mind you, it is a challenge to get him to stop doing English and do the less attractive subjects. Still, it's a win for me and for his literacy...
It strikes me that although these boys are all very different, what they have in common is that their motivation is intrinsic rather than extrinsic. they might like getting the praise emails with the ridiculous gifs that I include - with parents copied in - but that's not what they are working for. And now they are in a positive feedback loop with me, with their parents and with themselves.
My take-aways?
My challenge will be managing the clamour of the attention seekers who can take all of my focus to keep them on track and give the quiet workers much more of my energy. Perhaps parents will have more reality on their children's less desirable qualities now that they have managed them for a bit!
Finally, there is the boy who did very little for me until we switched to online learning - a platform that gives him content in bite-size chunks, gives instant feedback and an opportunity to go back and get a higher score. He loves it. The 'gamification' just works for him and there is no stopping him. He is warm and happy in his Skinner box! Mind you, it is a challenge to get him to stop doing English and do the less attractive subjects. Still, it's a win for me and for his literacy...
It strikes me that although these boys are all very different, what they have in common is that their motivation is intrinsic rather than extrinsic. they might like getting the praise emails with the ridiculous gifs that I include - with parents copied in - but that's not what they are working for. And now they are in a positive feedback loop with me, with their parents and with themselves.
My take-aways?
It has been a real delight to give these boys the exact feedback that they needed at exactly the right time. That has been so much easier to do at a distance. In class, positive feedback often comes too late - I need to do a lot more feedback "in the moment".
Home learning tasks need much more focus and a tighter feedback loop - online has been a real eye-opener in terms of tracking and monitoring. Why was I not doing this already?
Allow time for students to pursue writing as an activity for enjoyment rather than as part of a lesson - a lunchtime or after school club perhaps - or maybe just online. we could meet and share on Teams perhaps.
My challenge will be managing the clamour of the attention seekers who can take all of my focus to keep them on track and give the quiet workers much more of my energy. Perhaps parents will have more reality on their children's less desirable qualities now that they have managed them for a bit!
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