How has my inquiry been impacted by COVID19?

Our CoL meeting yesterday was our first one face to face since term 1. We have had Google Meet ones, but they are just not the same. No hugging or eating is involved in a Google Meet version!!

Part of what we discussed yesterday was how our inquiries have been affected by COVID19 and the lockdown situation New Zealand went through.
We were asked the question ...

"How has the Covid-19 period impacted the learners in your focus group? Will you need to make any changes to your Inquiry? "

Since lockdown and after, I have realised what I thought was helpful stuff on my class website is not so helpful after all. It was not set up well enough to enable students to work as independently as I would have liked. This was important during lockdown, both for those students who could come online and work with me but especially for those who couldn't. Since we have got back it is also important as the students are at such a huge variance as to where they are in their design projects.
I started to try and address this with the help videos that I was putting together for my inquiry group for the design brief. Blog posts here and here. This needs to be expanded into all year groups for everything that I am asking them to do.

As my students missed so much and they are at such different stages in their work they have quite large confidence issues. I have noticed this when everything is normal as they come into NCEA Level 3 with no background knowledge, but it is a lot worse at the moment. My focus has definitely shifted into mindset, growth mindset and confidence building. I have been building in activities for them to do, visits from other teachers talking about mindset and I have been doing a lot of reading about it myself. This is turning into a focus which is just as important as the Scholarship work, as nothing will happen if they don't feel like they can achieve it in the first place.

In the Technology Department, we have been asked to identify the learning barriers for our senior students, what strategies we have been trying and what we intend to further try in order to get some achievement happening.
Here is mine for my inquiry group. I have taken the names out.

As you can see, a lot of the problems are related to confidence.

Main Learning Barriers	Other Learning Barriers	Teacher Practice - Strategies and Interventions	Strategy and Intervention to shift achievement by the 18th August 2020
Literacy	Prior / Content Knowledge	I get another student to translate for me when xxx doesn't understand my instructions.	Being nice to Gene Smallwood to see if she will translate some support sheets for me into Filipino. I am offering Wednesday and Thursday after school sessions for terms 3 and 4.
Attendance	Motivation	Board games and support when he comes in. I try and get him to feel part of the group again when i see him. It is hard as he feels xxx not being there and so he avoids coming.	I made help videos and examples for the design brief section of the project for those who could not come online over lockdown. These are available on the class site. I need to make more of these for more of the project as feedback from the students is that they are using them. I am offering Wednesday and Thursday after school sessions for terms 3 and 4.
Attendance	Motivation	Since we lost xxx, xxx has hardly been in at all. I think 'i have seen him 3 times. I try to make him as welcome as I can and get him to join in with the rest of the group with games and warm ups.	I made help videos and examples for the design brief section of the project for those who could not come online over lockdown. These are available on the class site. I need to make more of these for more of the project as feedback from the students is that they are using them. I am offering Wednesday and Thursday after school sessions for terms 3 and 4.
Confidence		xxx likes to know the big picture, so I try and relate everything we do and let him know why and how it connects with the end product. I show him skills one to one and give him time to practice as he lacks confidence in his own drawing skills.	I made help videos and examples for the design brief section of the project for those who could not come online over lockdown. These are available on the class site. I need to make more of these for more of the project as feedback from the students is that they are using them. I am offering Wednesday and Thursday after school sessions for terms 3 and 4.
Attendance	Confidence	I try and use examples and one to one when xxx is in the class to try and remind her where she is up to in the whole project. There are big gaps in between visits to the class.	I made help videos and examples for the design brief section of the project for those who could not come online over lockdown. These are available on the class site. I need to make more of these for more of the project as feedback from the students is that they are using them. I am offering Wednesday and Thursday after school sessions for terms 3 and 4.
Attendance	Time Awareness	I try and use examples and one to one when xxx is in the class to try and remind her where she is up to in the whole project. There are big gaps in between visits to the class.	I made help videos and examples for the design brief section of the project for those who could not come online over lockdown. These are available on the class site. I need to make more of these for more of the project as feedback from the students is that they are using them. I am offering Wednesday and Thursday after school sessions for terms 3 and 4.
In school other commitments	Time Awareness	xxx has not really kept up to date this year at all. She has a lot of extra stuff on and this has affected both her attendance and focus at times. I have examples on hand all the time to show her what she needs to be doing.	I made help videos and examples for the design brief section of the project for those who could not come online over lockdown. These are available on the class site. I need to make more of these for more of the project as feedback from the students is that they are using them. I am offering Wednesday and Thursday after school sessions for terms 3 and 4.
In school other commitments	Time Awareness	xxx has not really kept up to date this year at all. She has a lot of extra stuff on and this has affected both her attendance and focus at times. I have examples on hand all the time to show her what she needs to be doing.	I made help videos and examples for the design brief section of the project for those who could not come online over lockdown. These are available on the class site. I need to make more of these for more of the project as feedback from the students is that they are using them. I am offering Wednesday and Thursday after school sessions for terms 3 and 4.
Too much of a perfectionist		xxx and I have been working on "loosening up" the style this year. He tends to like everything "just so" and he really needs to be looser and produce more design ideas to choose from, whether he likes them or not. He came into the holiday sessions most days.	I made help videos and examples for the design brief section of the project for those who could not come online over lockdown. These are available on the class site. I need to make more of these for more of the project as feedback from the students is that they are using them. I am offering Wednesday and Thursday after school sessions for terms 3 and 4.
Confidence		I have been trying to encourage xxx this year as his 3D drawing has really improved. I remind him what it was like in Y11 and 12 and make him think about how much improvement he has made. He did not take any time off when we lost xxx but he has felt it really badly. I try and give him room to play games with the group to build confidence and togetherness again which he is lacking due to others not coming to school. He came into the holiday sessions once.	I made help videos and examples for the design brief section of the project for those who could not come online over lockdown. These are available on the class site. I need to make more of these for more of the project as feedback from the students is that they are using them. I am offering Wednesday and Thursday after school sessions for terms 3 and 4.
Attendance	Too much of a perfectionist	xxx is another who i have been encouraging to be looser this year. He has responded well and is trying hard to not be such a perfectionist with everything.	I made help videos and examples for the design brief section of the project for those who could not come online over lockdown. These are available on the class site. I need to make more of these for more of the project as feedback from the students is that they are using them. I am offering Wednesday and Thursday after school sessions for terms 3 and 4.
Never here		I have hardly seen xxx all year. I don't think that the 37% that KAMAR is saying is correct. It seems too high.	I made help videos and examples for the design brief section of the project for those who could not come online over lockdown. These are available on the class site. I need to make more of these for more of the project as feedback from the students is that they are using them. I am offering Wednesday and Thursday after school sessions for terms 3 and 4.
Confidence	Prior / Content Knowledge	I try and do examples for / with xxx as he really lacks confidence in his work.	I made help videos and examples for the design brief section of the project for those who could not come online over lockdown. These are available on the class site. I need to make more of these for more of the project as feedback from the students is that they are using them. I am offering Wednesday and Thursday after school sessions for terms 3 and 4.
Attendance	Attitude and time awareness	xxx has terrible attendance this year and she has developed a strange attitude when she is in class. I try to show her the examples we have worked on together each time I see her to remind her what we are doing as there are big gaps between visits.	I made help videos and examples for the design brief section of the project for those who could not come online over lockdown. These are available on the class site. I need to make more of these for more of the project as feedback from the students is that they are using them. I am offering Wednesday and Thursday after school sessions for terms 3 and 4.
Attendance	Confidence	I sit with xxx one to one a lot to show him things specifically related to his own project as he has difficulty translating general skills to what he is doing. A lot of that is related to his lack of confidence in his own work. He came into the holiday sessions a few times.	I made help videos and examples for the design brief section of the project for those who could not come online over lockdown. These are available on the class site. I need to make more of these for more of the project as feedback from the students is that they are using them. I am offering Wednesday and Thursday after school sessions for terms 3 and 4.