Greetings to you all from Turkey. My name is Nurten Akkuş. I am a Global Teacher Prize Top 10 Finalist. I am a preschool teacher –my students are between the ages of 3 and 6. I work in a socio-economically disadvantaged area, where I seek to change and improve people’s lives with education. I attach great importance to paying attention to the individual characteristics of my students. We have made our class and school suitable for the development of my students. We enjoy education by having fun and discovering together. Before the coronavirus entered our lives, we had a great school environment. However, suddenly we had to move this educational environment that we created to digital media.

The virus first reached our country in early March. Everyone was in panic as the world woke up to the epidemic and thousands of people died. Our health ministry and state administrators gave out information about precautions to take. The schools were on vacation. People in our country were called on to “stay home” to try to prevent the spread of the epidemic.

Around the world, we are having a very difficult time. Schools are closed in many countries. We cannot teach face to face. But we are teachers. Our students and their families are always very important to us. It was very difficult to explain this situation to all our students, because we loved learning and school with our students. Families and children were very worried about the virus. I wanted to reduce anxiety before we began teaching online. I had to increase their motivation.

First of all, I talked to the families. I told them that although we need to pay attention to the news, excessive anxiety will be negative in children. I did family education online. We constantly communicate with the groups we have created with them.

Then I spoke to my students online. It was a different experience for them. I told them how we should pay attention to cleaning, and what the virus is, in a simple way suitable for age groups. I asked the children to make part of their home an activity centre. They made their home environment fun.

A great system was made by our Ministry of National Education. Distance education was supported with TV channels. Online training content, game activities and books were prepared. We have set up an online classroom with this system. We share our daily activities there. We also share the daily education flow with the families and enable them to participate in these activities. We carry out many activities with our students such as art, science, plant breeding, vital skills training, free activities, drama, design, mathematics and language education. Through this process, psychological support has been provided for students and families in our country.  

All teachers are constantly communicating with their students in Turkey. Distance education methods and educational content are further developed by our Ministry of National Education. Despite the fact that my students are young, they are obliged to learn via distance learning methods. Families and teachers take an active role in the distance education process. I have given lectures in Turkey and many different countries. But I am giving online conferences right now. Teachers always believe that face-to-face education is very important. This is absolutely true, however, teachers now think that given the critical situation in the world, opportunities for distance education should be well known.

The Varkey Foundation, which works to build the capacity of teachers, offers a great chance for teachers to meet online to discuss methods in different countries of the world.

In a very short time, we have become used to living with digital life and learning. Of course, we miss being with our students and our school. They also miss us. However, my students’ health is very important. And they should not miss out on their education. I hope this epidemic ends as soon as possible in both my country and the rest of the world, so that all people in the world are healthy and that all children can go back to school.

Nurten Akkuş

Nurten Akkuş was one of the finalists of the Varkey Foundation's Global Teacher Prize.

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This piece is part of the Teacher Task Force’s #TeachersVoices campaign, created to bring forward the experiences of teachers working every day to ensure their students continue to benefit from a quality education despite the COVID-19 pandemic. To participate, go to our dedicated webpage.

From the start of this global pandemic, my aims have been to help protect the health and wellbeing of my students, to maintain some continuity in routine, and to meet my students’ learning needs. As I have adapted and evolved, four principles have framed my teaching response:

• Keep it simple. Pedagogy and relationships over tech tools.
• Keep learning pared back to what is essential.
• Focus on keeping up connections and relationships – that’s what matters.
• Don’t stress about high stakes assessment.

I know that the learning experiences I design on campus cannot be easily replicated through distance learning. In a short space of time I have learned how to: use the tools online learning offers; balance synchronous and asynchronous connections and collaboration (if you have ever watched a YouTube video for 60 minutes you will understand what I am trying to avoid!); and establish trust and cultivate engagement in an online environment.

At the beginning of each week, I post the instructions for learning on the school learning management system. A weekly videoconference check-in is followed by a series of short assigned prompts or projects, classes are divided into smaller online tutorial groups on discussion boards, and office hours are made explicit to respond to questions and to provide feedback.

The transition has been challenging and the superhuman efforts demonstrated by the entire global teaching profession under trying circumstances have been impressive. There have been teething problems and I have trusted my professional judgement. I am, after all, learning how to teach via distance in the middle of global pandemic.

There is a steep learning curve in the first week, online fatigue needs to be managed, and I have had to rethink how to engage students and have empathy for their experience. It is really important to connect with students online and design tasks that are interactive. It gets easier after the initial learning curve.

My students are also adapting the ways in which they learn and this has been a large adjustment. They have been brilliant, demonstrating independence, developing their ability to self-regulate, and coping with frustrations. When I asked them for one word to describe their feelings about distance learning, replies included: “neutral”, “open-minded”, “curious”, “different”, “interesting”, “excited”, “isolated”, “relaxing”, “flexible”, and “unsure”.

Parents have modelled patience and partnership. Two examples from emails I received:

“We are very appreciative of everything the school is doing to keep our children connected and moving forward. Thank you to all the staff for their amazing work.”

“Our three children have had to manage the changing learning environment without us being physically present to support them. Despite the rapidly changing environment, they have coped extremely well and I am proud of their resilience and the positive perspective they are bringing to this difficult time.  I attribute much of the ease of this transitional period to the approach and support provided by the school.”

I am providing opportunities for parents and students to give feedback as I navigate and fine tune my distance teaching techniques. My teaching skills are evolving and I am enjoying the stimulation, collegiality and creativity of this steep professional learning curve.

Cameron Paterson

Cameron Paterson was one of the finalists of the Varkey Foundation's Global Teacher Prize.

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This piece is part of the Teacher Task Force’s #TeachersVoices campaign, created to bring forward the experiences of teachers working every day to ensure their students continue to benefit from a quality education despite the COVID-19 pandemic. To participate, go to our dedicated webpage.

"What if lessons were like stories! What if we could watch those like cartoons on the TV!! Wouldn’t it be great fun, if lessons could float like clouds, in front of the eyes?  Learning could be more fun then. Again, if there is any time, when we are far from our school and teachers and we are unable to understand even an easy lesson; what can we do then?  Keeping this in mind, we came up with this endeavour.”

These words are from the description box of the Facebook page “The Online Teacher”. Let’s find out about the background story!

I am Shaila Sharmin, currently working as a teaching fellow for Teach for Bangladesh. I teach grade 4 and 5 students in a government primary school in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Like all other students all over the country, my students were preparing for a class party on 17th March, which is National Children's Day in our country. They made all the arrangements, decorated the classroom and ordered the cake. But suddenly the notice came to immediately shut all the educational institutions in the country before their party day. At first, the students thought that they had 14 days’ vacation. They were heartbroken, but they thought they could make it after the short vacation. We had no idea how long it was going to be.

When reality hit, we all found out that it is going to be an uncertain period of time. A colleague of mine, Atia, while communicating with students and asking about their life and study, realized that students did not have any scope for learning. They do not have anyone in their family who can help them regarding study. Fellows are their teachers whether the school remains open or not. 

Another fellow, Sanjida was maintaining contact with her students and giving them mental support. One of her students, who was top of her class, said, “Apa, when will the school will open? I have no teacher, no homework, I have nothing to study because I can’t solve some lessons by my own. I am getting bored at home and I will not get good marks in the examination if this situation continues.” After hearing the urge of her student to learn, Sanjida tried to support some of them over the phone. But it was not very feasible idea.

Analyzing all these events, I asked myself how prepared I was to face this problem. I thought there must be an alternative way to reach her students. So, Atia, Sanjida and I came up with an idea to support our students by making educational videos and sending them through the Internet.

We were determined to continue teaching and learning because life can’t stop in this lockdown. We gathered our ideas and thoughts. Initially we thought of making videos and sending them to our students. But then we realized we could post them on Facebook and upload them to YouTube. This could be useful for many students around the country. So we started to plan, selecting topics. We named their project The Online Teacher. We opened a Facebook page named The Online Teacher and created a YouTube channel. The videos are 5-10 minutes long so viewers don’t get bored. We are writing up scripts, gathering material, shooting them, editing the videos and finally uploading them to both Facebook and YouTube. We started by sending them to students to make sure they are understandable.  

Using this platform, we are trying to make comprehensible video lessons of Bangla, English, Math, General Science, Bangladesh and Global Studies and Fine Arts for grade 1-5; and to reach as many students as possible all over the country. We are also giving mental health support through messages and live sessions. We are not only focusing on textbook-related content but also trying to cover history and life-related knowledge.

We are seeking feedback from their students and asking them on which topic they need the videos. The students are also enjoying seeing their teacher on the screen and learning by themselves. But it was not an easy initiative to take. We didn't have any resources as we were not prepared for this long lockdown. We had no skill regarding video editing. In spite of the challenges, we made it happen. When you want to make a difference, you will find your way to your goal.

Teach for Bangladesh serves students who are from very challenging economic backgrounds.  A little care can have a great impact on them in this pandemic situation. Engaging those students with studying also helps keep them from anxiety and depression. COVID-19 has shown us many challenges. Our good work must go on because we believe doing something is better than doing nothing.

— Shaila Sharmin

Fellow, Teach For Bangladesh

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This piece is part of the Teacher Task Force’s #TeachersVoices campaign, created to bring forward the experiences of teachers working every day to ensure their students continue to benefit from a quality education despite the COVID-19 pandemic. To participate, go to our dedicated webpage.

I have been a physics teacher in secondary school (grades 9-12) for twenty-five years, and during that time have always been sure to share and publish things I do with students to provide examples and ideas that may benefit my teacher colleagues and their students. The easiest way to share is to put everything online, so that both students and other teachers may access resources at any time. Whether having a live classroom of students or teaching an online course, which I have done with Northwestern University, having Internet platforms on which to put teaching and learning resources has always been part of what I do as a teacher, and I recommend all teachers begin to take this approach if the technology is available. While never being in a situation like we have now because the COVID-19 crisis, where teachers must move materials online for students, the transition for me during this crisis is minimal since I am already setup for online teaching and learning.

There are numerous online platforms on which to put classroom resources, as well as video conferencing platforms that can be used to hold live class sessions with students or meetings with colleagues. With technology, we can make distance learning as close to a live class session as possible. For my students, the everyday class materials are on a Google web page that is linked through my school’s website. I have separate folders for each class, so students can access the appropriate material. I also have maintained a separate class blog for years. This is a normal tool students are used to accessing since many of the posts come from student recommendations they want to share with everyone. On the blog, I have different pages dedicated to different activities and resources students find helpful and interesting. For example, before the era of Khan Academy and online ‘how to’ lessons, I had already been making screencast videos of most of the topics I cover in my physics classes and formed an online library of over 100 videos for students.  In the past, the reason for doing these videos was primarily for two reasons: for students to have a resource outside of school when working on homework and needing to review the material at their own pace; and when a student misses a day, I can provide the appropriate video for them to watch and see what we did for that topic. There is also an increase in views before exams, when students are reviewing the relevant topics. Each video is stored on YouTube, and the videos are public for any student or teacher to use.

With the current situation, I post video links for students to watch either before (i.e. a ‘flipped’ classroom) or after an online class session. My preferred videoconferencing tool is Zoom. Teachers can open a free Zoom account that allows for 40-minute sessions. Students do not need Zoom accounts, but only a link that the teacher can post on a web page or email to students. I record each class session, put the video on YouTube, and then share with students on the class blog. If a student is absent or needs to review the class session, they can watch at their convenience. On a class website, teachers can post homework sets, labs, worksheets, assignments, help resources, articles and any other videos or websites. Students email me questions, or can organize virtual study groups through chatrooms, shared Google Documents, Facetime, Zoom, or Skype; or they can call each other on a phone. I setup Google Sheets for each group of students to share questions about materials, but also share new things they are trying during down-time while being in isolation: keep a focus on student mental and emotional health, because they will get lonely and will miss being in school!  Do NOT overwhelm them with too much work, because this is new for them, too.

I am fortunate my school has wonderful supports in place to help all teachers and students with this transition to e-Learning. We have staff dedicated to providing numerous online options and training staff on how to use the technology. We have Zoom department meetings to share what we are doing with our classes, and have email and texting groups for each discipline so teachers can support each other. The best advice I offer is to have good communication with both colleagues and students: listen to everyone and learn, and get feedback from students. Students are the ones who matter – they are getting different presentations from different teachers, and will tell you what works and does not work if you ask them! We need to be sure we are listening to the students so we can best serve them.

Mark Vondracek

Mark Vondracek was one of the finalists of the Varkey Foundation's Global Teacher Prize.

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This piece is part of the Teacher Task Force’s #TeachersVoices campaign, created to bring forward the experiences of teachers working every day to ensure their students continue to benefit from a quality education despite the COVID-19 pandemic. To participate, go to our dedicated webpage.

How can teachers in low income countries be involved to support learning and student well-being during the COVID-19 crisis? Drawing lessons from past disease outbreaks and from current examples of the COVID-19 education response, we look at tools and practices to help teachers continue doing their work during the crisis.

Read on the Global Partnership for Education's blog.