Rescuing the Grade 7 Science classes, a case of Covid19 lockdown

by Maria Pineda

The news broke out the second Thursday of March this year that the Congress declared a lockdown and starting March 15 there will be a Community Quarantine in the whole of Luzon island.

We were busy in the office preparing a trip to Marawi City in Mindanao for that weekend. Our team was supposed to deploy a computer laboratory in a school in Marawi City, Lanao del Sur and I was scheduled to deliver a training for the teachers coming from Marawi and Maguindanao. But all of those activities were cancelled.

Most schools in Metro Manila were caught off guard. Many teachers even failed to bring home their books, lesson plan,  the exams to be checked and other daily teaching materials. How will they finish the school year? For the non-graduating students, they still have three weeks including the final exam. 

I reached out and called the public school teachers I know to check on their situation. It  was not that easy. This was a sensitive time, the knowledge that the Covid19 is a very deadly virus had just started to sink in. It was also a clear crunch time, that even though the students do not have access to technology, the teachers had to find ways to send the remaining tasks and the students had to submit their work  to complete the academic activities. 

One of the teachers I asked openly admitted she needed a platform to be able to distribute the assignments of the students. She was a Science teacher, handling 4 Grade 7 classes. She had been broadcasting announcements and communicating with her students via FB group. She also had limited training on Moodle.

I assisted her to have access to a cloud-based Moodle. We arranged for the following:

1. A set of procedures was prepared for her students to be able to do self-registration in the Grade 7 Science class in Moodle via web and via the smartphone.
2. The set of procedures was to be announced in their Facebook group.
3. Two of my colleagues and myself became part of the Facebook group so we could answer student inquiries and concerns.
4. She posted her assignments and references on the Science class site with clear deadlines. 
5. A period for self-enrollment was enabled and was later extended to accommodate as many of her students.

Grade 7 students in the Philippines are early teens and are not acquainted with many details of instructions. But given the perseverance and creativity of their teacher, the students were able to accomplish the remaining tasks, perceive a sense of gratification and appreciation of the additional learning they had for the Science course.

 

The teacher was admirably very patient, always available and keen on giving the initial instructions to her students. We discussed concerns through phone calls and messaging. In terms of teaching techniques, she managed to put together a set of requirements eliciting research, analytical exercises and reflection on the pandemic that had disrupted their undertakings. She also solicited proof of validation of their work by asking the students to have photos with their parents.

She was a hero on a rescue mission while she continued to be steadfast and assuring to her students. It is a rare talent to be inventive at teaching and resilient in the face of pandemic challenges.

 

Shopping for a Learning Management System (LMS)

by Maria Pineda

Primary and secondary schools in the Philippines were disrupted by the Covid19 pandemic and no formal closures of the school calendar happened this 2020. Colleges and universities were caught off guard and were not ready for this situation. Most of this schools and education institutions resorted to using the email, Facebook and meeting tools.

Many questions thrive among the schools, both private and public– can we continue delivery of instruction through online? Are we ready or can we be ready on time for the next school opening? Will online learning work? How do we address the needs of the teachers, the students and the parents? Can we sustain this? How about the infrastructure needed? What equipment can we provide our school members? And what online learning delivery platform should we use? These are just a few of the questions. 

For decision-makers in schools, colleges, universities or even training centers, you need to review the anatomy of your educational delivery and your school culture. Understanding the type of institution you are allows you to look for the features that will fit your requirements.  Here are some questions (not complete)  you need to ask your team:

Teachers

Are your teachers inclined to prepare their own lessons and activities? Are they given autonomy to design various cognitive tasks among their classes? Or on the other hand, do your teachers prefer to have ready-made lessons to be delivered? Does the school prefer to invest on advanced learning materials particularly on STEM and languages? Are your teachers prepared to go through retooling to become effective in teaching online? Are your teachers ready to change hats even at home to cope to the demands of teaching from home?

Students

Do you envision your students becoming self-regulated and independent in managing their own learning?

Are you inclined to having many collaborative activities among your students or learners? Do you pair them? Do you group them? Is teamwork part of the overall development?

Do you like having venues of communication skills development for the student?

For the Parents

Do you regularly involve the parents in the policies and decisions in the school? Are the parents informed of the status of their children’s performance?

Principals

Do you prefer to have regular reports on the student and teacher’s performance? Are you a hands-on leader who prefers to sit inside the classroom to observe? Do you like to hand-hold the parents on what is happening in your campus?

If your answer is yes in any of those questions, you have to ensure that the LMS you will choose has the capability to address your priority service task. So here is a quick guide of what some of the LMSs like Schoology, Canvas, Edmodo, Google Classroom and Moodle has to offer. 

LMS Comparison ver May2020 – LMS Features (1)

Look into your skill set and task requirements over the pricing.

*more articles and discussions to come as I aim to assist school leaders during this pandemic time.