Teacher inquiry for 2022 is about how to gain student engagement in the wake of COVID lockdowns, isolations, and fear based absence. To keep students engaged Grant Ogilvie (GO for Teaching) and I have used more physically-based activities and included more social supports (tuakana-teina / sempai-kōhai teaching).
Although the general vibe of the classroom at the moment is keenness to get into work, there are some difficulties due to the situation. These difficulties range from not having the resources they normally would have by this time to a disparity between their keenness and actual ability.
The main strategy Grant and I are employing, though, is keeping class running as close to normal as possible. This includes everything from keeping all expectations as they were pre-covid (while understanding that many have not had a full Year 3 or 4) to running lessons as close to "normal" as possible and not leaning too heavily into online learning. For the moment, this strategy is difficult, however it should pan out well.
