BC EDUCATION
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** Schools have been getting ready for this: a thread **

In many ways, I don't blame folks who tweet things like this. The media coverage of the schools situation in Covid-19 rarely talks about the quiet, day-in-day-out work that schools have been doing these past 9 months. 1/

 Instead, the coverage focused on the dramatic, last minute policy announcements by the government, or of dramatic stories of school closures, often accompanied by photos of socially distanced classrooms that those of us in schools this past term know are from a fantasy land. 2/
If that's all you see & hear, it's no wonder that you may not know what has actually been happening in schools to meet the challenges. So, if you'd like a glimpse behind the curtain, then read on. For this is something of what teachers & schools leaders have been up to. 3/
It started last March with trying to meet the challenges of lockdown, being thrown into the deep end, with only a few days' notice, to try to learn to teach remotely during the first lockdown. 4/

https://t.co/S39EWuap3b
I wrote a policy document for our staff the weekend before our training as we anticipated what was to come, a document I shared freely & widely as the education community across the land started to reach out to one another for ideas and support. 5/
https://t.co/m1QsxlPaV4
And so, through the months that followed, all whilst managing our own families at home, we engaged in the most widespread upskilling not just in tech use, but in the fundamental pedagogies of how to support all of our pupils in these challenging times. 6/ https://t.co/YBXvYtfBat
Yes, some schools struggled more than others, and the personal experiences of some parents were far from ideal. Understandably, in their frustration, and given the lack of coverage from the media on what was going on, they asked questions about what teachers were doing. 7/
Throw in more than a little teacher bashing headlines and articles from certain newspapers, and the Lazy Teacher Trope™ was given a whole new lease of life.

It is misleading and it took its toll on morale within the profession.

But the trope is spectacularly wrong.

8/
What follows here is merely a snapshot of the past 9 months, the merest flavour of the incredible work teachers and school leaders have been doing. Here we go!

A group of teachers in NI just simply got on with teachers supporting teachers, setting up @BlendEd_NI

9/
A series of webinars in June 2020 were followed by a two day conference in early August which had over 3000 session sign ups by teachers from NI & beyond, hungry for CPD to learn from each other and prepare best for the new term. 10/

https://t.co/TkzGdlxPm3
As part of that, and for the benefit of the teachers in my own school, I started to plan for return in mid August 2020, thinking not only how we might help our pupils transition back into schools, but how we might prepare for further disruption. 11/

https://t.co/fXcDh2kKtf
Meanwhile, more & more ad hoc sharing was going on between teachers, on a scale I have never seen before. Quite simply, my colleagues all over the country (for that is how I view them now) stepped up to the challenge, spending hours discussing strategies. It was inspiring. 12/
And, as we started back to school in mid August, I took the learning from all this interaction & shared it with our staff, thinking ahead about how best we could prepare for what lay ahead. 13/

https://t.co/mQhTTSWMJA
But that training included not only sharing between staff in @lurgancollege, but also drew in some of the results from interactions across NI. Teachers from other schools made videos to help train teachers in NI. 14/
https://t.co/KqYDsu85eW
It became very clear to me that, whatever things looked like in August 2020, it was unlikely they would look like that as the term progressed. Covid would take its toll. Hence my most overused of analogies with our staff: we must turn into the wave. 15/
But how? How do we look ahead & anticipate what might happen better to ready ourselves for it?

The inspiration came from me from a definition on resilience I hadn't heard before. And so the concept of resilient teaching was born. 16/
Resilient teaching for blended learning: how we can use strategies in class now than seamlessly transition into supporting our pupils' learning, whether they are in school or learning from home.

And it didn't take long for those strategies to be put to the test. 17/
The moment all schools faced in September: the moment when the first positive cases occurred and/or pupils had to self isolate for an extended period.

But we were ready for the wave. And it all kicked into place.

And it worked. 18/

https://t.co/1LuMquH2WJ
As the term progressed, more and more pupils had to self-isolate for longer and longer periods. We simply got on with the business of teaching the pupils in class & at home, doing our best to ensure continuity of learning. And it continued to work. 19/

https://t.co/0BwFzIFJli
And what if teachers needed to self-isolate? No problem - our system was able to cope!
https://t.co/hi6KHrpmzn
20/
We even had the NI Education Minister himself come and visit our school to hear from me and some of my colleagues about the work that we have been doing. 21/

https://t.co/eG0iqk59no
But sharing wasn't confined to just those in NI. I was invited to present at the @rEDSurrey2020 event in October 2020, sharing our ideas with teachers all across the UK. In fact, you can view the presentation here, if you like. https://t.co/CPRsxtmvRk 22/
I also shared - along with my @BlendEd_NI colleagues - at a TeachMeet organised by BBC NI, again allowing us to share our ideas widely with others and to advance to conversation. 23/

https://t.co/NEtGt38PQa
This is just a taste of my journey these past 9 months, and some of the amazing teachers I have interacted with who have been coming up with incredible, innovative and inspiring ideas, and sharing widely. It is an honour to call them my colleagues. 24/
And why are we doing this? Because - Lazy =Teacher Trope™ notwithstanding - we passionately care about our jobs and the young people we are charged with teaching. We do it for them.

And, really, would you want it any other way?
25/
https://t.co/nMPIQ1st7r
So, if all you're seeing is the dramatic news coverage, or perhaps your personal experience last March was less than you would have liked, take heart - teachers have been working harder than ever. We are ready for this. We have got our pupils' backs. We won't let them down.

Fin/

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