As the dust continues to settle from the chaotic year that was 2020, schools are looking for opportunities to help students catch up on lost learning, and support teachers in achieving this.
Indeed, the events of 2020 showed that breaking the traditional mould of education and doing things differently can help drive improvements across key areas such as student wellbeing, engagement and academic achievement.
PeopleBench Chief Research & Insights Officer Mike Hennessy said disruption has provided a “once in a generation opportunity” for principals to experiment with some of the changes they enacted in their schools during 2020 to improve teaching and learning for years to come.
“If not now, then when? Intertia will set back in if we don’t act reasonably soon,” Hennessy told The Educator.
“In a few years’ time, things will return to what we used to know as normal or conventional in terms of assembling and developing a school workforce, so we want to act and take advantage before that happens”.
To help schools leverage the best of online learning, global online design platform Canva for Education recently released a vast suite of new learning tools and resources that will help principals set their school up for success this year.
“Principals have enough on their plate as it is, and don’t need the added worry around the efforts or hassle required when adding another edtech tool into the school resource hub,” Carly Daff, Director of Product for Canva for Education, told The Educator.
In addition to leveraging the new resources, Daff said there are several ways that principals can ensure that their school has a strong start to the year.
Below, Daff shares ten tips for setting your school up for success in 2021
1. Once the students are back in the classroom, get them to create their very own ‘About Me’ poster or ‘Meet the Student’ video, to give their peers, and you, a chance to get to know them in a less formal setting
2. Get organized! Know where things are by labelling your storage tubs and containers. Keep your students in the loop with a daily agenda and set some classroom behaviour expectations with a class rules poster.
3. Prepare a classroom calendar and create some lesson plans to keep you on track
4. Develop some classroom announcements to keep parents and students informed across your schools’ communication apps
5. Create a ‘Meet the Teacher’ poster or your very own ‘Meet the Teacher’ video, this will help break the ice or give your students a chance to get to know you
6. Get all your classroom worksheets (for Maths, English, Social Studies and many more) created and printed today, to bolster your efforts in nailing this year’s curriculum
7. Create the relevant literacy and numeracy cards to support your students learning
8. Some students learn visually rather than verbally - develop some educational posters to place up around the classroom - heightening engagement and learning potential
9. Positivity posters - for 2021 we want to start on the right foot, encourage a positive mantra with your students, that you’ll all strive to live by every day
10. Taking a leaf out of 2020 and keeping some learning to a remote environment? Personalise your online classroom environments with a range of Google Classroom Headers and Zoom Backgrounds.