Schools closed until undetermined date - was March 29th

rainbowtrout

marina24 wrote: »

Some horrendous stories of what is expected! Our principal advised us as best she could all week and it still was a panic getting ready to send all pupils home on Thursday.
We got very reassuring emails- make contact with your classes, particularly exams classes but don’t overwhelm them with work. No nonsense of exactly following your timetable stuff. Try to do the best you can. If stuck come in and use the school- times given etc.

You mean your principal has normal expectations under the circumstances then?:)

SAXA

I have 4 kids under 8 year including a baby.. Wife still has to go to work... Not a hope I can get any sort of meaningful school work done.. Have told Principal as much...She is not overly happy.. She said your parents live up the road...Both late 70s . I have not gone near them for 3 weeks nor my kids as they have been in school or creche... Mind boggles

Teach30

Delta2113 wrote: »

https://www.revenue.ie/en/employing-people/employee-expenses/e-working-and-home-workers/index.aspx

Thanks.. I don’t really know what I’m supposed to get from this though..?
If it’s payment for the phone Bill I’ll certainly get over that. I had a think about it and as I’ll have no travel expenses for a few weeks it should balance out.

TheValeyard

That principal is rapidly burning away any goodwill. Any charity work, team coaching, volunteer stuff from staff should stop immediately upon return to normal schooling. The entire locality should be made aware that his actions have caused staff to withdraw all free time and energy to school events. Fcuk that guy.

If he did report any staff to HR, staff can easily claim they were busy (and probably were) sorting out work for the next two weeks. Considering many of us only had a few hours notice that the schools were closing, and some school managers literally took zero steps to prepare for this!

I'd say his own incompetence is to blame for this and looks like he is completely unable to cope in a situation that was not preplanned.

TheValeyard

On a positive note,
I'm happy to say our principal has told us to work from home, but the following options available if you want:

1) prepare work, fire it on to the students via Teams, Email, etc
2) using 365 actually teach a lesson via audio or webcam
3) school will be open Wednesday after the scheduled break and staff can work from there if they wish
4) stay safe and look after ourselves

NIMAN

TheValeyard wrote: »

On a positive note,
I'm happy to say our principal has told us to work from home, but the following options available if you want:

1) prepare work, fire it on to the students via Teams, Email, etc
2) using 365 actually teach a lesson via audio or webcam
3) school will be open Wednesday after the scheduled break and staff can work from there if they wish
4) stay safe and look after ourselves

That's VERY unlikely.

TheValeyard

NIMAN wrote: »

That's VERY unlikely.

I should clarify, Wednesday open for staff, not students.

But depends what the government decide Monday

Sammy2012

Not sure if anyone can give me advice but I'll ask anyway. Primary teacher to 1st and 2nd class.

We had a staff meeting monday and asked the principal should we be getting ready for closure. Answer was it wont come to that. In fact when one teacher brought up about cancelling a trip they had organised for 2 weeks time they said not too. So we got no direction at all in relation about what to do. Thursday at 12pm (half an hour after the closure announcement) they came to tell us that there was still no word about what was happening. We all knew we had been told to close due to notifications on phones and family members had been in touch.

Spent the rest of the day chatting to the kids about what was happening and finishing off work. No work sent home with any class.

Yesterday (Saturday) they start messaging the staff telling us we need to be proactive about the situation. They want to set up Google doc accounts for students from 1st to 4th (5th and 6th) already have them and give prepare work for the children this way. She has emailed a link to some online sites such as pdst but the technology seems to be aimed at second level schools.

Havent replied yet as not sure what to say. I'm assuming we would need parental consent to do that? I'm also wondering how they expect kids of 7 and 8 to work off computers with no help. I also know some parents will still be working and dont want to upset them anymore than they already have.

Not sure what I'm looking for really just some thoughts.

km79

I remember the GDPR talk we got before the deadline a few years back
Scared the life out of everyone

Principals don’t seem too bothered about it now ......i do wonder who it would fall back on . The teachers or the school .
GDPR guidelines would suggest the individual teacher
Be careful . If you are not comfortable with something do not do it .
How many schools do not have policies covering the use of online platforms and student /teacher interactions I wonder .
We all want to do our best but at the same time we know the type of litigation society we live in

rainbowtrout

TheValeyard wrote: »

I'd say his own incompetence is to blame for this and looks like he is completely unable to cope in a situation that was not preplanned.

Nah, it’s simpler than that. Power trip.

rainbowtrout

Sammy2012 wrote: »

Not sure if anyone can give me advice but I'll ask anyway. Primary teacher to 1st and 2nd class.

We had a staff meeting monday and asked the principal should we be getting ready for closure. Answer was it wont come to that. In fact when one teacher brought up about cancelling a trip they had organised for 2 weeks time they said not too. So we got no direction at all in relation about what to do. Thursday at 12pm (half an hour after the closure announcement) they came to tell us that there was still no word about what was happening. We all knew we had been told to close due to notifications on phones and family members had been in touch.

Spent the rest of the day chatting to the kids about what was happening and finishing off work. No work sent home with any class.

Yesterday (Saturday) they start messaging the staff telling us we need to be proactive about the situation. They want to set up Google doc accounts for students from 1st to 4th (5th and 6th) already have them and give prepare work for the children this way. She has emailed a link to some online sites such as pdst but the technology seems to be aimed at second level schools.

Havent replied yet as not sure what to say. I'm assuming we would need parental consent to do that? I'm also wondering how they expect kids of 7 and 8 to work off computers with no help. I also know some parents will still be working and dont want to upset them anymore than they already have.

Not sure what I'm looking for really just some thoughts.

Your principal only decided to be proactive yesterday when we shut down on Thursday for then next two weeks but in all reality probably until after Easter. They are incredibly ignorant or have their head in the sand.

If the school has email addresses for the parents it may be possible to send out work to students.

It might be possible for each class teacher to prepare a set of worksheets, readings etc and either email them out or get school to post them out.

km79

Here we go again

Sammy2012

rainbowtrout wrote: »

Your principal only decided to be proactive yesterday when we shut down on Thursday for then next two weeks but in all reality probably until after Easter. They are incredibly ignorant or have their head in the sand.

If the school has email addresses for the parents it may be possible to send out work to students.

It might be possible for each class teacher to prepare a set of worksheets, readings etc and either email them out or get school to post them out.

The school would have email address for most parents so they could probably be sent out to the teachers and work could then be sent on to the children. It would then be up to each parent to do the work or ignore it. Whatever they decide.

I'm assuming the idea of setting up google docs for each child is not practical?

spurious

km79 wrote: »

Here we go again

Thanks to those who reported the now deleted post.
Member banned for a week this time since the 3 days had no effect.
Presumably they will go round other fora again with their anti-teacher bile.

Thank you again to the people staying on topic.

rainbowtrout

You think it’s unreasonable for parents to look after their small children because the crèches have closed and they have no one else to do it? Do you think it’s unreasonable that they are still willing to do the work in the evening when the kids have been put to bed?

rainbowtrout

Sammy2012 wrote: »

The school would have email address for most parents so they could probably be sent out to the teachers and work could then be sent on to the children. It would then be up to each parent to do the work or ignore it. Whatever they decide.

I'm assuming the idea of setting up google docs for each child is not practical?

Well I have no idea how practical it would be to set up. You’d probably be in a better position to know the general background of the kids you teach in terms of accessibility and support from parents. If it starts out with stuff sent by email and suss out parents if google accounts would work for them.

acequion

I'm not the best when it comes to sophisticated technology. But what is the best way of sending audios, maybe videos, via google classroom? I teach French so some audio visual is crucial. I hear talk about 365,what is that?

Also, is there any way of ensuring that our students are cooperating? Is it just a case of assigning stuff and hoping they'll do it? I'm not talking about bigger assignments which they can mail me, I'm talking about various smaller exercises.Questions in exam papers etc. Thanks guys.

jrmb

acequion wrote: »

Is it just a case of assigning stuff and hoping they'll do it? I'm not talking about bigger assignments which they can mail me, I'm talking about various smaller exercises.Questions in exam papers etc. Thanks guys.

You might be able to set a quiz and then review the students' results, check who didn't do it etc.

You can use something like Google forms with a mixture of multiple choice, true/false, write in a word etc.

You could ask them to watch a video or listen to a recording and then answer the questions. The speaking element is more difficult to integrate though.

acequion

jrmb wrote: »

You might be able to set a quiz and then review the students' results, check who didn't do it etc.

But how? Is there a feature of google classroom that enables that? Thanks.

killbillvol2

acequion wrote: »

But how? Is there a feature of google classroom that enables that? Thanks.

Google Forms would collect responses and it's pretty easy to set up.

jrmb

acequion wrote: »

But how? Is there a feature of google classroom that enables that? Thanks.

Yes, it's very straightforward when you get going. The cumbersome part is adapting material from books and exam papers; it feels like having to re-write the books (but also means that you can make the questions more topical for the students).

Remember that you can re-use Google classroom material with other students & groups in the future, and even make alterations. This initial setup could save us a lot of time in the future.

rainbowtrout

acequion wrote: »

I'm not the best when it comes to sophisticated technology. But what is the best way of sending audios, maybe videos, via google classroom? I teach French so some audio visual is crucial. I hear talk about 365,what is that?

Also, is there any way of ensuring that our students are cooperating? Is it just a case of assigning stuff and hoping they'll do it? I'm not talking about bigger assignments which they can mail me, I'm talking about various smaller exercises.Questions in exam papers etc. Thanks guys.

We are using Microsoft teams so it acts a bit like a chat room. You can upload documents for them on it and can do audio visual stuff as well a bit like Skype.

I've told mine that I want them to post to say they are present to show me they've logged in. I know that doesn't mean they are engaging with the work, so I've asked them to take a photo of their work and send it to me. At least then I can keep tabs on who is doing the work. Can't force them to do it and don't know what situation some of them are in. Some have crap internet/ no computer and some will be left minding other younger siblings, and some will just not do the work.

acequion

Thanks guys. Does anyone have a link please to where I can get step by step instructions on setting all that up?

It does sound a bit daunting but anything that keeps my mind occupied and keeps me from freaking out over this horrible situation the world has been plunged into, is good.

jrmb

acequion wrote: »

Thanks guys. Does anyone have a link please to where I can get step by step instructions on setting all that up?

It does sound a bit daunting but anything that keeps my mind occupied and keeps me from freaking out over this horrible situation the world has been plunged into, is good.

If you have a Gmail account, you can set up a "class" in Google Classroom just to experiment with the features. I recommend making 2, because when you post something you can decide whether it's for an individual group, a number of groups or for everyone you teach. Just remember to give the experimental groups names which won't confuse you later.

Edit: I haven't used tutorials before, but this one looks good: https://youtu.be/DR2nHd2cwaY

spurious

Getting started with Google Classroom

Tutorial on Google Classroom

Making a test on Google Classroom

There are many others.

acequion

jrmb wrote: »

If you have a Gmail account, you can set up a "class" in Google Classroom just to experiment with the features. I recommend making 2, because when you post something you can decide whether it's for an individual group, a number of groups or for everyone you teach. Just remember to give the experimental groups names which won't confuse you later.

Edit: I haven't used tutorials before, but this one looks good: https://youtu.be/DR2nHd2cwaY

Thanks a million jrmb and thanks too for the PM.

Just to clarify, I already use Google Classroom and have all my classes on it. Up to now I've used it to send notes, links etc and make announcements but I've never gone further or done anything more interactive. So, looking forward to trying stuff out. Thanks again.

mirrorwall14

acequion wrote: »

Thanks a million jrmb and thanks too for the PM.

Just to clarify, I already use Google Classroom and have all my classes on it. Up to now I've used it to send notes, links etc and make announcements but I've never gone further or done anything more interactive. So, looking forward to trying stuff out. Thanks again.

Keep it simple first. Do you know how to use the classwork tab or do you currently just post onto the stream?

Dunne_bkill

Hi guys,

Quick query that's kind of off topic. Im a post primary teacher currently covering 13 carers leave hours. These hours appear as substitute pay on my payslip. My contract states that I will be paid for class contact hours only and no pay will be received during standardised school closures. Will I be paid during this period? My contract for these hours runs until the end of May and I'm assuming this isn't a standardised closure. Kind of worried I won't be paid for these as they make up the bulk of my wages. I've raised a query with the office but I'm not sure if they'll be working in any capacity at all over the coming weeks.

Any help appreciated!

Bobtheman

Are you a member of a union? Ring them
I know social welfare have been ordered to pay benefit immediately.
I'd also check the department web site.
If you get nowhere with above pm me and I will contact the Asti.
That's assuming you are not a member of any union. Though it's times like this young teachers suddenly realize they should be in one.

Bobtheman

I'd advise us techno phobes to take it easy. Situation is fluid. If it takes a few days to work out bugs so be it.
I doubt we will open before Easter.
Department also yet to issue guidelines