How To Keep Students Educationally Engaged During Sudden School Shutdowns?

This noble profession of teaching always keeps children and their comfort at the forefront. Some astonishing numbers from all around the world are flashing on various news channels in this current coronavirus outbreak and you are helpless but have to agree to the decision of shutting down schools for the safety of the children. The sudden overnight decision of shutting down schools leaves you less time to chalk down a plan on how would you manage the curriculum for the ongoing batches in your school. On the other side of the picture, parents are panicky and worried about their child’s academic year. Parents often think, since school is shut, should the books at home also be shut? The answer is surely no. Additionally, parents thought they would have an added responsibility for continuing education from where the school stopped. So the education faculty decided to get the school to your home.

Here are some ways we recommend you can use to keep your child educationally engaged.
1. Design a school-like schedule at home: Let’s assume your child’s school timing was 8 am to 1 pm. As a parent, you have to ensure to instruct your child to sit with his/her books at 8:00 am only. If a child enters the classroom after 8 am, the student would generally get a punishment. Try to maintain that as children tend to take parents for granted. Setting a fixed routine is a very critical element that ensures that learning happens in a continuous flow. This can very well substitute a school environment.
2. Inspire self-study: In this pandemic, you won’t disagree when we say, the entire family has been home for the most time. As you open your laptop daily for a morning work huddle, your child also should open up his/her books. So to start with, teach your child techniques of self-study. E.g: tomorrow you are going to learn geography about continents, so what kind of materials you need to study it? Probably a map with continents marked on it, etc. Encourage him/her to learn from resources that he/she might enjoy, like videos and games and most effective these days is online. Plan the self-study methods around your child’s current grade and exercise supervision depending on his/her age.
3. Encourage the use of the internet: Most of the educational institutes in India are trying to leverage the internet as a learning methodology by sending online resources. With leeway to use the internet you also need to set some restrictions, we do not want you to increase their screen time by 2 or 3 folds. We recommend while your child is browsing the internet, you need to be around to guide him/her with clicks, etc. Also, the current internet trends show that vulgar websites often pop up while browsing educational topics. Sit together on the internet to learn new subjects and allow your child to access the same with the necessary filters and blockers activated. Senior students can also engage in group studies over the internet with the appropriate available tools.
4. Give assignments and projects: Wear the teacher’s hat like in school and often give projects and assignments while learning at home. As a parent when it comes to studies you have to keep your tenderness and casualness away and Be strict about the deadlines. Here again, you need to plan your child’s home assignments one day in advance. You can start by asking your child to complete the fill-ups and questions behind the chapter. Then slowly progress to writing chapter summaries. For really tiny children, it will best if you get on a call with your child’s current teacher to understand which type of assignments you can expect from your child.

Summing up:

At Shri. Harshad C. Valia International School we believe that education at home is also effective when done right. Also, all the required assistance is always available from the school for both students and parents alike to preserve as much normalcy as possible during these abnormal times. COVID-19 does not have to interfere with your child’s education. As parents empower yourselves by continuously educating your child at home, we ensure complete backing from the school in all forms.