BMG 2020 Grammarian Issue 2

8 THE PREP JOURNEY Before talking about our remote learning journey, the Prep team would love to acknowledge our amazing Preps. They tried their hardest every day, whether live streaming with us, or needing to access the recorded sessions later, with parents. At Bacchus Marsh Grammar, we were lucky to have the opportunity to connect with our students face to face, albeit online, on a daily basis. Their smiling faces and willingness to have a go, kept us inspired every day. Preppies, we think you are all truly amazing. One thing our team has learnt about ourselves during these unprecedented times is that we love teaching. We love what we do, and most of all, we want to see our little people back in classrooms face to face. In the last week of Term 1, the Prep team found itself faced with the possibility of a school closure. New vocabulary was quickly becoming second nature to us - ‘social distancing’, ‘isolation’ and ‘remote learning’. Even at the end of Term 1, we were still living in hope that this would all just pass and we could continue with life as usual. However, this was not to be the case. The Prep team swung into action and started to think about how our online platform would work. How would our youngest learners cope? How would parents cope? How would we cope? Our first lesson was an introduction to ‘Teams’, the platform that was to be used to deliver our lessons, and one that we had never used before. There was so much to learn! Opening meetings, recording sessions, sharing screens, muting microphones, how best to model concepts, how does everyone get time to share? Practice sessions with our colleagues became a daily occurrence as we experimented with how to best deliver our lessons. I think we amazed ourselves with how quickly it all became second nature. As time went by, everyone seemed to adjust and settle into somewhat of a routine. The increased communication and partnership with parents developed into one of the positive aspects of remote learning, as did the informal occasions with our students. These informal sessions included sharing our pets and afternoon challenges online and an end of day story being favourites of many. We were not without challenges. Technology had the odd melt down, and admittedly at times, this may well have been a fault from our end! The very nature of online learning was tricky for our youngest learners. Constant adjustments were made in those early days as we refined a program able to best meet our little learners’ needs. While it will never take the place of face to face learning, students, parents and teachers all worked together to make the best of a far from ideal situation. Overall, we shared some laughs, some tears and we continued our learning journey together. We feel privileged to have such wonderful students, understanding and patient parents and a supportive team of staff. So, we continue to live in hope that we all stay healthy and get back into our wonderful, full of life classrooms. All Prep teachers are certainly ready for the school gates to open again. Mrs Kylie McKerrow and Prep Team