Schools closed until February? (part 3)

Summer2020

Summer2020 wrote: »

How can you be so sure ?

I think they will and if numbers aren’t stabilising by the 25th there will be rolling 2 week closures or something similar. I think leaving schools closed the 18th may be a good approach. 3 weeks of level 5 meaning for the majority, infections will have worked through households

Dr Turk Turkelton

Stateofyou wrote: »

That has to be one of the most arseways/backwards take on a situation ever. Honestly, boards should do rewards for the craic, and submit this comment!

The reason schools haven't been closed is because "the economy," and the only reason we don't have a cohesive national remote learning plan is in my opinion due to the laziness and lack of forward thinking from those in government. Who treated March-Sept as some type of extended holiday refusing to do what other countries have done, and therefore failing the children of Ireland.

"National remote learning plan"- there are tens of apps to use. For example- Google Classroom, Google Meet,Zoom, Class Dojo etc.
These are been used by teachers the world over so its not exactly groundbreaking or rocket science.
Perhaps a bit of lateral thinking instead of learning by rote might help our teachers as well as our pupils.

History Queen

User142 wrote: »

If cases are too high we should bring forward the Easter and Summer holidays to cover us. Run the schools through the Summer months to make it up.

Kids won't be able for that

wirelessdude01

User142 wrote: »

If cases are too high we should bring forward the Easter and Summer holidays to cover us. Run the schools through the Summer months to make it up.

Good luck with that. So when do the exams take place? Who invigilated them? Who corrects them? Not a very well thought out idea at all.

beggars_bush

daheff wrote: »

Impossible when the teachers don't even try.

My kids got an email on a Sunday evening with work for the week ahead. Most likely it was the teachers lesson plan that they already had ready or had to do anyways.

Kids were barely given enough work to cover one school day not to mind a week.

If the lesson plans were for the week, why didn't the work last?
Are your children geniuses?

Anyway, let's hope things improve

History Queen

Dr Turk Turkelton wrote: »

"National remote learning plan"- there are tens of apps to use. For example- Google Classroom, Google Meet,Zoom, Class Dojo etc.
These are been used by teachers the world over so its not exactly groundbreaking or rocket science.
Perhaps a bit of lateral thinking instead of learning by rote might help our teachers as well as our pupils.

Those apps are being used here too

Dr Turk Turkelton

History Queen wrote: »

Kids won't be able for that

I somehow doubt that it's the kids that would be bothered by it.

History Queen

Dr Turk Turkelton wrote: »

I somehow doubt that it's the kids that would be bothered by it.

I'm a teacher and freely admit I wouldn't like it. But kids wouldn't be able for it.

Stateofyou

daheff wrote: »

Impossible when the teachers don't even try.

My kids got an email on a Sunday evening with work for the week ahead. Most likely it was the teachers lesson plan that they already had ready or had to do anyways.

Kids were barely given enough work to cover one school day not to mind a week.

Try with what? Their own money for equipment, should the pa now fundraise for IT staff and training hours and children's equipment, and should the principals unite every evening after a full day to plan with each other a national cohesive and equitable online learning structure?

It's easy to look back with all the knowledge we have now and judge what happened then. Very unfair and ridiculous. No one knew what was going to happen and for how long. People were in shock and anxiety's through the roof. I think you're either forgetting or conveniently turning a blind eye to the confusion and novelty that we all went through.

However the government and DES have had 9 months now to sort this out, knowing we may need to quarantine again and what we would be facing. They left it all on the shoulders of schools, even cutting their cleaning funding over this holiday season. No help in planning, funding, or support in any way when it comes to remote learning. No equity throughout the country. Give over.

vid36

Report on the Irish Independent website that testing is going to be rationed and only vulnerable people with symptoms are going to be tested.No way schools can open with no access to testing.

Icyseanfitz

vid36 wrote: »

Report on the Irish Independent website that testing is going to be rationed and only vulnerable people with symptoms are going to be tested.No way schools can open with no access to testing.

Or its a nice quick way to get daily numbers looking far better than they are in order to open schools.

mattser

Reporter on six one news said the vibes she's getting from government buildings is that they won't reopen on 11th.

Stateofyou

Dr Turk Turkelton wrote: »

"National remote learning plan"- there are tens of apps to use. For example- Google Classroom, Google Meet,Zoom, Class Dojo etc.
These are been used by teachers the world over so its not exactly groundbreaking or rocket science.
Perhaps a bit of lateral thinking instead of learning by rote might help our teachers as well as our pupils.

Yeah, used the world over... NOW. But they weren't at the start, and I would say that's true for most/every country as we all faced into this in March.

NOW most schools have this in place. So to continue to compare to what happened in March with unfair judgement is uncalled for.

Now schools have them in place, and had to put in additional hours for training but still have no money for teachers laptops, for students equipment, for financial help with internet, for extra money in the budget for cleaning (for hybrid remote learning plans meaning some will be in school some of the time) and without an equitable plan from the DES that ensures fairness and standardisation for all our kids.

Perhaps a bit of forward thinking instead of stubbornly refusing to look at innovative approaches from the DES and government and Norma Foley would help our teachers as well as our pupils.

kippy

Summer2020 wrote: »

How can you be so sure ?

Numbers as they stand now, don't line up well for this time next week. Putting kids back in school won't be an option for at least another week after the 11th.

Dr Turk Turkelton

Stateofyou wrote: »

Try with what? Their own money for equipment, should the pa now fundraise for IT staff and training hours and children's equipment, and should the principals unite every evening after a full day to plan with each other a national cohesive and equitable online learning structure?

It's easy to look back with all the knowledge we have now and judge what happened then. Very unfair and ridiculous. No one knew what was going to happen and for how long. People were in shock and anxiety's through the roof. I think you're either forgetting or conveniently turning a blind eye to the confusion and novelty that we all went through.

However the government and DES have had 9 months now to sort this out, knowing we may need to quarantine again and what we would be facing. They left it all on the shoulders of schools, even cutting their cleaning funding over this holiday season. No help in planning, funding, or support in any way when it comes to remote learning. No equity throughout the country. Give over.

With all due respect that's a load of cr@p. If you read back through the threads on here from then it is plain to see there was no panic or anxiety just numerous complaints about useless unwilling teachers who didn't do a thing.

History Queen

Dr Turk Turkelton wrote: »

With all due respect that's a load of cr@p. If you read back through the threads on here from then it is plain to see there was no panic or anxiety just numerous complaints about useless unwilling teachers who didn't do a thing.

Give over

cazzer22

Mr infomaniac wrote: »

I think schools should reopen 11 jan. But on reduced hours maby 10am until 1.30pm. Teachers should be in earlier and have all school work and homework for day prepared. Kids should only have 1 break for 10mins at their desk.

Also some sort of daily online education video should be done for each class this could also b broadcast on national tv. Would be helpful to any kids self isolating and for any period of time school is closed.

I love your thinking that we should come in earlier and have homework and classwork prepared, but this is already happening. I start work at 8:40 and am in before 8 every morning with everything prepared well in advance of the day starting.
One break isn't going to work because children don't function in the way that we do, they need time to eat, time to wash their hands (with current guidelines) and a 10 minute break isn't considering their mental health, need to play, engage with others (from a distance). A shortened school day is going to still impact our ability to cover the curriculum.
Your last suggestion is interesting, I hope RTE Home School Hub continue doing what they were doing.

Antics21

vid36 wrote: »

Report on the Irish Independent website that testing is going to be rationed and only vulnerable people with symptoms are going to be tested.No way schools can open with no access to testing.

This is the main issue I see with reopening atm. Without contact tracing functioning I can't see how schools can operate in a safe manner.

Dr Turk Turkelton

Stateofyou wrote: »

Yeah, used the world over... NOW. But they weren't at the start, and I would say that's true for most/every country as we all faced into this in March.

NOW most schools have this in place. So to continue to compare to what happened in March with unfair judgement is uncalled for.

Now schools have them in place, and had to put in additional hours for training but still have no money for teachers laptops, for students equipment, for financial help with internet, for extra money in the budget for cleaning (for hybrid remote learning plans meaning some will be in school some of the time) and without an equitable plan from the DES that ensures fairness and standardisation for all our kids.

Perhaps a bit of forward thinking instead of stubbornly refusing to look at innovative approaches from the DES and government and Norma Foley would help our teachers as well as our pupils.

Are you seriously telling me that supposedly educated people needed training in using the apps mentioned above?
Also the likes of Zoom, Meet and Teams were being used in workplaces all over Ireland on a large scale from February last year.
With no "training".

alroley

Dr Turk Turkelton wrote: »

With all due respect that's a load of cr@p. If you read back through the threads on here from then it is plain to see there was no panic or anxiety just numerous complaints about useless unwilling teachers who didn't do a thing.

I am in a group chat with over 60 secondary school teachers that I went to college with. We were all very active sharing resources made for online learning, tips for google classroom/zoom etc.
That is probably 60+ schools that followed timetables with zoom classes, made videos and other resources for online teaching.

Yes, there were some schools and teachers that did the one email a week, but the vast majority worked longer hours than if they were in school.

Stateofyou

Dr Turk Turkelton wrote: »

With all due respect that's a load of cr@p. If you read back through the threads on here from then it is plain to see there was no panic or anxiety just numerous complaints about useless unwilling teachers who didn't do a thing.

There's actually no respect due me when you say "that's a load of cr@p."

I did read back through the threads, and I don't recall seeing you on them. I also lived through it, personally, and I know for a FACT people's mental health have suffered massively since this all began.

A lot of people look for someone to blame. Most people did the best they could including teachers and schools. Same goes for everyone else, everywhere.

Honestly can't take your posts seriously at all.

History Queen

Dr Turk Turkelton wrote: »

Are you seriously telling me that supposedly educated people needed training in using the apps mentioned above?
Also the likes of Zoom, Meet and Teams were being used in workplaces all over Ireland on a large scale from February last year.
With no "training".

How many of those workplaces deal with minors?

Stateofyou

Dr Turk Turkelton wrote: »

Are you seriously telling me that supposedly educated people needed training in using the apps mentioned above?
Also the likes of Zoom, Meet and Teams were being used in workplaces all over Ireland on a large scale from February last year.
With no "training".

Are you seriously saying that educated people should know all the things about all the apps they've never used without training?

Yeah, we used Zoom, but we had a bit of training and I also had to take the time to train myself some too.

Now I know your taking the píss.

Those apps weren't used in an educational setting with young children before to deliver an education which is very different. Obviously. But you need to have someone to blame and direct your feelings at, right?

Dr Turk Turkelton

alroley wrote: »

I am in a group chat with over 60 secondary school teachers that I went to college with. We were all very active sharing resources made for online learning, tips for google classroom/zoom etc.
That is probably 60+ schools that followed timetables with zoom classes, made videos and other resources for online teaching.

Yes, there were some schools and teachers that did the one email a week, but the vast majority worked longer hours that if they were in school.

And fair play to you and all of your group, the likes of which had their praises sung on here during the last lockdown and were given kudos for thinking outside the box.
Unfortunately for the likes of your group of diligent teachers you get lumped in with the bad majority that blame everyone for perceived faults and call the union.
Thank you for being one of the good ones yous are very much appreciated by parents.

History Queen

Dr Turk Turkelton wrote: »

And fair play to you and all of your group, the likes of which had their praises sung on here during the last lockdown and were given kudos for thinking outside the box.
Unfortunately for the likes of your group of diligent teachers you get lumped in with the bad majority that blame everyone for perceived faults and call the union.
Thank you for being one of the good ones yous are very much appreciated by parents.

What's wrong with calling the union? How does that reflect on teaching?

jrosen

We sat today and did our schooling schedule for the next 2 weeks.
The school of mum means business lol.

C__MC

In fairness there is a small minority of teachers in every school who complain about the most silliest things
No wonder sometimes the public bash us...

wirelessdude01

Dr Turk Turkelton wrote: »

And fair play to you and all of your group, the likes of which had their praises sung on here during the last lockdown and were given kudos for thinking outside the box.
Unfortunately for the likes of your group of diligent teachers you get lumped in with the bad majority that blame everyone for perceived faults and call the union.
Thank you for being one of the good ones yous are very much appreciated by parents.

So it's now the bad majority. Actually think they were very much in the minority.

I do know during lockdown one that the inspectorate were contacting schools and asking how things were going, what they were doing and how engagement was from home. Know our inspector contacted our school two or three times.

Ted_YNWA

Dr Turk Turkelton wrote: »

In my opinion the only reason schools haven't been closed is because of the amount of teachers who didn't step up to the plate last March/ April.
The Government know that it will be same this time with the same excuses from the same lazy teachers.
If like other countries they had of stepped up and got on with things instead of feeble excuses about "the department" and "gdpr" and just taught online instead of treating it like an extended holiday all kids would be learning from home for the next two months.

Dr Turk Turkelton wrote: »

I somehow doubt that it's the kids that would be bothered by it.

Dr Turk Turkelton wrote: »

With all due respect that's a load of cr@p. If you read back through the threads on here from then it is plain to see there was no panic or anxiety just numerous complaints about useless unwilling teachers who didn't do a thing.

Dr Turk Turkelton wrote: »

Are you seriously telling me that supposedly educated people needed training in using the apps mentioned above?
Also the likes of Zoom, Meet and Teams were being used in workplaces all over Ireland on a large scale from February last year.
With no "training".

Mod

This is not the place to soapbox & rant about your disdain of teachers.

Don't post in this thread again.

Stateofyou

We could say there was a bad majority of parents who refused to engage with the school/teachers once schools let out.

But sure, focus on bashing the teachers. It's in the past anyway, there's no need to drag this all up again.

The DES and government has responsibility here in helping our schools get through this pandemic as best as possible and do best by our children. Our schools have been underfunding for decades and have one of the highest class sizes in all of Europe. Many schools aren't fit for purpose and too many classes are in old prefab buildings. As health organisations and experts have been saying, we can only expect to deal with more and worse pandemics in future. We have to do better eventually and fund this properly. The only way this can be as best and as equitable for our children with the proper funding is if/when the DES & gov't get going and actually do something about remote learning. That's the way it is.