The actual going live and teaching is the easy bit… It’s the 33 emails I’ve received before 2pm that all require responses to, it’s the filing every piece of work that’s sent to me by a parent into corresponding folders for that child, it’s the planning which has to be finalised a week before implementing so it can be uploaded for the parents to print and prepare, it’s the resources that need sourcing, it’s the adapting of lessons so that they work with no human interaction through a screen, it’s the SEN children I need to support in impossible ways, it’s the intelligent children I need to challenge but not single out, it’s the work that needs differentiating 5 ways although it’s already done 3, it’s the uploading of great work to our wow wall, it’s the class information that needs sending to the reps, it’s the groups that need changing because someone’s unhappy, it’s the links that need sending for each individual subject to each individual child daily, it’s the endless phone calls with staff trying to support through a screen, it’s the online training that needs completing, it’s the lack of separation between home and work, it’s the never ending to-do list, it’s the anxious mother who needs reassuring, the EAL child who needs 1:1 support at the end of every Webinar, it’s the lack of sheets in case someone doesn’t have a printer, it’s the grumbling parents because their child wasn’t picked to answer every question, it’s the pressure as parents sit and stare as I teach their child, the scrutiny and no room for error as my every move is judged, it’s recording my live lessons to then upload for the school to watch, it’s the not having access to my school folders and resources, it’s trying to get used to a new online system with no training, the not moving from my screen for 12 hours a day, the pain of not being able to reach through the screen and give your child a hug or help with what they are stuck on, it’s the not sleeping because I’m worried I’m not doing a good enough job or remembering something else that needs doing….…
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In these troubled times of crisis management and a global world that is discovering a new sense of self and identity albeit within isolation, can we sensibly use the ‘F’ word! In this turbulent uncertainty during the Covid 19 virus we present narrative and voice from dominance filtered into our homes via the media but can we really begin to articulate how we really feel?…
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I was so scared. At the beginning the social distancing guidelines were misunderstood in our setting and management suggested that if the school was closed we could all come in and hang displays and tidy cupboards. As some of  the lowest status staff we usually do exactly what we are told.…
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‘Living through a pandemic’ Saying goodbye to a class you love is never easy, saying goodbye to your class and not knowing when you will see them again is even harder. On Friday 20th March 2020 our school gates were locked, not for a pleasant Easter break, but as a matter of life and death.…
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