Over the past year, pupils and teachers alike have found themselves working from home, and more reliant than ever on digital technology. But even when schools return to normal, these tech-savvy teachers will continue using digital tools as an everyday part of education, having found tech central to delivering the best education possible.
One of them, Charlotte Hawthorne, 32, has been working at St John Fisher Catholic college in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, for two years. She is a self-confessed nerd and adores her job as deputy head of maths, earning herself the affectionate nickname Mrs Maths.
When she’s not teaching maths, attending maths conferences, or baking maths cakes – such as a giant calculator – she’s championing the digital maths community, on her blog and through social media.
Hawthorne, a mum-of-two who is married to a maths teacher, shares her lessons on her blog and hosts online maths chats, encouraging other teachers and mathematicians to get involved and talk with one another. She uses hashtags for specific subjects, allowing members of the online community to contribute and benefit from the success of others. “I regularly talk to people who have written maths books, or lead on national projects. It’s led to a massive improvement in my teaching.”
Technology has provided Hawthorn with a collaborative “brain” to pick, and her championing of digital cooperation means decades of experience are on hand. She says: “It’s so important for learning and improving as a teacher. You can say: ‘I’m struggling to teach this,’ or ‘My children are not getting the concept of that.’ The responses and ideas have really made a difference to the way I teach – and to the rest of my department as well. I’m always encouraging them to join in.
“It feels like a community – we’ve even started a lockdown social group, which is just a lovely chat with a load of maths teachers! It’s helped me help the pupils with how to do things online, especially during the pandemic.”
As a PE teacher, the only technology that Elliot Bailey, 26, previously incorporated into his lessons were treadmills and exercise bikes. But that was pre-pandemic.
Now, a year after Covid-19 changed all of our lives, his innovative use of tech and live-stream lessons provide his pupils at Sandringham school, in St Albans, Hertfordshire, with escapism and fun – when they need it most.
Bailey, who is also a semi-professional footballer for St Albans City FC, has created a video hub where his pupils can share clips of themselves keeping active in lockdown. The compilations have included tap-dancing, kids flipping on trampolines and even a Segway dog walk.
Bailey and his colleagues are working hard to keep things fresh, he says. “After a few weeks the novelty wears off so we have to keep changing it. I’ve made board games, such as snakes and ladders, with fitness elements. We roll a dice and the squares the pupils land on have either a 30-second workout, rest or sprint.
“I also created a Marvel-style game – it took me ages! To beat the characters, the players have to do, say, 20 press-ups in 30 seconds. Pupils really love that one.”
He’s had to become something of a shape-shifter in lockdown, giving Joe Wicks a run for his money one week and feeling like a children’s TV presenter the next, but Bailey says teaching during the pandemic is his proudest achievement to date.
He adds: “I know the students look forward to PE lessons. I feel like they need that escapism. I’m proud and privileged that I can keep children engaged and involved during this time.”
Meanwhile in Northumberland, Nick Tuck, 47, has helped transform the online infrastructure at Ponteland high school, in Ponteland, where he works as head of science.
Due to Tuck’s hunger to move things forward, every pupil now has their own online account and access to learning resources at any time, building the kind of digital literacy and independence that will benefit them far beyond the classroom.
The father-of-two believes that the days of pupils heading to “the computer room” should be a thing of the past, and that technology needs to be part of everyday lessons, just like an exercise book. Tuck, who is a Google certified educator, says: “If IT comes to you in a science lesson it becomes a normal part of that lesson, enhancing it.”
As a result, when the pandemic reared its head, pupils and staff were as prepared as possible for home schooling. What do the pupils think of it all? They’ve become great cheerleaders for his new system, singing its praises to other staff and encouraging them to jump on board.
And one unexpected benefit of IT-integrated lessons, Tuck has found, is that pupils are far less likely to lose or forget about tasks. It turns out the dog can’t “eat your homework” if it’s nestled safely online. He laughs: “There’s nowhere to hide.”
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