How will schools be able to go back in September? (Continued)

wirelessdude01 · 13-09-2020 02:54PM

Sammy2012 wrote: »

I am wondering how other teachers feel the online learning went now we are back to school? As in do people feel it worked or was it just an effort to keep some sense of normality?

Sense of normality for me. I/We didn't put any pressure on our kids or their families to do the work. As it was I had some giving out, either too little/much.

All the parents have been told that if and when we find disruption to our school/class this year that it will be expected that children partake in online classes as if they were in school. Parents are not to expect work to be redone in physical school if they choose to allow their child(ren) to not engage as that will have been their decision.

Elliejo · 13-09-2020 02:54PM

teachinggal123 wrote: »

You should say that in this thread in the teaching forum https://touch.boards.ie/thread/2058086571/1

This is the forum on which I am reading your posts. The other forum is nothing to do with this thread. I too have colleagues who like to try and rule others, but guess what? I am an adult and can make up my own mind. I avoid and ignore those people. You should try it. It is very empowering. And if you don't feel able to do so, I really don't think teaching in post primary is for you. You should be a positive influence on your students. I sense (on Boards anyway) that you are very negative. It is not a good trait in a teacher.

wirelessdude01 · 13-09-2020 02:57PM

Locotastic wrote: »

Why oh why is there no continuity for pupils who have to isolate, wait for tests, are are otherwise unwell and can't go to school??

Along with the testing capacity (now under strain) some form of basic online schooling in line with the curriculum needs to be available and should have been planned for.

I just can't believe that what the last couple of weeks have shown was not considered or planned for. Shambolic!!

Think if you look back on this thread to when the 'plan' was released that most of us teachers on here were very annoyed that that very issue was totally ignored.

Tells a story as to what the government think of education.

Sammy2012 · 13-09-2020 02:58PM

khalessi wrote: »

For the children who received Learning Support I felt it was tough going as they had classroom work as well as LS work and some were trying to do it on phones. I found the Google classroom a great way to keep in touch with the my students and check with their folks or them on how they were doing as it wsnt just about getting work done. I could not get my head around Seesaw which my kids used, it drove me potty.

The schools were taken by surprise, it was announced on the Thursday afternoon and schools didnt know before hand. I know a few of my colleagues were shocked and upset by the sudden closure seemed to imply we were in a really bad place. Also it didnt give us time to put in place any proper work. In my school the rest of that day was spent just organisingwork for the students until we got up and running online. There was a lot of running to the photocopier. Quite a few of my colleagues are in the very high risk category and were afraid they would not make it back, some haven't yet.

It worked better in some places than others, and was I also feel an attempt to give the kids some normality. From what the children told me the work gave them something to do but they missed their friends, even though they could talk to them online it was not the same obviously.

I used seesaw from after the Easter holidays. I set it up so the children could interact with each other but they did not do this at all. I was available Monday to Friday during school hours to assist if anyone needed it. Some parents asked me to video call their kids as they did not want to do the work so I did. I set the work and corrected and gave feedback on it.

However only 60% engaged with the work. As a parent of a child in senior infants I didnt bother either. I couldn't see the benefits of it so I did my own things with them. My principal told us at the time that anything we covered during term time was considered covered. Which is a joke as I now know most kids have no concrete base in certain areas. I spent the first 2 weeks back going through assessments and I know in some subjects I will have to go back to the work done online. They just don't know it.

I'm not sorry I tried at the time and the parents did appreciate the effort but online is no substitute for in class for young kids in my opinion. I now have a child in junior infants and one in 1st class and if it goes back the way it was I will not be making them engage. We will do our own thing.

But for my own pupils I will be available to assist them and help them however I can but will try use zoom along with seesaw.

khalessi · 13-09-2020 03:12PM

Sammy2012 wrote: »

I used seesaw from after the Easter holidays. I set it up so the children could interact with each other but they did not do this at all. I was available Monday to Friday during school hours to assist if anyone needed it. Some parents asked me to video call their kids as they did not want to do the work so I did. I set the work and corrected and gave feedback on it.

However only 60% engaged with the work. As a parent of a child in senior infants I didnt bother either. I couldn't see the benefits of it so I did my own things with them. My principal told us at the time that anything we covered during term time was considered covered. Which is a joke as I now know most kids have no concrete base in certain areas. I spent the first 2 weeks back going through assessments and I know in some subjects I will have to go back to the work done online. They just don't know it.

I'm not sorry I tried at the time and the parents did appreciate the effort but online is no substitute for in class for young kids in my opinion. I now have a child in junior infants and one in 1st class and if it goes back the way it was I will not be making them engage. We will do our own thing.

But for my own pupils I will be available to assist them and help them however I can but will try use zoom along with seesaw.

Sounds like you did a great job.

I think it was just me, it was managing the kids online work with my work on the one device and also being a single parent, so we used to do it on the weekends. I know the teacher was not IT savvy but had great strengths in other areas and was giving it her best.

It was just the small things like not being able to upload word documents, we eventually found that we could change them to pdfs and upload them or being asked on some assignments to photo the cumulative answers to a quiz and upload but discovering there was no page for cumulative answers and uploading 56 photos of answers for one assignment.

That happened once, so after that anything that required photos was ignored. But it was a first outing and as frustrating as it was at least there was some feedback and messages from the teacher. If there is a next time at least now we have 2 laptops since one of the kids needed it for school so they can share.

I think as well as the parent of a child receiving learning support it was exhausting for them to be on laptop as it is bad for their eyes and generally took them longer to complete exercises than their sibling, so sometimes to speed things along, I would type up their answers as they said them

Ten of Swords · 13-09-2020 04:30PM

Drop the personal stuff.

A huge amount of recent posts in this thread are posters discussing, or taking pot shots at, other posters rather than sticking to the topic of the thread which is schools reopening. Thread has had a very large number of reported posts in recent days and will end up getting closed if posters don't stop this carry on as cards are obviously not working.

Last warning

Smacruairi · 13-09-2020 04:33PM

I wonder what has changed, or come back, in the last few days which might have led to thread derailment...

So it looks like based on today's announcement that pubs are going to be sacrificed to keep schools open. I do find it funny that this seems to be the dichotomy presented to the public, wonder which will win out.

PCros · 13-09-2020 04:57PM

Smacruairi wrote: »

So it looks like based on today's announcement that pubs are going to be sacrificed to keep schools open. I do find it funny that this seems to be the dichotomy presented to the public, wonder which will win out.

I don’t think it’s essentially pitting schools and pubs against each other.

Pubs, restaurants, hotels etc will close under the highest level. They will try keep schools open as long as they can but will shut them if required.

Icyseanfitz · 13-09-2020 04:57PM

Smacruairi wrote: »

I wonder what has changed, or come back, in the last few days which might have led to thread derailment...

So it looks like based on today's announcement that pubs are going to be sacrificed to keep schools open. I do find it funny that this seems to be the dichotomy presented to the public, wonder which will win out.

God forbid the government could think up a way to safely try to get both going in an incremental manner with reduced physical numbers, rocket science.

extra-ordinary_ · 13-09-2020 05:01PM

Sammy2012 wrote: »

I'm sure teachers who are very high risk would have happily worked from home to facilitate some of this. If the option had of been there. There is nothing for kids who will miss a week or 2 of school at a time.

you're a teacher?? Do you do any English lessons?

Smacruairi · 13-09-2020 05:02PM

PCros wrote: »

I don’t think it’s essentially pitting schools and pubs against each other.

Pubs, restaurants, hotels etc will close under the highest level. They will try keep schools open as long as they can but will shut them if required.

I can't see any situation, short of serious icu cases in students, where the govt will shut the schools. They seem fixated at maintaining the status quo, and will take every measure to keep the whole cohort in the building.

Which is gas as I know several companies who are instructing their office workers to wfh until at least June next year.

wirelessdude01 · 13-09-2020 05:05PM

Smacruairi wrote: »

I can't see any situation, short of serious icu cases in students, where the govt will shut the schools. They seem fixated at maintaining the status quo, and will take every measure to keep the whole cohort in the building.

Which is gas as I know several companies who are instructing their office workers to wfh until at least June next year.

I know for a fact that revenue people are working from home and will be until April '21 at the earliest. Assume something similar.qith other government departments.

Having said that I'm happy to be in school and can control my own little kingdom as much as possible.

13-09-2020 05:07PM

Any update on numbers in schools, please.

PCros · 13-09-2020 05:10PM

Smacruairi wrote: »

I can't see any situation, short of serious icu cases in students, where the govt will shut the schools. They seem fixated at maintaining the status quo, and will take every measure to keep the whole cohort in the building.

Which is gas as I know several companies who are instructing their office workers to wfh until at least June next year.

If there is no threat to ICU beds then they are not going to shut schools in my opinion. If Dublin continues in the same fashion we may indeed see schools closed, but I believe this will be by areas within Dublin...Fingal, Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown etc.

We have to recognise that there are counties now that have come in with next to no cases over the past few weeks.

PCros · 13-09-2020 05:11PM

Balagan1 wrote: »

Any update on numbers in schools, please.

65 give or take a few

wirelessdude01 · 13-09-2020 05:11PM

Balagan1 wrote: »

Any update on numbers in schools, please.

Think that group has somewhere in the region of 65. It's a good bit higher than that though as NPHET said 54 in mid week when that group only had 39 listed.

PCros · 13-09-2020 05:14PM

wirelessdude01 wrote: »

Think that group has somewhere in the region of 65. It's a good bit higher than that though as NPHET said 54 in mid week when that group only had 39 listed.

Pinch of salt is needed with that group though. Schools have disappeared off the list and they seem to ban people fairly quickly for asking questions.

But yeah I’d say it’s in around the 60+ mark

Smacruairi · 13-09-2020 05:15PM

PCros wrote: »

If there is no threat to ICU beds then they are not going to shut schools in my opinion. If Dublin continues in the same fashion we may indeed see schools closed, but I believe this will be by areas within Dublin...Fingal, Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown etc.

We have to recognise that there are counties now that have come in with next to no cases over the past few weeks.

Oh I agree, no need to take a national decision, County Council or postcode is probably fine to be honest. But I don't think they'll even take that measure unless kids are at death's door.. But that, for me, goes against the whole "we are taking measures to keep granny safe" message that is also constantly being pushed.

Thus I'm in favour of opening up everything with basic guidelines, including the made up term wet pub, or apply all guidelines equally. The cognitive dissonance is actually irking me now at this stage.

irishblessing · 13-09-2020 07:30PM

wirelessdude01 wrote: »

Ahh sure they are talking about lockdowns and the like. They obviously don't even bother watching the news as they'd know schools are to be kept open so the aul lockdown won't be an issue.

What I can see happening though is primary school classes from maybe 3rd up being told to wear masks. Could be nationwide or regional but can definitely see it in the not too distant future.

I would be relieved to see this happening. Is there a rumour going around the schools that masks in upper primary levels could happen, or have you seen any hinting from the gov't?

wirelessdude01 · 13-09-2020 07:34PM

irishblessing wrote: »

I would be relieved to see this happening. Is there a rumour going around the schools that masks in upper primary levels could happen, or have you seen any hinting from the gov't?

Just what I think will end up happening. Will be a banker if in school transmission is proven in our schools.

khalessi · 13-09-2020 08:13PM

PCros wrote: »

Pinch of salt is needed with that group though. Schools have disappeared off the list and they seem to ban people fairly quickly for asking questions.

But yeah I’d say it’s in around the 60+ mark

Good to watch all the same for some idea. It is a pity there is no official HSE list, they are stigmatising it by hiding it. One of the people they kicked off that group for asking questions is also compiling a list on Twitter so looking at the two, see how close it is getting.

niamh247 · 13-09-2020 08:48PM

What's the logic in reopening schools at any cost? What greater harm does online schooling will cause that can outweigh the potential infections in the cramped class rooms? Also I notice that kids are moved between several rooms for each subject, instead of teachers moving between the rooms. Why is this practice sensible? I can't see any common sense in not going for online option, and the way classes are being conducted.

Also I don't think online option would cause harm to economy compared to physical classrooms.

If reviving economy is the reason, then open businesses, not schools. Schools can only worsen economy by increasing infections.

wirelessdude01 · 13-09-2020 08:52PM

niamh247 wrote: »

What's the logic in reopening schools at any cost? What greater harm does online schooling will cause that can outweigh the potential infections in the cramped class rooms? Also I notice that kids are moved between several rooms for each subject, instead of teachers moving between the rooms. Why is this practice sensible? I can't see any common sense in not going for online option, and the way classes are being conducted.

Also I don't think online option would cause harm to economy compared to physical classrooms.

No logic really, just Mehole kinda promised it would happen so it had to.

A different train of thought would be that they have quietly switched strategies and now going for some form of herd immunity and that the schools full of young people are the perfect lab in which to experiment.

From talking to the kids from our school who are now in 1st year they are room based except for the likes of art, music, science and PE.

niamh247 · 13-09-2020 09:00PM

As parents, what options do we have, if we don't opt to join this secret herd-immunity program called school-reopening? Are there any legal implications of skipping the school for a few weeks? If so, is there a process prescribed to avoid such implications?

wirelessdude01 · 13-09-2020 09:03PM

niamh247 wrote: »

As parents, what options do we have, if we don't opt to join this secret herd-immunity program called school-reopening? Are there any legal implications of skipping the school for a few weeks? If so, is there a process prescribed to avoid such implications?

Contact Tusla.

khalessi · 13-09-2020 09:20PM

Just saw this on twitter
https://twitter.com/ConorRiordan2/status/1305190023881465856

Will Yam · 13-09-2020 09:26PM

PCros wrote: »

65 give or take a few

If that figure is cases (as opposed to schools) its .0065%. No harm in a bit of perspective.

khalessi · 13-09-2020 09:28PM

Will Yam wrote: »

If that figure is cases (as opposed to schools) its .0065%. No harm in a bit of perspective.

It is schools as some of the schools have more than one case

Will Yam · 13-09-2020 09:33PM

khalessi wrote: »

It is schools as some of the schools have more than one case

Ok. Then the rate is 1.6%.

Icyseanfitz · 13-09-2020 10:06PM

Will Yam wrote: »

If that figure is cases (as opposed to schools) its .0065%. No harm in a bit of perspective.

Also worth keeping the perspective of just how long schools are open, 1 week for most post primary students, 2 weeks for most national students.

How will schools be able to go back in September? (Continued)

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