Distance Education During Lock Down

I haven't been on my blog for a while - not since completing my DFI last year. 

My professional learning in 2019 was turbocharged & now in these troubled times of rahui during Covid-19 my newly acquired skills have come to the fore.  This week alone I have had online meetings with groups of principal colleagues, I've sat in on teachers having a google meet with their classes to set up learning for the day & I've also arranged a social session with teacher colleagues so that we can connect. This is stuff that seems so simple to me now.  I've also seen wonderful educators step up to share, collaborate & mentor others to improve their capability to deliver online learning.  It certainly makes me appreciate being in a collaborative profession that puts the well-being of it's learners at the heart of the matter.

However, there is a dark side to this too.  More than ever, equity issues are revealing themselves.  Schools have students with no access to wifi or suitable devices for learning at home. Where possible, in Years 4-6, we let students take home school-owned Chromebooks.  We are doing our best to mitigate barriers in these troubled times.

The well-being of our staff & school families is also at the forefront of my mind as a school leader.  We've been using our school Facebook page to post a daily prayer.  I set up a roster so that each teacher has the opportunity to lead a simple morning prayer.  These are very well received by our community & provide something to look forward to each day. 

Being a part of the Manaiakalani Programme has been a real blessing.  The whole package of professional learning paired with the pedagogy of being connected for ubiquitous learning rocks.