A Spotlight on Ōrākei Primary
This spotlight highlights an approach to hybrid learning in which online learning is provided for remote students by 3 designated online teachers. The online teachers use the lessons prepared for students who are onsite and presents them in an online format.
Ōrākei School kaiako and school leaders worked together to ensure equitable access for each and every student during a time of disrupted learning. They realised that the demands of hybrid learning approaches could only be realised when they all collaborated together.
Read on to find out more about Ōrākei School’s mahi to ensure continuous learning for all ākonga.
Why did we make this change?
Current Situation
- Our education system does not meet the unique needs of each and every learner.
- Covid-19 continues to disrupt learning for students, and educational inequities are increasing for many of our marginalised learner groups.
- Teachers and education staff are facing burnout at a higher rate and may have higher absences from work due to Covid-19 illness or isolation requirements.
- Despite schools remaining open under the traffic light system, families are keeping their child/children home for a variety of reasons.
Responding to the Current Situation
Our educational system must adapt to these challenging and changing times. It is imperative that educators and educational leaders ensure equitable access to learning for each and every student. This will require flexible or hybrid learning options to be available to meet family and student needs as they change throughout the year.
Our educators cannot do it all alone. As demands on teaching staff increase, so must collaboration between teachers. The following model shows staff working together to meet the needs of all students.
What we tried:
Ōrākei Hybrid Learning Nov-Dec 2021
Hybrid/distance learning continued to be an option for all students at Ōrākei School when schools returned to in-person learning in Auckland, November 2021. Ōrākei had 3 online learning teachers: Years 1-3, Years 4-8, and Rūmaki. Teachers were selected based on individual needs and staffing at that time.
The following hybrid/distance learning information is based on the model used for students in years 4-8, at Ōrākei School from 17 November through 17 December 2021.
Ōrākei Hybrid Learning Yrs4-8: Scheduling for online, synchronous sessions
The schedule for learners in years 4-8 who were learning from home was created before students returned to school, but was based off potential student numbers from a return-to-school survey sent out to families. The schedule was then adjusted based on actual student attendance and needs.
| Original schedule | Adjusted schedule | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 8:40 - 9:00 | Community Building all Years 4-8 | 8:40 - 9:00 | Community Building all Years 4-8 students |
| 9:00-9:45 | Year 4 Reading/Writing | 9:00-9:45 | Year 4 & 5 Reading/Writing |
| 9:45-10:30 | Year 5 Reading/Writing | 9:45-10:30 | Year 6 Reading/Writing |
| 10:45-11:30 | Year 6 Reading/Writing | 10:45-11:30 | Years 4-6 Mathematics |
| 11:30-12:45 | Year 7 & 8 Reading/Writing | 11:30-12:45 | Years 7&8 Reading/Writing |
| 1:20-2:20 | All Years 4-6 Mathematics | 1:20-2:20 | Years 0-3 Reading/Writing |
| 2:20-3:00 | Room 02 (Year 7/8 class) | 2:20-3:00 | Tutoring, small group instruction |
Online Tools & Resources we used
- Zoom: all online sessions
- Google Apps (drive, email, calendar, etc.): presenting lessons, communicating with students and families, collaborating with onsite teachers
- SchoolTalk: collaborating with teachers, student lessons years 7-8, student feedback years 7-8
- SchoolApps: communicating with families
- Classwize: years 7-8 student engagement
- Scribd-online library and pdf versions of books
- Kahoot, YouTube, Jamboard, and other online sites for lesson planning and engagement
Lessons & Curriculum
Years 4-6, in-person teachers shared lessons with the online teacher through Google Drive and Google Docs. Years 7-8, the in-person teacher shared lessons with online teacher through SchoolTalk.
The online learning teacher created lessons that aligned with in-person learning lessons, but also supported the teaching team by creating further lessons that covered curriculum areas not yet covered at school for the year. All lessons and lesson materials were shared with students through Google Drive or SchoolTalk.
Reading/Writing lessons were mainly literature-based.
- Years 4-6 students: The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
- Years 7-8 students: The Crossover by Kwame Alexander
Student Engagement and Interactions
Online engagement:
Students had opportunities for student-to-student engagement and student-to-teacher engagement while on Zoom. All years 4-6 students had working cameras on their devices and cameras were on at all times during zoom sessions. Year 7-8 students turned cameras off at times, but engaged through verbal and chat communications.
Offline engagement:
Student-to-teacher engagement occurred through
email in order to provide feedback on student work and for students to submit assignments. Years 7 and 8 students posted work to SchoolTalk. The level of student-to-student engagement offline is unknown to the teacher as there were no platforms available that were monitored by the online teacher.
What we learned
Scheduling
The number of students that attended online learning changed throughout the five weeks. While there were about 30 students consistently online, some students returned to in-person learning and some students returned from in-person learning back to online learning. At times, there were online sessions with as few as 3 students and as many as 20. Some students showed up online for only 1-3 days when out sick from school.
Scheduling can be adjusted daily to meet the needs of the online students as long as all families and students know where/how to find the daily schedule.
Tools & Resouces
Zoom worked well for online sessions; however, it is important that all students have access to devices with cameras and microphones. Students would need devices and internet access to attend online learning. Google worked well for online lessons; however, SchoolTalk was easier for the online teacher to use for feedback to students and for collaboration with onsite teachers.
Email inbox became cluttered with emails from students asking for feedback on work. SchoolTalk worked well for students to submit work and for the teacher to provide feedback; however, an additional online platform for students to collaborate with the teacher or with other students could be beneficial.
Students should have access to online books or e-libraries. It would have been helpful for the online teacher to have communication access to all families in the school or a platform for all families to access the online learning schedule or updates.
Lessons & Curriculum
- Literature based reading/writing lessons worked for the students who consistently attended online learning, but students who joined sporadically could not follow as easily.
- There could be more asynchronous lessons provided for students in case they cannot attend the synchronous, or online, sessions that day. Providing the lesson slides was helpful for students who couldn’t attend online.
- There needed to be additional mathematics sessions for students. Having one session for the three levels was challenging at times because of the range of learning needs.
- Greater consistent use of the SchoolTalk tool would make lesson and curriculum planning easier for collaboration.
Student Engagement
The most student engagement happened during the morning community-building sessions. Students were able to play educational games and there were more opportunities for student-to-student engagement.
There were students who participated more online than they generally do in class. Some students felt more comfortable asking questions through the zoom chat that went just to the teacher and not to other students. Some students also produced more work online than they do in class.
Not all students completed the follow-up learning tasks. There needed to be clear expectations for student engagement online (cameras on) and for turning in/completing assignments and ways for the online teacher to follow up or know how long students would be participating online for.
“He is really enjoying his classes with you, and it is wonderful to see him happy and smiling and engaged.”
(parent of Year 5 student, email communication)
“I’ve had a few parents comment that your online sessions are excellent.”
(Deputy Principal, email communication)
“Thanks for everything so far, your lessons are fantastic especially given you have to juggle the different ages and stages.”
(parent of Year 4 student, email communication)
“I just wanted to say thank you so much for running the online classes…she thoroughly enjoyed the online lessons with you. I know that keeping all those little minds engaged online is no easy task, so really appreciate it!”
(parent of Year 5 student, email communication)
Teacher Reflections
“Understanding student needs always leads to the best learning experiences.”
“During my time of online teaching, it seemed there were learners who were going to be online at every session until the end of the year, and there would be learners that would be online for short periods of time. Having a better sense of this could allow for teaching that best meets these needs.”
“It was great to see students from different year levels build relationships with each other. Students in years 4-6 really enjoyed reading a novel together. This could be done either synchronously or asynchronously. The community building games were a hit and students really enjoyed having social time together. Providing students opportunities for choice and student agency is important.”
“Logistically, having platforms for student/teacher communication and feedback and student/student communication would be important. Families should also have access to online learning and resources at any point they may need it, so communication around this is key.”
“Greater consistent use of the SchoolTalk tool throughout the school would have made implementation of hybrid learning easier.”
“Students are resilient and have shown to be good at adapting to their changing environment. It’s time that education is also able to adapt for them.”
“Success”
“Seeing students grasping concepts and enjoying their learning was the biggest measure of success. There were many times when students thought the online learning was too challenging, but then spoke about how proud they were of themselves and how what seemed hard was now ‘easy’.”
“Having students who didn’t participate as much while in person at school and seeing them engage more with their peers or produce more work was also a success.”
“The number of students who attended online learning was also positive. Several year 7 and 8 students returned in person to school, but later returned to online learning. They told me they were challenged more online and felt respected.”
Hybrid learning is turning teaching into the ultimate team sport. Teachers can no longer do it alone. Individual players must use the skills and knowledge they possess to contribute to the larger team to ensure success for each and every student.
Michael Earl, Principal Ōrākei School