Teacher Spotlight: Lockdown Learning with Mr Crouch

This week on our teacher spotlight we learn about Mr Crouch and how he coped through lockdown learning.

‘It definitely feels more like lockdown learning 25.0, but something about this time feels different, in both positive and negative ways. With the first set of remote teaching we had about five days’ notice to design, plan and produce a totally adapted curriculum. This time? We had approximately 12 hours. No time to prepare, a lack of advice, guidance or support from the government and constant anxiety surrounding the return to school meant that most educators in England started the term on a back-foot. Despite all of this, I personally feel that as an individual, as a school and as a profession, we have adapted and prepared so much better than we did the first time around. The biggest differences for me with lockdown learning 2.0, is that I have moved year groups and we are now teaching daily live lessons. This time last year I was teaching a year 5 class of 27 independent and self-sufficient children, whereas this time around I have 29 lovely, friendly and hyperactive year one children!

That’s right, 28 5/6 year old’s. This has meant that everything I learnt last time around has had to change because my remote teaching has had to be year 1-friendly. The level of independence isn’t the same and the ability to interpret the tasks set aren’t there in the same way that they are with children in year 5. This said, the parents of my children are incredible and have been so supportive from the get-go. They engage well with the home learning, they communicate with me openly, they really support their children with what they are doing, but most importantly they support me in my delivery of home learning – and this makes all the difference! Further to this, the introduction of the daily live lessons has really helped to support the younger children. Further to this, the introduction of the daily live lessons has really helped to support the younger children. The live sessions have helped my class to stay focused and have helped parents to gain a perspective of how to complete the activities set.

I feel that a positive of lockdown learning, if you can call it that, has been the improvement in our IT skills. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m no Mr P, but having the time to invest in my development has been great. As well as this, the computing skills that educators and pupils up and down the country will have gained are endless, whether it’s been on Teams, Zoom, Google Classroom, Paint, Word, Powerpoint, whatever the software or programme, we have all gained so much, because we have had to!

Finally, what am I taking away from the first few weeks of lockdown learning 2.0? Gratitude and hope. The gratitude that I am still fortunate to have a job to do everyday, to be able to maintain a routine and I’m grateful for the children and families who rely on me to provide them with some stability, in what is a manic world right now. And the hope that this will all be over as soon as physically possible, so we can safely return to the classroom and get back to doing what we do best!’

If you want to share with us your lockdown stories, or just share some super fun activities with us, get in touch today.