Teachers’ Stories: South America
Name
Gabriela Roca
School
Colegio Stella Maris
Country
Uruguay
What is your message to the global educational community?
This is a difficult time, of crisis, atypical, which we haven’t chosen. It should definitely be experienced as a great opportunity for our own transformation. These are times were we are experiencing new ways of living together, of being with our families and community. This is an opportunity to strengthen our compassion and empathy. Asynchrony helps us to regulate ourselves, learn to wait, a great opportunity to think strategically, to organize times and solve unpublished problems. Let us live this experience as an opportunity to transform educational models, enriching ourselves with how much we have learned. Finally, a great opportunity to take care of each other and dream of the common good.
¿Cuál es tu mensaje para la comunidad educativa EREBB global?
Este es un tiempo difícil, de crisis, atípico que no elegimos. De todas maneras debe ser vivido como una gran oportunidad de transformación. experimentar nuevas maneras de convivir, de estar con nuestras familias y comunidad, nos fortalecerá en compasión y empatía. La asincronía nos ayuda a regularnos, aprender a esperar, una gran oportunidad de pensar estratégicamente, a organizar tiempos y resolver problemas inéditos. Vivamos esta experiencia como oportunidad de transformar los modelos educativos, enriqueciéndonos de cuánto hemos aprendido. Finalmente una gran oportunidad de cuidarnos entre todos y soñar en el bien común.
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What does learning looks like for your school community at this time?
We are focusing on retaking and deepening contact with students and ensuring the continuity of learning. For them we have deployed different strategies: activities through digital platforms (SIGED, Seesaw, Ceibal, MyOn, Oxford Owl, Raz Plus), consultation spaces (forums, emails, Zoom), virtual meetings (Zoom) and Feedback (email, platforms and Zoom). We aim for a personalized contact with the students, taking an interest in their family realities, difficulties that have been presented to them, while we are responding to diversity through contact with families, adapted tasks, personalized classrooms, support classes, work with external technicians, among others.
¿Cómo estás desarrollando la educación a distancia en tu institución educativa?
Durante este tiempo de Educación Remota de Emergencia como comunidad educativa nos hemos centrado en dos grandes objetivos: retomar y profundizar el contacto con los alumnos y garantizar la continuidad de los aprendizajes. Para ellos hemos desplegado diferentes estrategias: actividades a través de plataformas digitales (SIGED, Seesaw, Ceibal, MyOn, Oxford Owl, Raz Plus), espacios de consulta (foros, emails, zoom), encuentros virtuales (Zoom) y Feedback (email, plataformas y Zoom). Apuntamos a un contacto personalizado con los alumnos, interesándonos por sus realidades familiares, dificultades que se les hayan presentado, al tiempo que vamos dando respuesta a la diversidad a través de contacto con las familias, tareas adaptadas, aulas personalizadas, clases de apoyo, trabajo con técnico externos, entre otros.
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What challenges are there?
- Firstly, sustain and deepen the bond with the students. The interruption of classes occurred 10 days after the beginning of the year, a priority time to build group membership, strong ties, knowledge among students, teachers and families.
- Along these same lines, it consolidates a community that is increasingly empathetic, allowing us to put ourselves in the other’s place and attend to the different family situations that the pandemic brought. In this sense, accompany realities of the families and the teaching team. On the other hand, generate meaningful learning experiences through this new teaching modality.
¿Con qué desafíos te has encontrado?
- En primer lugar sostener y profundizar el vínculo con los estudiantes. La interrupción de clases se dio a 10 días de comenzar el año, tiempo prioritario para construir pertenencia al grupo, vínculos firmes, conocimiento entre alumnos, docentes y familias.
- En esta misma línea consolidada una comunidad cada día más empática, que nos permita ponernos en el lugar del otro y atender las diferentes situaciones familiares que la pandemia trajo.
- En este sentido acompañar realidades de las familias y del equipo docente.
Por otro lado generar experiencias de aprendizaje significativas a través de esta nueva modalidad de enseñanza.
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Where do you see signs of hope?
I see signs of hope in the different solidarity responses of the members of the community.
I see signs of hope in the vocational, committed and professional response of teachers.
I see signs of hope as I experience new ways of teaching and learning.
I see signs of hope in the joy of the students when meeting their students.
I see signs of hope in how much collaborative work has been enhanced.
¿Dónde ves signos de esperanza?
Veo signos de esperanza en las diferentes respuestas solidarias de los miembros de la comunidad.
Veo signos de esperanza en la respuesta vocacional, comprometida y profesional de los docentes.
Veo signos de esperanza al experimentar nuevas formas de enseñar y aprender.
Veo signos de esperanza en la alegría de los alumnos al encontrarse con sus alumnos.
Veo signos de esperanza en cuánto se ha potenciado el trabajo colaborativo.
Name
Nora González
School
Colegio Stella Maris
Country
Uruguay
What is your message to the global educational community?
Keep calm, we will get over this and surely we will find ourselves strengthened and more resilient, educators, our students and their families. It is time to see the good side of it and learn some lessons out of this. Let’s trust in God, he is protecting us and helping us at this time.
¿Cuál es tu mensaje para la comunidad educativa EREBB global?
Mantener la calma, esta situación que no es la ideal va a pasar y seguramente nos va a encontrar fortalecidos y más resilientes, tanto a los educadores como a nuestros alumnos. y sus familias. Poder ver el lado bueno y lo que nos ha enseñado esta situación. Principalmente confiemos en Dios, él nos protegerá y nos ayudará también en este momento.
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What does learning looks like for your school community at this time?
Stella Maris School has 1,300 students whose ages range from 3 to 18 years. It is my responsibility to coordinate the Department of Physical Education and Sports. Here sports are an important pillar for the community. At the moment we are teaching our students through the Virtual Classrooms of our web platform, where we send them videos with exercises to do at home with their families. We also teach them classes through Zoom once a week about each sport so that each student has at least three weekly stimuli of physical activity.
¿Cómo estás desarrollando la educación a distancia en tu institución educativa?
El Colegio Stella Maris tiene 1300 alumnos cuyas edades van desde los 3 hasta los 18 años. A mi me toca la coordinación del Departamento de Educación Física y Deportes. Aquí los deportes son un pilar importante para la comunidad. En estos momentos estamos enseñando a nuestros alumnos a través de las Aulas Virtuales de nuestra plataforma web, donde les enviamos videos y tareas con ejercicios para realizar en sus casas junto a sus familias. También dictamos clases por zoom una vez por semana en cada deporte de manera que cada alumno tenga por lo menos tres estímulos semanales de actividad física.
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What challenges are there?
- The main challenge is to keep the contact among children and young people with their teachers and and classmates.
- It is a challenge to remain active in these moments when we are all isolated and spending so many sedentary hours in front of the screens.
¿Con qué desafíos te has encontrado?
El desafío principal es que los niños y jóvenes mantengan el contacto con sus docente y con sus compañeros de clase. En segundo lugar que se mantengan activos en estos momentos en que permanecen aislados y durante muchas horas sedentarios frente a las pantallas. También proponemos actividades recreativas para que realicen en familia estimulando así el disfrute y la mejor convivencia en el hogar.
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Where do you see signs of hope?
We see the joy of children meeting their teachers, playing and exercising with and collaborating with their classmates. Also in collaborative work between teachers, where each one contributes to the work team, providing the best they can to support their peers.
¿Dónde ves signos de esperanza?
Vemos la alegría de los niños al encontrarse con sus profesores, jugando y ejercitando con sus compañeros y colaborando con ellos.
También en el trabajo colaborativo entre los docentes, donde cada uno aporta al equipo de trabajo, brindando lo mejor que puede y apoyando a sus compañeros.
Name
Eduardo Morgan
School
Cardinal Newman
Country
Argentina
What is your message to the global educational community?
Schooling is in crisis since a long time ago, but we cannot avoid it. I think that a crisis is something that doesn’t die, if something new doesn’t emerge. That tension between those two forces make more difficult a transition (the fear of letting go what it is known, and the uncertainty of the unknown). Now, we are in a context that allows us to make big changes and create new paradigms. I think that we are living a time of newness (with all the pain that new things bring together), and we have all the tools we need to achieve a new type of schooling, bringing equality and more freedom with a more interesting teaching approach.
What does learning looks like for your school community at this time?
Form my work the process of learning and teaching has been more focus on the achievements of capacities. It’s easier to focus on content in a “normal class form”. Now, we are trying to develop a more autonomous and participative students, because if not they will not get involved in the subject. We are using an education platform (Google Classroom) to get in touch and to provide the material needed to achieve the goals we planed.
What challenges are there?
- To make the students more participative and to gain their attention without seeing them or having a personal contact.
Where do you see signs of hope?
In the solidarity they have between each other. And we can easily notice the fields of interest of each one, so we can boost that interest with one on one during meetings.
Name
Jimena Buedo
School
Cardinal Newman
Country
Argentina
What is your message to the global educational community?
This is not online or virtual learning, this is teaching at a time of emergency, so we should lower expectations a bit because we don’t know the battles that people are struggling at home.
What does learning looks like for your school community at this time?
Google Classroom
What challenges are there?
- Everyone is overwhelmed.
- Not used to spending long hours in front of the screen.
Where do you see signs of hope?
When students respond nicely to the challenges we give them.
Name
Gabriela Huguet
School
Stella Maris Christian Brothers School
Country
Uruguay
What is your message to the global educational community?
This situation reinforces the idea that we teachers are vital for our students’ learning. We cannot be replaced by any type of artificial intelligence.
What does learning looks like for your school community at this time?
We are using the Siged platform from the school. We are also using Seesaw, Oxfordowl ebooks, Raz Plus and video lessons using Zoom. It’s a completely different learning environment, in which parents are asked to take a more active role on their children’s education. It’s an extremely challenging experience.
What challenges are there?
- As regards the level I teach, which is first grade Primary, the main challenge is to keep our students motivated and keep their attention span high while teaching through videoconferences.
- It is also very difficult to evaluate their work, as parents are very anxious and end up helping the students too much when they do the tasks we send.
Where do you see signs of hope?
Everywhere! Challenges make us grow as professionals and we develop skills we hadn’t thought we had!
Name
Gaby Bravo
School
Fe y Alegría – Hermanos Cristianos
Country
Peru
What is your message to the global educational community?
Every critical moment is an opportunity to grow, we are united in faith and we are sure that with God’s blessing we will overcome these difficult times and we will look at the world in a different way with more love and respect.
What does learning looks like for your school community at this time?
In our school, we are using WhatsApp and TV, because most of the students do not have a computer and several brothers and sisters share a cell phone.
What challenges are there?
- Students who lack a computer and who share the cell phone with their parents and siblings.
- Training teachers in virtual strategies to design classes that are suitable for students.
- Giving emotional support to students and parents, who do not have a job and do not have food in their homes
Where do you see signs of hope?
In the commitment of the teachers and the support of the parents who unite their efforts to take advantage of the means that are within their reach.
Name
José Santa Cruz
School
Fe y Alegría – Hermanos Cristianos
Country
Peru