Social media classes?

Moshman · 09-05-2020 8:52am #1

I've 2 children, one in primary, one in secondary. The child in secondary has regular communication from the school, has to complete assignments and return the completed work via the schooling app.
My youngest however gets fortnightly assignments posted on the school website, that's it, no feedback, no "return completed work", nothing. There was talk of zoom classes but nothing has materialised. Something was mentioned about child protection issues and teacher upskilling but after 6 weeks out, still nothing.
I'm wondering is this the norm for primary school children? Are other schools implementing other systems?
A friend from South Africa told of her grandchildren in S.A. having to do daily zoom classes!
I've seen the secondary teachers up to their eyes getting work returned at all hours and setting new assignments, but in our case the primary teachers seem to be on a nice extended summer holiday!
I've no concerns academically for my child but I'd be concerned if I had a child who I felt was struggling...
I'd love to know if my experience is the norm or the exception

Foweva Awone · 09-05-2020 8:59am

Honestly I really wouldn't be worried about your child falling behind. From everything I've heard, with primary schools anyways, they are only assigning work to help parents maintain some daily structure, on a totally optional basis ... it's not essential that it's done. You do what works for your own household.

If you do feel your child would benefit from that sort of structure, there are absolutely tonnes of online resources available.

jlm29 · 09-05-2020 9:30am

My son is 8. We downloaded an app. And every Monday his teacher puts up the weeks work. We work through it during the week and upload photos/voice recordings/videos in response. It’s corrected and sent back, or voice comments left etc.
This is just since Easter hols ended, before that we had very little. There’s no new concepts being taught I suppose, no new maths or anything, that wouldn’t be possible. I wouldn’t expect or want zoom classes. I’ve three small kids and trying to keep them quiet would be a disaster for me. This way we can work on it while my toddler naps etc. It is extra work for me, but I’m not working so it’s fine. Don’t know how people are managing to do school work and work from home.
I wouldn’t be worried about them falling behind, they’ll all be at the same level- next years teachers will have to catch them all up anyhow, but I would make sure to get them reading plenty, my sons reading isn’t wonderful, he had come on a lot this year, and the few weeks of a break from March to after Easter put him back a little bit again. He was reading some bit at bedtime, but not enough, and he really needs to read aloud I find

byhookorbycrook · 09-05-2020 8:46pm

Zoom isn't recommended for primary children.There is no "norm" here for primary children. It's all new. We have Aladdin Connect, but it isn't' free. If you are reading and doing maths daily, that's a huge plus. As a primary parent, you are the main educator of your child, so plenty you can do.

BonsaiKitten · 09-05-2020 9:24pm

There is no norm, there's no roadmap for teaching in a pandemic. I'm doing live lessons with my primary class, it works great with them and we do cover new content. However things like demographics, broadband etc play a huge part in that though so there's no way every school in the country would be able to do the same - some schools are concentrating on getting food parcels out to kids.

shesty · 10-05-2020 6:39pm

We have a platform too, work uploaded on Mondays similar to jlm.Only one JI here though, so it works for her.I have 2 smaller kids and we work, so for now this works for us.Every school is doing different things.

I am a bit concerned about today's remarks, I hear about September doubts.There is only so much parents can do, and kids have to go back to school eventually, whether we like it or not.

jlm29 · 10-05-2020 7:08pm

shesty wrote: »

We have a platform too, work uploaded on Mondays similar to jlm.Only one JI here though, so it works for her.I have 2 smaller kids and we work, so for now this works for us.Every school is doing different things.

I am a bit concerned about today's remarks, I hear about September doubts.There is only so much parents can do, and kids have to go back to school eventually, whether we like it or not.

I know. I see on RTÉ news app now that they’re working on the plans to have them return safely. I’ll be back at work myself in September, I’ve been so so lucky that all this has coincided with mat leave/parental leave, but I shuddered a bit when I saw those comments too. I work in healthcare so there’s no avoiding a return to work. Kids and parents alike will desperately need school by september, they can’t be kept at home until theres a vaccine

byhookorbycrook · 10-05-2020 9:28pm

Children will return to school before there is a vaccine , but it won’t be school like they are used to .

shesty · 11-05-2020 9:13pm

NPHET's advice seems to be that schools must reopen in September (thankfully). It's a way away yet, so who knows what measures will be put in - maybe less than we think by then. All we can do is our best in the meantime I suppose.

jlm29 · 11-05-2020 10:42pm

shesty wrote: »

NPHET's advice seems to be that schools must reopen in September (thankfully). It's a way away yet, so who knows what measures will be put in - maybe less than we think by then. All we can do is our best in the meantime I suppose.

Definitely. I nearly shed a tear when I saw the volume Of work this morning

byhookorbycrook · 12-05-2020 11:14pm

jlm29 wrote: »

Definitely. I nearly shed a tear when I saw the volume Of work this morning

Do what is manageable. Reading , some maths and if you can , some Irish . Stress isn’t conducive to learning .

jlm29 · 12-05-2020 11:29pm

byhookorbycrook wrote: »

Do what is manageable. Reading , some maths and if you can , some Irish . Stress isn’t conducive to learning .

Ah it wasn’t too bad when we sat down and broke it into the 5 days. Tbh, I’m loathe to not do it all, if he saw that it was ok to pick and choose what work we do, he’d be doing nothing after a couple of weeks.

but I’m not at work, I don’t know how people are managing when they’re at work. The hardest thing I find Is keeping the three small ones quiet when we’re trying to do the voice recordings of him reading his readers

BonsaiKitten · 13-05-2020 12:02am

jlm29 wrote: »

Ah it wasn’t too bad when we sat down and broke it into the 5 days. Tbh, I’m loathe to not do it all, if he saw that it was ok to pick and choose what work we do, he’d be doing nothing after a couple of weeks. but I’m not at work, I don’t know how people are managing when they’re at work. The hardest thing I find Is keeping the three small ones quiet when we’re trying to do the voice recordings of him reading his readers

Ah I'm sure the teacher won't mind hearing the younger ones in the recording. Loads of little siblings are fascinated with the Zoom lessons my kids are doing. I regularly see them try break into the room and watch what's going on ðŸ˜‚ God love their parents.

Social media classes?

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