Covid 19 Lockdown August 2021

 

With the return of Covid-19 the DELTA VARIANT we were plunged into a sudden level 4 lockdown with hours notice. 

As we have been here before is wasn't so daunting. Lockdown is such a busy time for educators and can be a real juggle managing your own whānau, online preparation and teaching. Our kura focuses more on well being than replicating the daily life in the classroom, which is so important during this time. 

Being part of the senior team our tamariki are familiar with a digital platform so the transition was quite smooth. Our team set up 'Learning from Home buttons' in our Goggle site where we created a variety of  interactive mahi. Reading, writing and our inquiry could carry on as normal and we tweaked maths, science and art. We also developed a choosing board with a range of learning activities that the students could select. 

I then created a series of screencastify (videos) to support our whānau and teach them how to navigate our Toroa Google Site so our message to both students and whānau was transparent. Lockdown always creates unique opportunities like connecting with whanau, following teacher social media platforms where so many resources are shared, professional development by attending Manaiakalani Tool kit sessions and of course for me time to continue to work on my MIT inquiry project. On so many levels I find Level 4 lockdown a blessing, a moment in time where we can take a pause, adapt and grow as an educator but also time to yourself to fit in that walk or run, bake and whānau fun. Literally you have time to stop and smell the flowers (totally cliche I know!)

Has lockdown affected your project? 

Not at all. Lockdown has allowed me to catch up on some mahi, adapt and research ways to improve my knowledge for preparation of my Google site, which will be a curation of resources for teachers. My inquiry is based on supporting learners with specific needs to understand and unpack instructions. Being in lockdown is a gift of time. It gave me the opportunity to create instructions audio and/or visual informative videos to support whanau. If anything the shift to Level 3 is going to create more barriers for my Inquiry as 'Bubble Teaching' is very restrictive, you work with a range of students across the school and from whānau bubbles making it more challenging to have time for  connecting online with your own cohort. Finding the balance moving forward with be a challenge as Bubble teaching is more like a holding pattern until the return of a 'normal' school day.