“It’ll only be for two weeks,” I confidently told the Year 11s on Friday 13th of March, “so make sure you take your books home, as there won’t be much time before the exams once we get back.”

“Don’t worry: we’ll rehearse online and we’ll still be able to perform The Tempest once we get back,” I reassured my Year 8s.

“Have you got all your books?” I asked my Year 12s, “because we need to start exam revision.”

“See you soon!” I cheerily waved to my Year 10 and 13 classes.

So much for that…

Almost three months later, our world of teaching and learning is a bit like a half-completed jigsaw puzzle: some pieces look familiar, others just don’t fit, and some seem to have gone missing entirely.

Like school uniform, for example!

Trying to keep students motivated — especially once it became clear GCSEs and A levels would be cancelled — has been a bit of a challenge, but introducing a bit of silliness (like fancy dress) has helped.

Our stage play had to become a radio play. I don’t know whether the students who were due to share a stage kiss were relieved or disapppointed! Either way, we were delighted by how it turned out:

 

However, many other things stayed the same. I did early experiments with pre-recording audio or video guides, and creating self-correcting online exercises. But, it soon became clear that if I wanted  students to ‘attend’ online lessons, the best format (for my subject at least) was to keep teaching the way the students were used to.

This meant starting and finishing Google Meets at the same time as normal classes, showing students a power point presentation, asking them questions, getting them to collaborate to interpret texts, prompting them, supporting them and marking their work. It was surprisingly similar: if you wanted quick answers, students wrote in the chat function; for longer explanations, they would turn on their microphone and speak to the class. Ok, so occassionally they forgot to turn their microphone on or it suddenly ‘wasn’t working’, but mostly it was pretty similar to the classroom experience.

 

Once they started writing, I could flick between Google Documents to see their work, adding comments to correct misunderstandings or prompt them to extend answers. Much like how I walk around my classroom, occasionally writing comments in students’ books: except this time students didn’t need to struggle to decipher my hand-writing!

Other aspects of teaching online were actually better than in a physical classroom:

Firstly, behaviour. If student X was swinging on his chair, well, I wasn’t to know and it wasn’t distracting anyone. Plus, with muted microphones there were far fewer interruptions.

Secondly, group work. Once students knew their group discussions were being recorded, they stuck to their target language, English, like glue. Moreover, with only two or three in each group, they couldn’t lean over and distract another group, as some of them might in a physical classroom.

Finally, flexibility. While in a physical classroom, if I needed students to give presentations or performances, they would have to wait their turn. Now, in the online environment, everyone could record and submit theirs simultaneously. Suddenly, instead of needing three lessons for everyone to present their work, it could be done in one session. Plus, when it came to drama, with no audience to distract them, students were far better at staying in character.

 

Similarly, the online approach was incredibly useful if I needed to talk one-to-one with a student. I set the others their work, then could have a private meeting with one individual. This would have a massive impact on their learning, because we could really drill down into their work without distractions caused by the behaviour of the other fourteen or so students in the class,.

Naturally, there were negatives. Some students didn’t have regular access to computers, or couldn’t find a quiet space to work at home. Some had other responsibilities that pulled them away from their online classes: one student was ‘in’ a Google meeting, but not responding to questions nor writing anything. It turned out they’d had to cook lunch for their younger brother because both parents were at work. Well, that’s a life lesson right there I suppose!

But…

I miss my students. I miss my colleagues. I miss being more mobile (my waistline is suffering after three months of sitting down, rather than striding about the school). So, while I’ve enjoyed the challenge and novelty of online teaching, I can’t wait to see students in front of me in September.

Roll on the new normal!