eNews #3: Webex and promoting independence at home            30 April

What an exciting experience as teachers and students connected via Webex yesterday. Thank you to those parents who were well-prepared or persisted with their own technology challenges; we will all get there. It was great for me to drop into three meetings and see lots of excited faces.

Congratulations to our teachers on working through this Webex ‘learning pit’ together in the last two weeks. We remain indebted to one of our parents, Ben, who has supported us throughout and worked with Mandy Ryan and Kate Williams. We also appreciate the assistance offered by other parents; great support for our teachers.

In this week’s eNews, we share some teacher feedback on Webex class meetings, as well as some tips on promoting independence in Learning from Home. There’s also an update on next week's student-free day, Year 6 - 7 transition, as well as Kinder - Prep 2021 enrolments.

 

Most of our relieved teachers shared their thoughts about yesterday’s Webex sessions on our Sentral Staff Portal. See what they wrote below:

How was your first Webex Class Meeting day?

Post by Dr Kim Dray on Wednesday, 29 April 2020

 

By Mrs Taryn Bailey on Thursday, 30 April 2020

It was great to see all their faces again and sitting so respectfully and listening. Most of my class were already on grid view when they joined which they really liked, being able to see each other. I only had one student not attend.

 

By Mrs Sarah Lienert on Thursday, 30 April 2020

Wonderful. Seeing our students and being able to interact with them was great.

 

By Miss Kate Marshall on Wednesday, 29 April 2020

Great! It was lovely how excited the children were to see us and each other. We also met a new student today! :)

Also, Jayde and I had a family attend their meetings from China!

 

By Miss Hannah Reynoldson on Wednesday, 29 April 2020

For our first day of being online with the students it went surprisingly well, other than some minor technical issues in Group 1. So wonderful to see their faces again! Students responded well to our school expectations when LFH and contributed to discussions. Can't wait for tomorrow!

By Mrs Wendy Keogh on Wednesday, 29 April 2020

It was fantastic to see the students in Mandy's class today. I loved the way Mandy seamlessly incorporated our school values into her sessions.

By Miss Alicia King on Wednesday, 29 April 2020

It was lovely seeing all of their smiling faces! The preps were so excited to see each other and share what they have been doing. They enjoyed putting their hands up to answer questions and can't wait for tomorrow! One group was very quiet but that's normal for my class.

By Mrs Maree Rovatti on Wednesday, 29 April 2020

Was great to catch up. A few missing, a few technical issues (not from me!), a few in uniform, a few parents in background and lots of highlights and smiles.

By Mrs Kylee Mason on Wednesday, 29 April 2020

Great to see Jami's kids this afternoon and looking forward to seeing everyone else soon!

By Ms Alice Peacock on Wednesday, 29 April 2020

Excellent, it was really lovely seeing all of their faces. All of them were willing to share which was so nice to see. All were engaged nearly until the end. Looking forward to tomorrow.

By Ms Elizabeth Souvatzis on Wednesday, 29 April 2020

It was absolutely lovely to see all their smiling faces - with some new teeth missing. It seems that the tooth fairy has been super busy lately! The resilience shown by our students continues to impress me everyday :)

By Mr Chris Rodgers on Wednesday, 29 April 2020

So much fun! The students were very curious about using Webex and were using active listening and taking turns to talk. Looking forward to tomorrow!

By Mr Robert Palmer-Leeraar on Wednesday, 29 April 2020

It went great! Was really good to finally meet all the children and share some things which we have been doing.
No technical issues but some children not there.

By Mrs Kylie Roberts on Wednesday, 29 April 2020

It was great to hear students sharing that they've had more time for baking, exercising and even getting to know their siblings better! Parents kept a respectful distance in the background.

By Mrs Kathy Dedes on Wednesday, 29 April 2020

It was fantastic! Lovely to see and hear from the students and they were happy to see me and each other. There were a few minor technical problems which hopefully will be sorted out.

By Mrs Sarah Morris on Wednesday, 29 April 2020

I only had one student that didn't attend. It was so exciting to see them all. We all enjoyed our session.

By Mrs Mandy Ryan on Wednesday, 29 April 2020

It was wonderful seeing my class again, seeing their smiling faces and hearing all about their Learning from Home.

By Miss Arna Moore on Wednesday, 29 April 2020

Just beautiful! Few connection issues but parents were proactive in having a few devices ready. Will have a smile on my face for the rest of the day!

By Ms Louise Rambaud on Wednesday, 29 April 2020

It was great! Had one very chatty group and one very quiet group. It was also lovely to see some students wearing school uniform.

By Ms Jacqueline Purcell on Wednesday, 29 April 2020

Both sessions were excellent. It was great to see the students and listen to them share some highlights from home learning.

By Miss Alycia Cook on Wednesday, 29 April 2020

This is why we do what we do - the kids! It was so nice to see them and touch base. I'm really glad that we spent time as a staff practising web conferencing with this platform, so that we felt confident in guiding the students through this new learning space. The many skills gained through the DET and LPS professional learning sessions were put to great use in helping the students feel safe and comfortable in this different style of 'classroom'.
Those students accessing via mobile phones or iPads were unable to see or share any video, and were also unable to see the chat, so this is something for teachers to keep in mind for future plans. I think the next step in my learning is to try accessing this platform via the iPad app and see which functions might be different for these students.

By Miss Jayde Fielding on Wednesday, 29 April 2020

Really wonderful! So fantastic to see all of their faces. My battery on my laptop almost died during Group 1 and I had to go hunting for my charger, just like in the classroom, so some things never change (even when LFH).

By Mr Simon Butler on Wednesday, 29 April 2020

No technical issues. Majority of students attended. All were respectful and well behaved. Excellent start.

By Mr Matthew Arnott on Wednesday, 29 April 2020

So great to see the kids! I was, admittedly, a bit nervous, but it all went really well!

By Mrs Jami Richards on Wednesday, 29 April 2020

It was great to finally connect with the students and was truly a fantastic experience. *Reminder to parents that when Webex is on, everyone in the Webex Classroom can see and hear them in the background.

PM Update-Our class experienced difficulties for some students, in regard to low bandwidth in the area which meant some students had no video connection and one student's video connection dropped in and out throughout the meeting.

 

By Miss Jessica Bruce on Wednesday, 29 April 2020

It was great and made my day! So lovely to see their faces and they were very excited to share what they had been doing. Naturally, they were already putting their hands up which was helpful. They all loved seeing each other too and we are looking forward to tomorrow :)

By Miss Jana Loucas on Wednesday, 29 April 2020

Fantastic! It was lovely to see so many smiling faces. Made my day, I can't wait until tomorrow!

By Mr Michael Mottershead on Wednesday, 29 April 2020

The students followed the expected behaviours discussed really well! We have practised and can confidently use the 'hands up' icon when there is a question. I had 19 of 27 participate today. I prepared 6 questions via the 'poll' feature, which the students answered and we engaged in responses around the group throughout the meeting. Great data to look at, as individual and as a cohort.

We had a few log-in issues. I've suggested students begin logging on 5 minutes before our start time.

Time flew, but a really wonderful experience.

By Mrs Glenda Kelly on Wednesday, 29 April 2020

Fantastic. It was lovely to see the students and talk to them. Well timed!

By Miss Olivia Mahon on Wednesday, 29 April 2020

Amazing! So proud of the students and how well they have adapted to LFH. They were positive, respectful and honest. All in all a great experience with minor issues. Can't wait for tomorrow!

By Mrs Narelle Sime on Wednesday, 29 April 2020

Some issues with cameras for some students and a few with sound issues, but on the whole a positive experience. First part of Matrix was easy to work through.

Just a tip from me - I started my first meeting by clicking on the reminder tab in bottom right hand corner of my screen and it started my Group 1 in Teams, not Meetings. Second group I started through the Meetings browser and all ok.

 

By Miss Samantha Walker on Wednesday, 29 April 2020

Fantastic! It was great to see our students and hear about their home learning. Looking forward to seeing them again tomorrow!

By Ms Hillary Kerner on Wednesday, 29 April 2020

It was lovely to see all the kids’ faces and on the whole great- all the kids had a turn unmuting and sharing. They were raising hands and so excited to see me and each other.

A few glitches with some children having no sound (I think they may have a different app since their icons from my end looked different to the others). I had lots of feedback even with the kids all muted and for some reason my video cut out in the last 5 minutes and I have no idea why...might discuss as a team later.

Happy the first one is down and hopefully the next will become more and more normal :)

 

All things considered, a great start with Webex.

 

With sixty-six Webex class meetings each day at the moment, we’re fortunate that Kathy Verbi loves timetabling! Kathy drafted five different schedules before we adopted the current one that includes Webex class meetings, after input from staff, and especially our PLC leaders. As well as our list of usual considerations, we have staff supervising onsite and working remotely. There are also industrial considerations that we didn’t even imagine B.C. (Before Covid-19).

 

In prioritising morning class meetings, we could not avoid clashes between some class groups. And there is a perfectly logical reason why we’re using surnames A-L and M-Z for groupings. In the unlikely event that school resumes earlier than expected, but with staggered start times, we may need to use family groupings to manage this.

 

Some parents may have noticed that Mrs Yue-Lamb, Mr Marikar, Ms Farlow, Mrs Keogh, Señora Mason, Mrs Lienert, Mrs Hartney and Ms Simmons are joining the Webex class meetings. These eight teachers have been allocated to a year level until next Friday. We’ve done this so these teachers can reconnect with some students, support class teachers if there are any technical issues and provide feedback on student wellbeing across the school.

 

After 8 May, these eight teachers will have a new role in the next step of our staged response to LFH. Following on from working with classes using the LPS Webex matrix, they will each work with students on the Literacy Intervention Program. All our teachers are generalist classroom teachers and this new ‘Intervention Team’ can support our at-risk students during Learning from Home. Working with Jenny Simmons’ LFH lessons, they will offer parents the option to Webex for an individual session with each child, once each week.

 

We’re doing this to provide individual support for these children while managing privacy concerns over using Webex sessions for Intervention. Jenny can’t fit all her students into one week via Webex: she needs help! These teachers are delighted to have the opportunity to work individually with these students, going through their intervention tasks and hearing them read.

 

Parents of students on this program will receive a Webex invitation later next week from their ‘assigned teacher’. We hope to maintain this arrangement through Term 2. These Webex meetings won’t appear on our website calendar, but Kathy is factoring them into the schedule! At this stage, Literacy Intervention lessons are expected to be in the middle part of the day, after class Webex meetings. More about this will be sent directly to those families next week…

 

Meanwhile, the school has been provided with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) by DET for our staff to use. We had this at the end of Term 1 and have received more supplies, as well as OH&S instructions for staff who use PPE.

 

Parents who successfully applied for onsite attendance were informed that staff have this equipment and were asked to talk through this with their children. At first, we were shocked to consider the use of PPE. Now my local supermarket is full of people wearing masks and gloves, so we’re getting used to it within and beyond the school. There are lots of ‘new norms’ during Covid-19. In the end, our staff are entitled to work remotely, so we are grateful to have any of them at school.

 

Muuum! Daaad! Suggestions to promote independence in Learning from Home

By now, most families are settling into the new ‘school routine’ at home. Although you know your children better than anyone, we’ve had some questions from parents around managing them as learners. Some children will sit down to a task and just do it (Growth Mindset), while others will immediately appeal for help (Fixed Mindset and/or Learned Helplessness). Some parents have found they have experienced both of these within the same family or child, depending on the tasks.

 

This eNews shares some simple strategies for parents to use to encourage independence, self-direction and problem-solving. Please read these with an understanding that some children will need another person to read tasks with them, while others can do that on their own. Some will need lots of prompting, others hardly any.

 

You’ll note these are mostly questions, because these are more likely to result in a cognitive response (I have to think of an answer/solution). This creates cognitive pathways for children that build up with repetition. A reliance on ‘telling’ can result in constant questions and very dependent children.

If you feel that you’re doing lots of telling, you might like to try a couple of these:

• What are you doing next?
• Where are you up to after yesterday?
• What are you doing today? (harder question – requires multiple decisions)
• What things do you need to do this? (pens/scrapbook/Epic! password etc.)
• What do you have to do?
• Have you done something like this before? How could that help you today?
• Have you read it? Have you tried reading it again?
• What could you try there?
• What else could you try?
• What could help you? (reread instructions, look at yesterday’s work/have a brain break/have a movement break/come back to it later and do something else now)
• Who else could help you? (sibling, phone a friend)
• Have you checked your work?
• Have you checked your work with what you were supposed to do? (harder question)
• How did you go today?
• What do you need to remember/do tomorrow? What could help you remember? (write it down, add a post-it note)

Teachers rarely sit with a child for long periods at school. They check for understanding, then rove around while they reinforce effort, offer opportunities to try something and check back in:

• Looks like you know where to start. I’ll come back in a little while/15 minutes.
• You’ve made a great start – keep going.
• Great try! What’s your next step?
• Looks like you know what you’re doing. Why don’t you bring it to me when you’re finished?

If children are avoiding something, or just need a break, try gently stretching their focus with First - Then:

• Sure, you need a snack. First, finish reading this page, then let’s get something to eat together.

Or, if that still doesn’t work:

• Great idea to have a movement break. Could you finish that after your break?

We’re not expecting parents to be teachers, just sharing these suggestions to help you manage your own work and develop children’s independence at home. These suggestions don't require any special training.

 

Finally, some other important things:

 

The Student-free Day on Friday 8 May has been postponed. Our consultant is unable to present this full day session remotely and School Council has agreed to reschedule for later in the year. So Webex class meetings will happen that day.

 

Year 6 Parents: Please note that Year 6-7 transition information will be sent to parents early next week, via email.

 

Prep 2021: It is quite surprising the flood of enquiries we’ve had around Prep 2021. First round offers have been made and we’re about to make the next round of enrolment offers. It’s only April.

If your child needs a place for Prep 2021, please email our office ASAP. Everything parents need to know was updated over the holidays, shared with pre-schools and is on our website under the ‘Enrolment’ tab here.

 

We think parents are doing a great job of juggling after two weeks of LFH! Take care, keep your sense of humour and send us any questions you may still have after reading eNews 1, 2 and 3.

 

Kim