National Workplace Wellbeing Day - 1 May 2020
Shelagh Graham - Director of Organisation Support and Development
National Workplace Wellbeing Day is a day to celebrate and support our resilience and wellbeing. It is particularly significant in this COVID-19 era, as we experience a mass shift to working-from-home and social distancing.
Your wellbeing is paramount so please keep up your social networks, through email, phone calls or social media. Social Networks, while not as supportive as face to face contact, are nevertheless filling a void in our lives and are essential for connectedness and reducing feelings of loneliness. The most important element during these times is staying connected to and communicating with your colleagues, family and friends.
With this in mind why not organise a virtual tea break/lunch with your work colleagues for Friday May 1st.
We know many are challenged with the dual responsibility of working from home and care responsibilities and the attached article written by Dr Kara McGann, extracted from the Irish Times, may be helpful in this regard.
As part of a campaign by public agencies and business across the Mid-West to promote the #stayathome message, ambassadors were last week asked how they're looking after themselves during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our colleague - Artist, MC, Music Generation Limerick City tutor and LCFE graduate - Godknows Jonas tells us in this short video here how he keeps a healthy mind and body while staying at home. Watch out for other ambassador videos from our partner agencies on this campaign under the hashtag #MidWestTogether.
On May 1st, National Wellbeing Day, why not take a short walk (whilst remaining compliant with HSE guidelines), and take a picture/compose a poem or song/ record a story of something that captures your eye e.g. nature, flowers, children, – something that you find uplifting. Please email to corporateservices@lcetb.ie. A collage of photos/poems/stories will be compiled and shared with you all. Indeed if you are involved in any family or local activity or fundraising that you wish to share or raise awareness of please email corporateservices@lcetb.ie
As we approach the May Bank Holiday weekend, I hope you all enjoy a nice relaxing and pleasant weekend but please remember to continue to take good care of yourselves, your families and your colleagues.
Meantime enjoy planning and experiencing a virtual tea break/lunch with your work colleagues on National Workplace Wellbeing Day on Friday May lst.
Kind regards
Shelagh
The HSE webpage Mental Health Support Services for Young People lists a range of services and resources to help young people cope and manage themselves in the current crisis: Contacts for Jigsaw; BeLong To; Reach Out; Spunout; Childline; etc. are listed. Topics covered include exercise, managing routines, COVID-19 anxiety, family conflict, and staying connected. There are also resources for parents and guardians.
Teachers’ attention is directed to the Department’s Employee Assistance and Wellbeing Programme. Details are available at the following link: Employee Assistance and Wellbeing Programme.
Connection Not Perfection
Grainne Dennison, Joe Lynch, Gina O’Connor
As teachers network and work collaboratively, our interdependence has never been more significant. Connection with each other and our students is key as many of our teachers try out new modes of teaching. New and old multimodal practices at school level have resulted in enriched learning for our students. The more we continue to reflect, discuss and peer evaluate our practices the stronger we become as fully connected professionals.
Creativity in our schools has never been richer as we reach out to our AEN students. It is this group with their particular needs who need connection most, be it online (virtual classrooms, emails, video conference etc) or offline (phone, post etc). Indeed many AEN teachers have seized this unique opportunity to support students along with their parents/guardians to develop their life skills. The blending of traditional and innovative teaching has provided our AEN students with a new creative learning experience. Variety truly is the spice of learning and our teachers’ multimodal approaches are to be shared, celebrated and commended.
In support of strengthening the practice of sharing and professional collaboration Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board in association with Dr. Johanna Fitzgerald, Head of Educational Psychology, Inclusive and Special Education, Mary Immaculate College, Limerick and Angela Martin, SET teacher in Castletroy College - both of whom have contributed to this newsletter, established a ‘pilot’ project with six of its schools during the academic year 2018-2019. It involved these schools reflecting on their work with students, teachers and parents in the area of Special Education Needs and Inclusion. The project aims to support schools in their efforts to develop school-wide strategic approaches to inclusive special education in light of relatively recent policy changes. It builds on the existing good practices within all of the schools and supports the implementation of systems in the schools which will further promote a school-wide response to SEN/AEN provision; informed by the school self-evaluation process. A core value of the ‘pilot’ project was to engage with the expertise and understanding in each of the six schools contexts in developing approaches which are relevant, realistic and grounded in practice. The hope was to build collaboration between teachers within the schools as well as sharing practice between the schools. To facilitate sharing between schools both cluster meetings and an online sharing platform were developed. After a successful start which spanned the academic year of 2018-2019 it was decided to roll out the SEN/AEN Inclusion initiative across all eighteen LCETB schools.
During the academic year 2019-2020, SENCOs and Curriculum Leaders came together on two occasions to share practice and develop the inclusive themes they had chosen to undertake. With school buildings closing due to the arrival of COVID19 both SENCOs and Curriculum Leaders faced fresh challenges to continue the excellent work they were engaged in with their colleagues, students and parents. Newsletter 3 reported on the experience of the Curriculum Leaders; this Newsletter looks at the experience of the SENCOs, as the Leading Inclusive Learning, Teaching and Assessment Team (LILTA) gathered feedback from the Online Cluster held on April the 2nd, 2020.
Feedback from online SENCO Cluster Meeting April 2nd facilitated by the LILTA Team
It is really important to get the message out to all stakeholders that it is not about perfection but all about how we connect with one another
Principal, Deputy Principals, Year Heads, SENCOs, HSCLs and SCPs have been ringing parents/guardians where student engagement was challenging. Schools identified some issues with devices and access to technology in the home. Many of the SENCO cluster participants believe that it is important to support some of the parents with the technologies being used. When the adults in the house feel confident around the technology they in turn can support their children during this COVID19 time.
It was agreed by all that schools should prioritise one or two members of staff to be the main point of contact. It was also suggested that it would be good practice to maintain some form of diary at school level re: what engagement has taken place between the school and the students/parents/guardians. Some schools have created ‘Google Docs’ that monitor the students who are struggling to engage.
It is important to keep workloads to a minimum for students with additional educational needs. Teachers can do this by addressing learning outcomes in student support plans first, concentrating on those that address students’ life skills where possible. SENCOs and SETs are playing a key role in supporting the essential non-academic skills of students. It was acknowledged that some of the learners with additional needs might struggle with the demands placed upon their organisational skill, study skills and on-task behaviour to be able to engage with online learning. Support for development of these skills is even more critical now for students. Furthermore it is important to check with students as to how long work was taking them, the difficulty level experienced and adjust accordingly. Simple work well completed is paramount. (this echoes the feedback from the Teaching Council Webinar held on April 28 on working online with students who AEN)
With all the engagement with students and home, many of the SENCOs believe that there are levels of anxiety amongst students and parents/guardians around this new way of learning. Many of the participants agreed that supporting SEN students Wellbeing is the priority now. One participant made the important point that it's not an academic emergency; while students are getting a lot of academic support they also need support around their mental health and wellbeing. It was also noted that the impact of an email to a student merely asking them how they are and not making any reference to work can have a big impact - the more personalised the email can be the better it can be at making the connection.(The LILTA team would like to remind people that one of our upcoming Newsletters will deal with the area of Wellbeing). Many SENCOs reiterated the point that it is about connection and not perfection and this message needs to be emphasised with the students and their parents/guardians.
Participants were grateful for their ability to use ‘Video Conferencing’ technology such as ‘Google Meets’, ‘Office 365 Teams’ and ‘Zoom’ - “‘Teams’ has really helped my students, especially my ‘Leaving Cert’ class who I teach online each day. They find that having the contact time for 1.5 hours a day at a scheduled time great. They feel it really helps them have social contact too.” said one SENCO.
Donncha O’ Treasaigh, Director of Schools reminded people around conferencing available in our Covid-19 Handbook for Teachers which all Principals and Deputy Principals received over the last four weeks. An addition to this has been made during Easter. Additional clarifications for teachers on conferencing here if SENCOs/SETs require it from Schools Division is available at:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1248zVuzzLtf2RwMYg5FFiozAZBRsDuKFh2
The nature of feedback to all students is very important in the virtual/remote learning environment. It is important the feedback relates to the key learning intended and is positive and constructive. Feedback needs to be broken down into understandable and workable steps (success criteria).
It was reassuring to hear that everyone in the Cluster Group is experiencing the same issues and that there is not one perfect solution. In fact, there is no ‘solution’ as such, there is only a ‘working with’ and a constant belief that it is the type of connection that is the most important - connection, not perfection
Teaching Resources
Thank you to Ramona McCarthy, Curriculum Leaders and the teachers of Ennis Community School for sharing this link to their work supporting online learning. This resource contains exemplars and step by step video guides. Of particular interest here is the design of lessons using the Principles of AFL.
https://sites.google.com/eccdrive.com/distancelearning/home?authuser=0
We would love to hear from other schools and teachers in relation to any tools, resources, tips you have that would be of use to others with a view to publishing them on this blog. If you would like to be included, please email either Grainne@lcetbdrive.com, Joe@lcetbdrive.com or Gina@lcetbdrive.com.
Teaching Council Webinar: Working with AEN online
The LILTA Team attended the this webinar and the link to it is here:
https://www.teachingcouncil.ie/en/About-Us1/Learning-for-All-Webinar-Series/
Updates:
National Council for Special Education has designed resources to help promote learning and behaviour at home
https://ncse.ie/parent-post-primary-promoting-learning-and-behaviour-at-home
General Support for Learning
https://ncse.ie/teacher-post-primary-general-support-for-learning
Topics include:
Supporting Students with Autism
Tips on Green Screen use for Remote Teaching
Overview of online supports for Post Primary Teachers
Supporting Categorisation for Students with Autism
Useful websites
Curriculum Support
Topics include:
Supporting Students with Autism
Tips on Green Screen use for Remote Teaching
Teachers Supporting Students with Autism
Suggested Apps for Students with Moderate, Severe or Profound GLD
NCSE Student Study and Learning Skills
OK5R Student Booklet Copy
Overview of online supports for Post Primary Teachers
Reading Comprehension Strategies & Resources – Post Primary
Speech, Language and Communication
Topics include:
Chat Comprehension Strategy
Apps for supporting students with Autism
Student Vocabulary Journal - post primary students
Supporting children and young people with ASD during the COVID -19 pandemic: Social Stories
Occupational Therapy Support
Topics include:
Supporting Physical Education for students with SEN during Covid 19
Support for Parents
https://ncse.ie/parent-post-primary-general-support-for-learning
General Support for Learning
Topics include:
Supporting Students with Autism
AT Webinars Blind VI – Assistive Technology Webinars for parents of visual impaired or blind students
Top tips for children in 5th and 6th Class – many tips can be used for Junior Cycle students
Useful websites – excellent list and multiple resources
Speech, Language and Communication
Topics include:
Modelling and Recasting – strategies used by Speech & Language Therapists to Model and Recast Speech/Language and Communication. Really good working examples given here.
Word Learning Strategies & Resources, including Marzano's Six Steps to Effective Vocabulary Instruction and the Frayer Model – A Vocabulary Learning Strategy
Helping your Child Express Themselves – An oral and Written Storytelling Resource - advice, strategies and visual resources on structuring, expanding and sequencing stories and explanations
Self-regulation
Topics include:
Let’s Get Regulated! – Information for Teenagers…also an excellent Wellbeing Resource
Let’s Get Regulated! – Information for Parents
Motor Skills
Topics include:
Gardening
Supporting Learning at home for children with Down Syndrome
Home Motor Skills Programme – Fine and Gross Motor Skills
Promoting Learning and Behaviour at home
Topics include:
Behaviour Support Pack for Children and Young People with Additional Needs – this is an excellent resource and contains much information that teachers and students will find really interesting
Home Routines for Children and Young People with Additional Needs – another excellent resource that follows on from the first resource in the section under Learning and Behaviour
Reward Systems for Children and Young People with Additional Needs – excellent motivational resource
Behaviour Contracts for Children and Young People with Additional Needs – excellent tool for setting learning/behaviour boundaries and having conversations around these boundaries
Screen Time – Advice for Parents…opportunities for conversations around TV/PC and Mobile use
Supporting Children with Additional Needs during the COVID-19 Closure Period
(Kevin Cahill & Dan O’Sullivan, School of Education, University College Cork) -
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-A9_97r8gSZ3A0VANhtdVxhzGnQyB_G2/view?usp=sharing
The Department of Education issue clarity re SNA allocation for academic year 202-2021
https://www.education.ie/en/Circulars-and-Forms/Active-Circulars/cl0030_2020.pdf
And lastly, one American site
Ireland mourns the loss of one of its great poets, Eavan Boland. This poem, A Fragment, written in 2016, echoes much of how we need to be in this demanding time whilst we attend to ‘the anthem of small details’ for ourselves, our students and our parents.
Shelagh
The HSE webpage Mental Health Support Services for Young People lists a range of services and resources to help young people cope and manage themselves in the current crisis: Contacts for Jigsaw; BeLong To; Reach Out; Spunout; Childline; etc. are listed. Topics covered include exercise, managing routines, COVID-19 anxiety, family conflict, and staying connected. There are also resources for parents and guardians.
Teachers’ attention is directed to the Department’s Employee Assistance and Wellbeing Programme. Details are available at the following link: Employee Assistance and Wellbeing Programme.
Connection Not Perfection
Grainne Dennison, Joe Lynch, Gina O’Connor
As teachers network and work collaboratively, our interdependence has never been more significant. Connection with each other and our students is key as many of our teachers try out new modes of teaching. New and old multimodal practices at school level have resulted in enriched learning for our students. The more we continue to reflect, discuss and peer evaluate our practices the stronger we become as fully connected professionals.
Creativity in our schools has never been richer as we reach out to our AEN students. It is this group with their particular needs who need connection most, be it online (virtual classrooms, emails, video conference etc) or offline (phone, post etc). Indeed many AEN teachers have seized this unique opportunity to support students along with their parents/guardians to develop their life skills. The blending of traditional and innovative teaching has provided our AEN students with a new creative learning experience. Variety truly is the spice of learning and our teachers’ multimodal approaches are to be shared, celebrated and commended.
In support of strengthening the practice of sharing and professional collaboration Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board in association with Dr. Johanna Fitzgerald, Head of Educational Psychology, Inclusive and Special Education, Mary Immaculate College, Limerick and Angela Martin, SET teacher in Castletroy College - both of whom have contributed to this newsletter, established a ‘pilot’ project with six of its schools during the academic year 2018-2019. It involved these schools reflecting on their work with students, teachers and parents in the area of Special Education Needs and Inclusion. The project aims to support schools in their efforts to develop school-wide strategic approaches to inclusive special education in light of relatively recent policy changes. It builds on the existing good practices within all of the schools and supports the implementation of systems in the schools which will further promote a school-wide response to SEN/AEN provision; informed by the school self-evaluation process. A core value of the ‘pilot’ project was to engage with the expertise and understanding in each of the six schools contexts in developing approaches which are relevant, realistic and grounded in practice. The hope was to build collaboration between teachers within the schools as well as sharing practice between the schools. To facilitate sharing between schools both cluster meetings and an online sharing platform were developed. After a successful start which spanned the academic year of 2018-2019 it was decided to roll out the SEN/AEN Inclusion initiative across all eighteen LCETB schools.
During the academic year 2019-2020, SENCOs and Curriculum Leaders came together on two occasions to share practice and develop the inclusive themes they had chosen to undertake. With school buildings closing due to the arrival of COVID19 both SENCOs and Curriculum Leaders faced fresh challenges to continue the excellent work they were engaged in with their colleagues, students and parents. Newsletter 3 reported on the experience of the Curriculum Leaders; this Newsletter looks at the experience of the SENCOs, as the Leading Inclusive Learning, Teaching and Assessment Team (LILTA) gathered feedback from the Online Cluster held on April the 2nd, 2020.
Feedback from online SENCO Cluster Meeting April 2nd facilitated by the LILTA Team
It is really important to get the message out to all stakeholders that it is not about perfection but all about how we connect with one another
Principal, Deputy Principals, Year Heads, SENCOs, HSCLs and SCPs have been ringing parents/guardians where student engagement was challenging. Schools identified some issues with devices and access to technology in the home. Many of the SENCO cluster participants believe that it is important to support some of the parents with the technologies being used. When the adults in the house feel confident around the technology they in turn can support their children during this COVID19 time.
It was agreed by all that schools should prioritise one or two members of staff to be the main point of contact. It was also suggested that it would be good practice to maintain some form of diary at school level re: what engagement has taken place between the school and the students/parents/guardians. Some schools have created ‘Google Docs’ that monitor the students who are struggling to engage.
It is important to keep workloads to a minimum for students with additional educational needs. Teachers can do this by addressing learning outcomes in student support plans first, concentrating on those that address students’ life skills where possible. SENCOs and SETs are playing a key role in supporting the essential non-academic skills of students. It was acknowledged that some of the learners with additional needs might struggle with the demands placed upon their organisational skill, study skills and on-task behaviour to be able to engage with online learning. Support for development of these skills is even more critical now for students. Furthermore it is important to check with students as to how long work was taking them, the difficulty level experienced and adjust accordingly. Simple work well completed is paramount. (this echoes the feedback from the Teaching Council Webinar held on April 28 on working online with students who AEN)
With all the engagement with students and home, many of the SENCOs believe that there are levels of anxiety amongst students and parents/guardians around this new way of learning. Many of the participants agreed that supporting SEN students Wellbeing is the priority now. One participant made the important point that it's not an academic emergency; while students are getting a lot of academic support they also need support around their mental health and wellbeing. It was also noted that the impact of an email to a student merely asking them how they are and not making any reference to work can have a big impact - the more personalised the email can be the better it can be at making the connection.(The LILTA team would like to remind people that one of our upcoming Newsletters will deal with the area of Wellbeing). Many SENCOs reiterated the point that it is about connection and not perfection and this message needs to be emphasised with the students and their parents/guardians.
Participants were grateful for their ability to use ‘Video Conferencing’ technology such as ‘Google Meets’, ‘Office 365 Teams’ and ‘Zoom’ - “‘Teams’ has really helped my students, especially my ‘Leaving Cert’ class who I teach online each day. They find that having the contact time for 1.5 hours a day at a scheduled time great. They feel it really helps them have social contact too.” said one SENCO.
Donncha O’ Treasaigh, Director of Schools reminded people around conferencing available in our Covid-19 Handbook for Teachers which all Principals and Deputy Principals received over the last four weeks. An addition to this has been made during Easter. Additional clarifications for teachers on conferencing here if SENCOs/SETs require it from Schools Division is available at:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1248zVuzzLtf2RwMYg5FFiozAZBRsDuKFh2
The nature of feedback to all students is very important in the virtual/remote learning environment. It is important the feedback relates to the key learning intended and is positive and constructive. Feedback needs to be broken down into understandable and workable steps (success criteria).
It was reassuring to hear that everyone in the Cluster Group is experiencing the same issues and that there is not one perfect solution. In fact, there is no ‘solution’ as such, there is only a ‘working with’ and a constant belief that it is the type of connection that is the most important - connection, not perfection
Teaching Resources
Thank you to Ramona McCarthy, Curriculum Leaders and the teachers of Ennis Community School for sharing this link to their work supporting online learning. This resource contains exemplars and step by step video guides. Of particular interest here is the design of lessons using the Principles of AFL.
https://sites.google.com/eccdrive.com/distancelearning/home?authuser=0
We would love to hear from other schools and teachers in relation to any tools, resources, tips you have that would be of use to others with a view to publishing them on this blog. If you would like to be included, please email either Grainne@lcetbdrive.com, Joe@lcetbdrive.com or Gina@lcetbdrive.com.
Teaching Council Webinar: Working with AEN online
The LILTA Team attended the this webinar and the link to it is here:
https://www.teachingcouncil.ie/en/About-Us1/Learning-for-All-Webinar-Series/
Updates:
National Council for Special Education has designed resources to help promote learning and behaviour at home
https://ncse.ie/parent-post-primary-promoting-learning-and-behaviour-at-home
General Support for Learning
https://ncse.ie/teacher-post-primary-general-support-for-learning
Topics include:
Supporting Students with Autism
Tips on Green Screen use for Remote Teaching
Overview of online supports for Post Primary Teachers
Supporting Categorisation for Students with Autism
Useful websites
Curriculum Support
Topics include:
Supporting Students with Autism
Tips on Green Screen use for Remote Teaching
Teachers Supporting Students with Autism
Suggested Apps for Students with Moderate, Severe or Profound GLD
NCSE Student Study and Learning Skills
OK5R Student Booklet Copy
Overview of online supports for Post Primary Teachers
Reading Comprehension Strategies & Resources – Post Primary
Speech, Language and Communication
Topics include:
Chat Comprehension Strategy
Apps for supporting students with Autism
Student Vocabulary Journal - post primary students
Supporting children and young people with ASD during the COVID -19 pandemic: Social Stories
Occupational Therapy Support
Topics include:
Supporting Physical Education for students with SEN during Covid 19
Support for Parents
https://ncse.ie/parent-post-primary-general-support-for-learning
General Support for Learning
Topics include:
Supporting Students with Autism
AT Webinars Blind VI – Assistive Technology Webinars for parents of visual impaired or blind students
Top tips for children in 5th and 6th Class – many tips can be used for Junior Cycle students
Useful websites – excellent list and multiple resources
Speech, Language and Communication
Topics include:
Modelling and Recasting – strategies used by Speech & Language Therapists to Model and Recast Speech/Language and Communication. Really good working examples given here.
Word Learning Strategies & Resources, including Marzano's Six Steps to Effective Vocabulary Instruction and the Frayer Model – A Vocabulary Learning Strategy
Helping your Child Express Themselves – An oral and Written Storytelling Resource - advice, strategies and visual resources on structuring, expanding and sequencing stories and explanations
Self-regulation
Topics include:
Let’s Get Regulated! – Information for Teenagers…also an excellent Wellbeing Resource
Let’s Get Regulated! – Information for Parents
Motor Skills
Topics include:
Gardening
Supporting Learning at home for children with Down Syndrome
Home Motor Skills Programme – Fine and Gross Motor Skills
Promoting Learning and Behaviour at home
Topics include:
Behaviour Support Pack for Children and Young People with Additional Needs – this is an excellent resource and contains much information that teachers and students will find really interesting
Home Routines for Children and Young People with Additional Needs – another excellent resource that follows on from the first resource in the section under Learning and Behaviour
Reward Systems for Children and Young People with Additional Needs – excellent motivational resource
Behaviour Contracts for Children and Young People with Additional Needs – excellent tool for setting learning/behaviour boundaries and having conversations around these boundaries
Screen Time – Advice for Parents…opportunities for conversations around TV/PC and Mobile use
Supporting Children with Additional Needs during the COVID-19 Closure Period
(Kevin Cahill & Dan O’Sullivan, School of Education, University College Cork) -
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-A9_97r8gSZ3A0VANhtdVxhzGnQyB_G2/view?usp=sharing
The Department of Education issue clarity re SNA allocation for academic year 202-2021
https://www.education.ie/en/Circulars-and-Forms/Active-Circulars/cl0030_2020.pdf
And lastly, one American site
Ireland mourns the loss of one of its great poets, Eavan Boland. This poem, A Fragment, written in 2016, echoes much of how we need to be in this demanding time whilst we attend to ‘the anthem of small details’ for ourselves, our students and our parents.
A Fragment
Surely the hope is a story can stay open with its anthem of small details singing – the cups still on the dresser, the wing chair by the fire.
And all of it unfinished in a form that needs little enough to become a hymn to the durable and daily implement, the stored possibility of another day.
And nothing more.
Eavan Boland 2016
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