There’s a piece of advice that you may have heard if you feel anxious about air travel. When things get a little rocky up above the clouds and you’re starting to wonder if everything’s okay; look at the flight attendants. If they’re going about their business in the usual manner, chances are that it's just normal turbulence and something that will soon pass. If there’s no sign of panic from those who have been in this position before, those who are experienced experts, then there’s nothing for the passengers to be too concerned about.
Given the manner in which the last month has unfolded and the escalation of events that sees remote schooling becoming a reality, I can’t help but think of that adage with VCE teachers taking the role of the flight attendants, and our students, the nervous passengers looking to us for guidance and support.
I’m sure you’ve read many an article or online piece that has put forward any number of ‘hacks’ or ideas for the lockdown and how to best work with your students. I’m sure you’ve probably been like many other teachers across the country and swung from confident and assured to hopeless and confused, sometimes all in the space of a single day! So I’m not going to pretend like I have the key to successful remote learning and teaching, or even put forward things from an expert's point of view because, well, none of us have been here before! For as many years as we may have taught VCE, doing so from our living room through a screen is an experience that all of us will have to get accustomed to. However, one of the most special features of our profession is the support that we provide and receive from one another as we share our tales of success, frustration and failure and so I thought it useful to jot down some thoughts that I’ve been having that you and your team may just be having too.
I’ll start with a cliche, breaking a rule that I’ve imposed on all of my students over the last decade as I’ve encouraged them to write with originality:
‘Control the controllables.’
You may have heard this phrase, or one very similar to it, in a range of formats. Most recently it seems to have become a favourite of sporting coaches at press conferences. But, despite it being an overused cliche, it does hold weight. Time spent worrying about things out of our control is time wasted. And we know that time is a resource we so very rarely get to covet in our profession!
So many questions are racing through us all at the moment. How will students complete SACs? When will the GAT be? What about the exam? Will we be back in physical classrooms come term three? It’s exhausting just typing them out! No matter our opinion on these matters, or our hope for how they may be resolved, the truth is that all of those decisions will be made by those further up the chain. Making an effort to put those concerns aside can allow us to focus on what is in front of us. Of course, there will be the practicalities of new processes, new software, new ways of communicating, but there’s one thing that’s always been in our control that won’t change - our attitude to helping the group of VCE kids in front of us. Any stress we may have encountered as adults and professionals will be multiplied further for them as young adults in what many have told them is ‘the most important year of their lives’! The slight bumpiness of early March has now led to a sudden drop through the clouds, and as the plane levels out again, they’re looking to us and hoping we have things under control.
A ‘controlled’ atmosphere in the VCE classroom of remote learning holds many similarities to the controlled classroom you’ve run before. There’s clear expectations of work ethic and behaviour. There’s set dates for coursework and a knowledge that support will be given when asked for. There’s a map for what is to be learned in terms of both knowledge and skill and there’s the encouragement that the student is in charge of a large percentage of how successful they are in achieving their goals. The fact remains that even with a timetabled schedule we can still manage to run short on time and feel like we’ll never get through all that we wish to. That we now face that challenge without seeing our students each day is an obstacle, but it’s not something that we can’t overcome. Taking the time to draw up a table of ten weeks, and writing down the progression of skills and knowledge that need to be attended to each week can be a great way to regain a sense of control. Once that’s done, and you’ve added in any agreed upon dates for assessment, further tinkering can take place as you work backwards to ensure that your students will be as prepared as possible for any SAC or work requirement. For those who may still feel overwhelmed by this, try breaking it down to the next fortnight or week even. A term of uncertainty can seem daunting, but having a clear idea of what you need to achieve in a week, day by day and providing those goals for your kids? Much less frightening.
So if we have a plan and we’ve gained some confidence about this whole ‘teaching in my ugg boots’ thing, what else needs to be done? As with the atmosphere we set needing to be similar to what we would in a regular classroom, our rapport with our students needs to be maintained in the way it was before this virus came along also. The push to differentiate and to deliver a program at an individual student’s point of need can of course be applied in the situation we’re in, but it also takes on a new dynamic as we look to motivate and inspire without the advantage of being in front of our class on a daily basis. Knowing our students has very suddenly become more important than ever before. Those nervous passengers who have now become names on a roll and faces on a screen are all in need of more than the delivery of lessons and the more time we invest in thinking about how to support them, the more success we may have.
Firstly, there’ll be students who may just thrive in this environment. With the hassles of travelling to school, moving from class to class and other practicalities now gone, they suddenly have more time available to them. The self-motivated, confident student will relish the opportunity to work through things at their own pace, contact you when in need of clarification and move through the term with a sense of accomplishment as they work their way through the curriculum. Of course, our classes are not full of these students! However, recognising the most conscientious and capable students and ensuring that we’re encouraging them and equipping them with all that they need to extend themselves is something we should be looking to do.
And so we turn our attention to the other end of the scale, to the students who are in need of more support than most for whatever reason it may be. It’s these students that this will hit the hardest as they may not have the skills to navigate this on their own. What’s important is that kids in this category aren’t given the excuse to give up that this crisis may provide for them. And whilst this is easy to say, ensuring that they have our support when we’re not there to speak to them each day is a sizable challenge. Again, what has worked for us in the classroom in the past will work for us remotely. Daily check-ins and reminders, encouragement and support and ensuring that they know that we’re here to help them through this all remain crucial. Brainstorming ideas with your team to create engaging resources and ensuring that there’s still an element of levity amongst the lists of deadlines will all help. To hark back to the turbulence analogy, this group are sweaty-palmed and looking about the cabin. Perhaps they need a study score of 25 in English to get into their favoured course, perhaps they need an S in your subject to move on to their chosen path - all of this has been thrown up in the air for them and some of them won’t be receiving the support at home that we wish they would. Let’s trust ourselves to be an advocate for these kids (for, in this situation they are kids to us more than students) and keep them motivated. This experience just may be the making of them and it won’t hurt to remind them that facing such a challenge early in their lives can be a great opportunity to build skills in resilience and tenacity.
Finally, what about all of the students in between? Those who fit somewhere between a four and a ten if we were to place them on a scale measuring their strength in our subject, their self-efficacy and maturity? What do they need to hear? One of our great stresses (amongst many!) at this time will be having the courage to know which students to push and challenge and which students need a little more understanding. But this is no different from decisions we made daily on campus. You’re a teacher because you understand these kids and how to get the best out of them. They trust you because they know that you want what’s best for them. By now, the reality of this situation just may becoming clearer to them and we can work with this. “We’re all in this together” is more than just a slogan for the year - it’s a reminder that everything our VCE students are currently going through is being felt by every other kid across the state! They can lament over the fact that they’ve been robbed of at least a term of their final year, they can get angry about a situation that has rendered them powerless, but once they’ve done this there needs to be the reality check that this is the situation for everyone and that this is a training ground for the periods of adversity that they will face as adults. It’s here that we can build something special with them. It’s here where we can inspire them to see this as an opportunity for growth not only as learners, but as young people. Perhaps, ahead of every dot point of the study design and every area of knowledge and skill we hope to impart upon our students, what they’ll learn most out of all of this is just how capable they really are.
Crisitunity
A portmanteau created by Homer when Lisa tells him that the Chinese have the same word for "crisis" and "opportunity".
Heck, cliches seem to be the order of the day, so let’s close with one also. “The more things change, the more…” you know the rest! Our worlds have been turned upside down this past month, but we’ve now reached a time where we’re levelling out and this is becoming the ‘new normal’. In our pre-covid classrooms (PCC? like we need a new acronym!) we knew when our class needed a (metaphorical) kick up the bum to get serious and we also knew that sometimes the faces in front of us were drooping and tired and that the best course of action was to let the Friday afternoon class devolve into talk of the upcoming weekend’s activities and other irrelevant topics, all in the knowledge that the rapport and trust gained from such a lighthearted lesson would be remembered when we delivered a series of serious lessons in the coming weeks. In this sense, remote teaching won’t be far different. Showing students that we’re finding it tough, but that we are up for the challenge, just may be the most important lesson we can teach them. This won’t last forever, and keeping our eyes on the prize (add one to the cliche count!) will be essential. However, standing with our students at their valedictory/graduation/finishing ceremony this year will have an added dimension of pride and accomplishment and that might be just the most rewarding part of it this whole ordeal.
Ben Taylor - The English Lab
We’d love to hear your thoughts about this piece and also hear about your remote teaching experiences. If you feel there’s something you’d like to add, please join us online at the locations listed below.
We’ll also be running preparation sessions for VCE cohorts for both the GAT (Writing Section) and all areas of the english exam. We can come to your school and take at least one thing off the plates of you and your VCE teaching team in what will be a hectic conclusion to the year! Contact ben@englishlab.com.au to make a booking or for further enquiries.
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