Primary News
Katie Brody – Director of Students K-6
The student side of the screen – what works well?
The e-Manuel experience is obviously vastly different to the multi-sensory dynamic of face-to-face learning. Not being surrounded by other children swept up in the momentum of a living classroom makes the whole system shift as students are essentially alone in the ‘classroom’, yet technically not alone. Teachers are on a screen like a television and, unlike the passive way in which we are used to watching people on a screen, learning in this way needs to be active. Aside from simply setting up their desk to look like they can do school work, the practices of a student need to be as purposeful and as active online in e-Manuel as they would be on campus at Emanuel. This is the very real challenge we are facing.
Implementing a range of strategies to engage students and foster academic progress and well-being, our teachers are redefining their use of technology to make professional practice possible. Students are recipients of these practices and depending on their age, level of independence, learning disposition, mindset, emotional state and skill level, learning outcomes and rate of progress varies. In some ways this is no different to the face-to-face experience in that teachers are used to supporting all of these traits and approaches, but when trying to do this remotely, there is another layer of complexity at play.
Having parents or guardians on the student side of the screen, reinforcing the ways in which the children should try to engage, is a vital part of the puzzle and we could not be more appreciative of this collaboration. Some parents are needing to support their children step-by-step, both academically and emotionally and some parents are able to encourage their children by reinforcing the messages coming from school and praising their effort. Many parents are offering their children wisdom stemming from their own experience of study, common sense about quality work practices and even their understanding of etiquette. Below is a table outlining what the teachers are doing and also what the students should be, could be and are doing in response (where possible):
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Teacher strategy: |
How students are expected to respond: |
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Cameras off (Teacher too). Students on mute. The teacher guides the class verbally as students look at offline academic tasks or listens and follows mindfulness exercises. |
Ensuring they have the right resources in hand or nothing in their hands as per the instructions, students should be following the explicit instructions of the teacher. |
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Students are in breakout rooms for discussion or for group work. Alternatively, students are moved into breakout rooms for individual work (cameras off and on mute). Teacher moves between breakout rooms. |
Using the collaborative time purposefully and sensibly, students engage in the work assigned OR cameras are off and muted, students concentrate on producing quality work that follows each instruction explicitly. |
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Teachers begin a lesson on Zoom, providing guidance and direct instruction, before long, Zoom is turned off and students work independently for the remainder of the lesson. |
The student enters the Zoom lesson on time. They listen intently to the teacher and ask and answer questions (avoiding any distractions). They do the work for the remainder of the time. |
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The teacher records themselves reading a text that is also shared on screen. The teacher includes the commentary and speaks about aspects of the text that they feel are important for students to notice. |
Students value each instructional video rather than scrolling quickly to tasks. Students play the recording and listen carefully as they would in class, noticing the content, the language and the structures that the teacher is pointing out. |
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Teachers provide paper-based work in student packs. During a lesson teachers refer to this work and ask students to take a photo/s of the work and upload it. |
Students complete the work with a focus on quality responses, neat writing and attention to each instruction. The photo uploaded is taken with attention to clear focus and lighting. |
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Teachers assign tasks away from zoom such as silent reading, watching BTN, attending an online event such as Little Scribe, doing some touch typing or practising gross motor skills. |
Students should be doing these tasks showing the same level of tenacity and commitment that they would if actively supervised by the teacher. The intrinsic benefits of these tasks should be the reward. |
Little Scribe Mini-Writers Festival
Last week Years 1 – 6 engaged in the Little Scribe Mini-Writers Festival. Please see the student feedback below and enjoy photos of our students engaging in the workshops, images of the authors who inspired us and most importantly samples of the students’ writing.
“Well I ❤️ the authors but I really loved when we got to choose who we wanted to read our story and also the old words and new words.” By Zella Benko – Year 2
“My favourite workshop was Oliver Phommavanh. I loved making an island of death. I also really loved writing down my fears on a piece of page. I also loved creating a whole island and getting to see other people’s work.” By Nava Weiss – Year 4
“I enjoyed when the authors told us their three favourite words and I thought that was really interesting, I liked how the authors told us about their books and I loved when Lisa did characters from ‘other than that land’ and how we made death islands and learnt about new words like anthropomorphism.”
By Claudia Hochroth – Year 4
“I really liked James Foley because he was funny and also at the same time gave us work that really challenged us. James also gave us tips and tricks in a way that it made it fun to learn.”
By Maia Sharabi – Year 5
“I loved the author Oliver Phommavanh and making maps because it allowed you to use your imagination and I really enjoy that.” By Levi Brody – Year 3
“I really enjoyed looking at James’s drawings and getting inspiration from them for my drawings. I also really liked when we wrote our poems about our place that we loved the most. I chose Terrigal Beach and I wrote about the sand and the birds and the ice cream truck. I loved when we helped Andrew create the story with all our ideas. Each workshop was so much fun.” By Indigo Joseph-Stewart – Year 6
“My favourite author was Tristan Bancks and I loved hearing about Ginger Meggs. I also liked Oliver Phomavahnhs mind map.” By Ryan Miller – Year 3
