The challenges of teaching Wood Technology over The Lockdown was something that we had never experienced before. Having to step away from the physical classroom and teach from home was something that took a some time to get used to. Personally, I found it difficult to manage and structure my own day not to mention deciding on a plan for my new digital classroom. My focus began to shift from a forty minute, content-driven lesson to a more student-centred approach as I began to ask myself some questions:
“How can I improve student engagement?”
“How can I make sure that my students will participate tomorrow?”
“Can I give positive and worthwhile feedback?”
Fortunately, our school had already been using Google Classroom with our students and so the structure was already there for distance teaching and learning. So this made it easy for me to assign, collect and grade work from students as well as providing a mode of communication. Being able to assign activities and exercises from our books meant that:
+ I had a coherent approach across all year groups.
+ There was little change from the classroom.
+ My students continued to develop their knowledge and skills.
+ We all had a structured approach to each lesson.
+ Students knew exactly what was expected of them.
+ The students who were willing to put in more time were able to continue improving.
+ We all had a record of work done and notes to be revised later.
Being able to ensure a high quality of distance teaching and learning is something that has become the new standard of education.