Teaching and Parenting - how to manage cover

 This is not going to be so much a 'here's resources' post, as a musing one with suggested ideas. It is a little self-indulgent of me, so if its not your thing, fair enough. Hopefully you'll come back soon for another one with lots of tips and resources! 

As I've said before I am both a Music and History teacher. I also teach metacognition to year 7 pupils and bullet journaling to Year 9. I run multiple clubs (Orchestra, 2 ukulele groups and a Music Theatre group). I am a certified trainer in helping schools become Thinking Schools. I have the pleasure of presenting at conferences where I love meeting other teachers, and even writing articles. I have a varied and happy full time job and side hobbies out of it. Teaching, as we all know, can absorb as much time as you are willing to give it. There is always something else to do. I once had a colleague tell me that if he gave every member of staff a month off to catch up, create resources etc, within a couple of weeks of returning they'd still feel like they did not have enough time again. At the time (I was early in my career) I thought this was mad. Now, I think he was absolutely right.

As teachers we want the best for our students. It's why we push on when we are tired, stay in a job with high demands and pressure, for wages that are frankly a bit insulting... but the there is also the 'other side' to us. Our personal lives. 

I have a daughter. She is wonderful, funny, sarcastic, far too mature for her age and growing up way too fast for me. I had to return to work when she was 6 months old - a residual guilt still lingers inside me. We could not afford for me to have longer off work. We could not afford for me to go part time. If I was going to keep a roof over our heads in a safe area then I had to work. For a long time I asked grandparents to go to school events, to look after her when she was poorly etc. The only time I would take time off to look after her was if she was in hospital, or close to being in hospital. It felt like an indulgence to take time off if she had a cold. But since lockdown my view changed. The experience of making lessons that students could independently follow clicked something in my brain. I upskilled on my use of technology (as I think many of us did). I expected more from my students - and (mostly) they rose to the challenge. 

I write this today as I am at home with my daughter. She's currently resting, not very well, and I am in the room just along the corridor, writing and listening out for issues. I've spent the last hour creating and finding resources for my lessons. I know they will learn just as much as if I had been there, more if you count the ability to organise their own time and hold themselves accountable. Yes, inevitably there will be some misunderstandings I need to sort next week, but I'm more important where I am, and I'm not harming any students in the process. 

So the first thing I want to say to all you parents is try to put that guilt at least, to one side. Parenting is feeling guilty for things in my experience. Don't feel guilty for your students too. 

When writing a module, if you can, write one cover lesson that could be used in an emergency that fits with the topics. Keep a folder of 'one off' lessons that you can use that are not necessarily topic specific. It is useful to also keep a log of which classes have done each of these!

The following are some suggestions for cover work (N.b. I work in a school where every student has a chromebook to work from - however, many of these are adaptable to non-technological lessons. We also have a team of cover supervisors, so it is rare that teachers have to cover.)

1. If at all possible, make them do the work they were going to do anyway. Today I've got a history lesson. I've made a video explaining the first set of instructions and linked it to the top of the sheet. I've made a second video with the answers so they can check their work and hear explanations. There's a google form with some of the questions I was going to ask. This is probably even better than in class because now they all have to think and I get feedback for all, not just some. I'll use the quick analysis later to look for misconceptions and plan next lesson, it'll only take me 5 mins rather than marking every child's work

2. Get them to teach.  Assign them some reading to do - you can assign different groups to do different parts. Then get them to create a method of teaching it to the rest of the class. This could be:

a) Give a presentation (I tend to avoid these as they can get boring, but it is a low tech way)

b) Create a sketch note as a team. They can create a sketchnote booklet and all have fun reading it and learning about the other areas.

c) Create a podcast - they write the script together and then record themselves giving the key information. Just make sure you put a time limit on how long they can go on for! That will make them pick out just the key information. (Giving something like 3 mins per group with 5 groups). You can listen to them all at the start of the next lesson and get students to jot down key facts. This also means you can check for misconceptions and deal with them, without losing your own time to marking!

d) Get them to create quizzes and games. Crossword puzzles, kahoots, blookets... Last man/woman standing is a great game if you've someone strong who does not have to do their own work covering the lesson. 

e) Give them a cartoon template - can they explain a concept, series of events, how to run an experiment etc. Give house points for the best ones (this can also make you some great wall display material for open evenings!)

f) Create an escape the room challenge using something like google forms - sometimes I get students to create these one year, then use the best ones for cover the following year. They're far more inventive than what I come up with! If you want to see how to do this - click here

3. If you teach a practical subject talk to your cover team - are they happy to have practical lessons? In my school we have a great team who are happy for my students to use the musical instruments. I set them videos to learn from (often taken from youtube or Musical Futures) and they have a go at creating performances. I always add that if any students don't put the instruments away properly, or play up during the lesson,  none of the class will have practical the next lesson. 

What are your go-to cheats for cover lessons? Are there any of the above you would like more details/information on? Please do comment below - it would be great to get some feedback!