Lessons learnt apace during HBL

MGS appreciates the partnership we have with our parents. Home-based learning has reinforced the importance of this collaboration especially for the Primary school where students may need supervision in learning from home.

We were heartened by a parent’s sharing of the takeaways he had gleaned from the HBL experience.

1. Learning Environment

We all know that a learning environment is essential for the students. But to create one takes effort and certainly doesn't happen by chance. The materials and time required to provide that learning space is so much more.The materials that you meticulously draft and provide everyday makes a difference.

2. Embracing Technology

Life was so much easier when work was in its original form - paper. The last 4 weeks opened my eyes to the number of applications required to ensure HBL was conducted smoothly. SLS, Parents Gateway, Xuele, Google Classroom, Zoom. I'm sure it wasn't smooth sailing at the initial stage but you took on the challenge and went ahead anyway. For the more senior teachers, kudos to them for stepping out of their comfort zone. Behind every slide, article, assignment and video, a teacher spent hours building it and ensuring that the info is correct.

3. Following Up

The fact that you don't get to see the students face to face on a daily basis created a void in terms of ensuring that work is completed on time. While it would be easy to name students who didn't hand in their work, I've witnessed graciousness and due diligence in checking with students if they had issues in submitting their work, or simply forgotten to do their assignments. The reminders that you gave were timely and the choice of words that you used were nurturing. What most don't realise is that our child is not the only student you will teach, you probably have a few other classes which require your attention.

4. Juggling work and family

For teachers with school-going children of their own, your keen sense of balancing work and family is truly amazing. You have to prepare the materials days before, ensure that it is uploaded correctly. You have to conduct live classes despite students not realising that you only have 30-40mins. You have to mark the assignments and remind students to submit on time. You have to be creative in creating a learning environment by using apps such as Kahoot, Koobits and Jamboard. All these and more while ensuring that your personal family time is not robbed and that you guide your own child in his learning journey.

5. Independence

For what it is worth, I personally feel that this last point resonated with me the most. I've learnt to let go somewhat and allowed the children to seek their "path". While it would not be some life changing path but the fact that the children can decide for themselves how they wish to plan the next day school programme gives me great pleasure. The first week was me telling them what to do but subsequently it became them justifying why they wish to do certain subjects first. This would not have been possible in a regular school day where the daily routine is dictated by the time table.

(Adapted from original letter by Mr Spencer Ler, father of Seraphina Ler from P5.2)