Planning for a successful start: Part 1 - Elementary and middle school
Planning for a successful start: Preparing for back-to-school during COVID-19
Part 1 - Elementary and middle school focus (11 August 2020)
For this webinar, we invited teachers from public, independent, and international Pre-K–8 schools to share some practical tools and tips they are implementing to get their classrooms — virtual, in-person, and/or hybrid — ready for what looks to be a very unpredictable school year.
This session is focused on working with younger students. Part 2, held on August 25th, focused on high school teachers. View recording
Panelists
David Barton - Teacher, Grade 5
Falmouth Elementary School - Falmouth, Maine, USA [public school, K–5]
Fall 2020 Reopening Plan - Falmouth Public Schools, Maine
Abbie Calvert - Teacher, Pre-kindergarten
The Friendship School - Waterford, Connecticut, USA [public magnet school, PK–Kindergarten]
The Friendship School COVID-19 updates / LEARN
Jolene Cummings - ELA Teacher, Grades 6–8
Next Generation School - Dubai, United Arab Emirates [international, K–12]
Protocols for the Reopening of Private Schools in Dubai (pdf)
MBRU online course/"community immunity" ambassador program for COVID-19 (best for middle schoolers)
Heidi Freeman - Teacher, Grade 2
American School of The Hague – Wassenaar, The Netherlands [international, PS–12]
American School of the Hague Learning Roadmap (Fall 2020)
Lori Özmay - Teacher/Coordinator, Grade 3
Bilkent Laboratory & International School (BLIS) - Ankara, Turkey [international school, PK–12]
BLIS Pandemic Response | BLIS Elementary School Reopening Plan
Kristin Roberto - Teacher, Grade 5
Mercymount Country Day School - Cumberland, Rhode Island, USA [private, Catholic, PK–8]
Mercymount Reopening Plan (Draft 17 July 2020)
Webinar poll results
- Teacher Poll 1: Which model is your school reopening with? Today's webinar participants answered: 30% in-person; 19% fully remote; 51% hybrid
- Teacher Poll 2: The remote learning platforms most used by our webinar attendees today are Google Classroom/G-Suite, Zoom, Seesaw, Kahoot, and FlipGrid
- Teacher Poll 3: How are you feeling about going back to your classroom in-person (full time or hybrid)?
- 48% of webinar participants "Have concerns, but think the benefits are worth the risks"
- 29% are "Excited to go back"
- 14% selected "Unable to go back to the classroom, but wish I could"
- 9% selected "Unwilling to go back; do not think the risks are worth it"
Resources
Discovery Education: Virtual Field Trips
Teaching English Online (free online course, Cambridge University)
theminglemask.com (clear face masks)
Some COVID-19 questions to ask your class (provided by Jolene at NGS):
- In what ways do we need to think differently about health and well-being as we address challenges such as the global pandemic?
- How might a global pandemic present opportunities and possibilities to create a better society for all?
Some specific tips shared:
- Have each student bring in the device(s) they will use for remote learning (if they can) in the first week of school so that teachers can help learn to navigate online work from the actual device they will be using at home.
- Use yoga mats for lunch outside, small group spacing in the classroom, etc. (a clear and fun way to create appropriate physical distancing).
Q&A with the panelists:
Q: Have any of you had the students do a “training” day at your school and sign off for taking part in the solution.
A: No
Q: Any circle time seating ideas for early years?
A: Each student will bring a beach towel for floor sitting. Also, drawing circles for each student, on rug, with chalk.
Q: Are any of you doing live streaming of your lessons when you are teaching to multiple spaces for smaller cohorts? If so, what tech are you using?
A: No. stay in same seat for the day. teachers move. if they move, it will be strictly with social distancing in place and frequent cleaning; but we are using the library. (Jolene)
Q: Do one way traffic patterns infere with fire exit movement?
A: Probably follow similar movement to the fire.
Q: Can you talk about some of the "anxieties" that were mentioned?
A: The anxieties that I mentioned have to do with the ever present 'unknown'. I work well in routine and when I know what is happening. In my situation, we are still unclear how we will be moving forward 100%, this is causing my anxiety. Also, this situation is asking teachers, students, family and administration to all trust one another. This means that I am required to give up a lot of control that I would normally have, and trust other people, not only about physical health, but also about emotional health, limits and potential for burnout etc. I am also worried as a parent for my own children, of course I trust my colleagues but again, there are two more trust circles (I have two children) that I must give up control to, and trust. These are some of the anxieties just around school, of course I am also worried about my older parents and inlaws etc etc. (Lori)
Q: Any ideas for managing a safe recess time?
A: We are only allowing two grade levels out together at break time and have divided that playground up into areas and students will go to the area with their class and at least one of their teachers only. We are to encourage them to not touch one another, to keep their masks on, and to wash their hands before and after each break. (Lori)
Q: Request to throw some light on what norms should teachers follow - in classrooms, labs, library , dinning hall, hallways.
A: Teachers will be social distancing as per governent requirements. Likely we wont have much down time as there will be a lot more hyper-vigilant supervision needed. As we're blended, non-contact time will logging in and checking in on students who are working at home. We will have to force ourselves to take a break.