Teaching and Learning

 

Our continuous Remote Learning Program has engaged and extended our students. But each student and family has had a different experience. The following fictional vignettes capture some of the challenges and special moments of how we are learning differently.

He watched as his bow danced on the D string. His concentration was clear, and he could hear the note echo through the hall. He had been practising more than usual at home during the Remote Learning Program. Partly he was bored so it was reflex to pick up his instrument and play, but it did not feel the same. He was a good music student, but he was not great – yet. He missed playing with the orchestra and being carried along by the other students and the magic of the teacher’s instrument. He wanted to go back to school.

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She was the student who did the work, was organised and even ahead of the game in all her classes. But somehow, this remote way of learning had surprised her, and she had to admit that she found learning more difficult. Instructions seemed dense at the start of each lesson, she did not have her friends by her side to support her, to encourage her with a nod and smile. It had taken her a few weeks to get into a rhythm of learning this way. With the announcement that school was going to go back before the end of term, she found herself feeling anxious about another change.

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When the certificate arrived in his email Inbox he was taken aback. He had never received a certificate of merit for his learning and attitude to study. His parents were so enthusiastic, they had called his grandmother. He knew this was a big deal, a real change in his approach to learning. This remote learning program had forced him to study more independently and he was amazed at how much work he could get through when there were fewer distractions.

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The internet had cut out again and Microsoft Teams told him that they were trying to reconnect him to his Science class Video meeting. He had never felt all that confident with using technology at school but now he was scanning and uploading files, submitting work in Teams, video calling teachers, scheduling meetings and making audio file recordings. In fact, he had been forced to learn a range of different skills just to survive the remote learning. And here he was now feeling like an accomplished Year 7 student and able to help his classmates when they had a problem. The one thing he had no control over however was his internet. Sometimes it cut out.

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She heard the back-door slam, and she knew it was her Dad coming in from an early start on the farm. The familiar noises of boots off and the kettle switch being turned on meant that it was time for her to get up. Usually she would be on the bus, travelling into school at this time, but remote learning had given her the gift of an hour more sleep each day. She padded into the kitchen in her slippers and sat at the table as Dad put a couple of slices of bread in the toaster and turned to her to smile. The last few weeks she had managed to get out in the paddock with Dad nearly every day after her classes were done. She had switched hockey training for running with the dogs and a tuck shop lunch for Mum’s homemade treats. The family was enjoying this new normal. She liked learning from home.

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Premier Daniel Andrews had announced that school would return. She felt her body relax as the impact of that announcement sank in. She would be able to get back to school, to learn alongside her VCE classmates and take on the rest of the demands of Year 12. The year 2020 would be characterised by COVID 19, remote learning and a lot of uncertainty. She hoped that things would slowly change now, and she would regain some confidence to be a student at school face to face again. She glanced over at her dinner dance dress that hung in the plastic sheath in the corner of her room. This weekend would have been her final dinner dance.

Mrs Susan Bradbeer

Deputy Principal Teaching and Learning