Congratulations…we made it through the first day of the 2020/21 school year. Well done, everyone!
We had some technical glitches which were to be expected on the first day – with over 140 students and teachers connecting remotely online at the same time something was bound to happen even though we tried to anticipate and make all the necessary preparations ahead of time.
Our Tech Team from Bits and Bytes, were on hand to iron out hiccups and frustrations and Digicel stopped by to see what they could do to further optimize our specific needs. Hopefully this will mean a smoother connection moving forward. Thank you everyone. We are so grateful for the abundance of immediate support for our teachers and students from our wider community.
Teaching requires planning for all possibilities, spontaneity and immediacy and our teachers were certainly put to the test on our first day of full 8:30-3:00 online live teaching…
According to data collected by busyteacher.org, the average teacher makes 1,500 decisions per day.
I wonder if this is doubled when teaching virtually – I look forward to the data!
Sure, reflecting at the end of the day there are things to improve upon – nothing new to world of a teacher – especially on the first day of school. We all learnt a lot today – honing our tech skills and widening our tolerance of patience up a level or two. Supportive and solution based feedback is always appreciated as we look to create the best online environment we can. It’s all work in progress!
Well done Miss Mani. Tricky thing managing 20 children in an online classroom.
I really liked the way you made sure you spoke with each child throughout the day. I wonder if there is a better way for the kids to request your attention / ask a question? Like use the chat or another way.
As the role models in our students’ lives we will continue to display a positive attitude towards distance learning each and every day – addressing future challenges with a growth mindset. We encourage parents and carers to do the same.
You are absolutely right. Our kids take their cues from us! (and this is a good reminder for me to check my attitude when I talk with them about school and home learning.)
We head home exhausted but super happy to have connected with our classes and each individual. How amazing they all were today and how much joy they brought to us – sharing their thoughts and ideas; smiles and giggles; and questions and responses through Google Meet, using their learning pack materials and via their Seesaw journals.
A huge congratulations to all our fantastically adaptable and patient children, our supportive parents/carers, our community tech professionals and our amazingly resilient and hard-working teachers.
You are all SUPERHEROES!
So take off your capes, unwind and sleep well tonight… we all worked super hard today. Take the time to practice self-compassion. Our brains have a natural tendency, or negativity bias, to focus on and be motivated by negative thought patterns like self-criticism. Self compassion has a significant positive impact on our well-being and reconnects us with our deep motivation, our curiosity, excitement and desire to help others. We did well today!
With the mindset to seek solutions and to focus on all of the positives that we can take from today’s experiences, we can build on these. Today’s ‘Action for Happiness’ action from their ‘Self Care September Calendar’ was perfect for today’s first day of school.
Let’s awaken in the morning refreshed, excited and open to experience the endless possibilities and learning opportunities tomorrow will bring!
You have all been great and maybe you aren’t hearing enough good feedback, so I thought I’d take a minute to say so. I’m grateful for you all. I think you are an amazing Team and you should all be very proud.
We are in this together – until January. Through our continued efforts and enthusiasm to do the best we all can, we look forward to an ever-improving, creative and engaging home learning experience.