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Support For Staff Using Distance Learning
Support with Teams
When setting work:
- Communicate regularly with your pupils. Provide clear times for each class you teach where you will be online to help and offer support to them.
- Give clear instructions. For each lesson, include learning objectives and instructions for task submission. Ensure that it is clear how long each task should take.
- Organise lessons well and use well organised folders for your lessons on your chosen platform.
- Look for opportunities for collaboration (pupils and teachers working on the same document together to embed learning)
- Provide regular feedback on pupil work. Pupils can, for example, take photos of their written work and then submit it through the platform for feedback.
- Learning at home is likely to take longer that in class, bear this in mind when setting work and issuing deadlines.
- Set work through a variety of ways, e.g. video links, reading comprehension, writing, deliberate practice of learning.
- Provide pupil choice e.g. Submit a video demonstrating how you solved a question or create 3 questions of increasing complexity, send it to a friend and peer assess their work. Ensure that the work you set encourages a range of online and offline learning with opportunities to work with others where possible.
Please do not:
- Be unrealistic in expecting whole classes to be online with you at a specific time to gain instruction.
- Assign a lot of work in one go and expect pupils to work their way through it alone.
- Be unclear with lengthy instructions or too open-ended with tasks.
- Be inconsistent with a range of communication e.g. email, team messages, portico etc.
- Set inappropriate work to keep pupils 'busy'. Ensure that all work set remains focused on lesson objectives.
- Be on stand by the whole time. Ensure that you take breaks keep workload manageable.
- Try new or unused online tools unless well versed in their use and/or pupils are familiar with them.
This page will be updated with information needed for support for staff. Please email YRA@fitzalan.cardiff.sch.uk if there is anything that would be useful to you.
Resources for distance learning
Congratulations on setting up such an effective remote learning system in such a short space of time.
Any new information regarding school opening will be put on our school website and twitter and will also be sent by text and email to parents. However, any decisions are likely to be taken on a national level and therefore will also be announced in the media following the government decision.
All pupils have been provided with their account logins for all online tools available to them. If you are unsure of your login details for any school accounts, please email ictsupport@fitzalan.cardiff.sch.uk or phone the school 02020232850 followed by extension 200.
This includes accessing our own school system via Portico, setting and submitting work through Office 365 via email or use of teams, or pupils can use Hwb for safe research and online tools such as Google Classrooms. Pupils can be instructed to use their usual methods of revision and practice including GCSEPod, Hegarty Maths or Accelerated Reader. For exam classes in particular, there are many resources available via WJEC. Quizziz and Kahoot are an excellent way of testing pupil knowledge at the end of a task. BBC Bitesize remains a reliable source of information and activities for pupils.
How to use many of these facilities can be supported using our knowledge bank:
http://servicedesk.fitzalan.co.uk/ictsupport/knowledgebase.php
Distance learning can be delivered through a range of the Hwb tools, which are available to all maintained schools in Wales. These tools will allow teachers and pupils with suitable internet connected devices to continue their classroom activities outside of school as required.
Core Hwb tools that support distance learning include:
- Office 365 including Microsoft Teams
- Minecraft: Education Edition
- G Suite for Education including Google Classroom
- Just2easy
How to set up and use Microsoft Teams (this should be done using our usual Fitzalan Office 365 accounts)
How to set up and use Google Classrooms through Hwb (this will need to be done through logging in and working within Hwb)
How to scan documents to via your phone (Lets you scan docs/pics to your FHS profile as a Word, PPT, PDF or Onenote document.
Please ensure that your pupils know how they will access work from you and expectations for submission. Please bear in mind that some pupils will need support in organising themselves to do this. If you find that some pupils are not managing online learning, please inform the relevant Head of Year.
Year 7: Mr Kyle Olson KOL@fitzalan.cardiff.sch.uk
Year 8: Mrs Anwen Jones AJO@fitzalan.cardiff.sch.uk
Year 9: Miss Rebecca Daniels RDA@fitzalan.cardiff.sch.uk
Year 10: Mr Ben Jones BJO@fitzalan.cardiff.sch.uk
Year 11: Mr Neil Jones NJO@fitzalan.cardiff.sch.uk
6th Form: Mrs Sophie Greenaway SGR@fitzalan.cardiff.sch.uk
Supporting ourselves:
Don't forget to support each other and contact SMT with any concerns. We may find ourselves in a unique position but it doesn't mean we are alone within it. Useful connections are being made via social media including:
Thank you to the following staff for sharing their ‘how to’ guides:
CMC: Uploading work
JWR: Using Teams
Cardiff Council have set up a website for help and support including technical support
Educator Temporary School Closure for Online Learning-ELL group
Educator Temporary School Closure for Online Learning
https://twitter.com/teacher5aday #teacher5aday
Some ideas (NOT ENDORSEMENTS) to keep learning excellent:
Software programmes for different types of learning
https://www.edutopia.org/article/what-teachers-china-have-learned-past-month
Ensuring pupils can see the 'big picture'