It has certainly been a different start to Term 2 this year, but it is great to see students back in the yard, there is nothing as sad as an empty school.
Teachers spent the last week of Term 1 and most of their holidays developing online programs and learning how to use the new tools of our trade.
One of these programs has been Canvas, a Learner Management System that provides students with a range of online learning activities developed individually by their teachers. Students have taken to this new program quickly and there are plenty of new experiences for them as they work their way through the content being provided.
Zoom lessons and virtual classrooms have also taken off and after a few teething moments yesterday students seem to be engaged and enjoying this new way of delivering classes, it is also interesting to see new words enter our vocabulary as we are all suddenly Zooming or Canvasing each other.
Nothing is normal about this term and that includes the way students spend their time at school. Students are learning in grouped tutorial times where they have access to several teachers from different subject areas, they are able to choose what work to complete and prioritise what activities need to be completed.
This has seen Year 12 English and Maths teachers working with younger students, supporting their learning and building relationships with students they wouldn’t normally work with. It has seen all teachers work outside their normal comfort zones and learn some new skills and ways of working.
It is amazing to see so many students having a go at new things all in a matter of two days and hard to believe that none of this existed only four weeks ago.
Like any change this big and this sudden there have been some teething issues. We appreciate the way families have supported the students and our teachers as they move to online learning, there is no way we could be enjoying the successes we are with this new approach without this positivity.
We look forward to continuing to offering a blended online learning as the term goes on and seeing the ways these new ways of teaching and learning benefit our students.