April 29, 2022

I’m so glad that VC@T’s finally over. It wasn’t the worst, I’ll say that, but I hated the way mine and teachers’ wifi kept cutting out, which made it harder to learn. School is so much better when I can see all my teachers and friends without their videos and sound cutting out, and I can tell my eyes are very obviously less tired than they were during VC@T.

So much has changed, though, and it’s hard to get used to. Mrs. Schiavon (Homeroom teacher) is on maternity leave, and I have to get used to my substitute teachers. I remember the first day, it was so weird stepping into a classroom with different teachers, and it was a bit confusing at first, seeing as different teachers have different ways of teaching. Especially with arts interim, we’ve had to have many sub teachers come in. Mr. Michleson’s supposed to be taking Mrs. Schiavon’s place, but he’s in and out the whole week because he has his arts interim class to teach. So far I’ve had… 5 different teachers teach my class this week, I think. They’re all in and out. It’s a bit exciting not knowing who your teacher will be every morning. I’m glad things will (hopefully) be completely back to normal by next week, though.

Arts interim was great this week. Although it wasn’t my first choice, I’m glad I was placed in cross stitching and friendship bracelet with my friends. It was better than I expected, and I had loads of fun. I’m relieved that Arts Interim wasn’t online. If it was, it wouldn’t be as fun, especially with arts and crafts. It would be more confusing, in my opinion.

All my classes have gotten better since we ended VC@T. I was getting bored of staring at a screen, watching presentations and unable to do much hands-on. I was starting to miss going around every table, writing out answers on those gigantic post-its - where does the school get them from, anyway? They’re huge… Either way, I’m just glad. I missed the atmosphere of everyone in class, being able to see what everyone was writing and drawing, and the light chatter of students during work time.

I love that I can eat and play with all my friends during snack, lunch and recess too, which I missed. Even if I was able to talk to them, it was usually on a screen, through texting or phone calls, which for me, and most others, is nothing compared to hanging out with them in real life.

Monday, April 11, 2022

It is very difficult for me to believe that we are in the third year of the pandemic and I always ask myself a question: “Who knew that in the 21st century we will not be able to travel and enjoy our lives?”. The pandemic was unexpected for us, regular citizens, students, teachers, doctors. I have heard that in some parts of the world schools were not able to adapt to the lock-down situation and were not able to implement online schooling for students, which significantly affected not only their progress but mental health as well. However, I think that I am very lucky to live in Hong Kong and be a part of the best school here - The Harbour School, where I work as a co-teacher and already finishing my PGCE training.

Even though real life classes are more vibrant compared to the virtual ones, I think that the school is doing a great job not only by implementing and advancing the technical side of it but also by always supporting its community. Our admin team and teachers are truly the best in inspiring both students and colleagues. It has been one of the longest school lockdowns in the city and it is evident that many students are tired and not really inspired by online education. However, I feel like most of our Grade 6 students are still trying their best to stay on tasks and follow the Netiquette rules. Recently our wonderful PE Team managed to harness the Sports Week which, I believe, was a great achievement that helped students and teachers to stay active and motivated through these uneasy times. My favorite part was to watch the highlights of each day in the morning and see my 6 graders participating!

There are only two things that I enjoy about VC@T. The first one is that I feel very nice and cozy when I am at home. I can have one more hour of sleep because I don’t have to travel to work and carry my heavy bag with lunch and breakfast (because Ms. Vita likes to eat a lot!). Now I am enjoying making my avocado toast for a snack and getting a large latte from a coffee shop next door. Morning walks have been a wonderful addition to the VC@T period especially in early April.

Another upside of the VC@T for me was that I taught myself how to use some of the google sites and apps for teaching. Two years ago I would never be able to share my screen and create a whole lesson with google slides. I am also very grateful to my students that are always ready to help with any technical issues! They are truly the best!

Despite the fact that now I can present the screen to the whole class and create Pear Deck slides, online teaching still remains a challenge. The fact that I can not see what students are actually doing behind their screens frustrates me because I want them to focus and learn new ideas and concepts. Math has been one of the most difficult subjects to teach online. It is essential for me as a teacher to see how students are working through the Practice Set at the end of each lesson. In real life when I see that student is making a mistake I can correct them quickly and reteach the concept right away.

Now it’s been over two months that we are stuck in virtual space and I can feel that motivation is starting to dilute. Nice avocado toast for breakfast will never replace the joy and sense of happiness that a classroom full of children with their games, discoveries and laughter will give you. I sincerely hope that we can come back to our beautiful school, enjoy recess on the roof and the vivid atmosphere of the Air Floor very soon!

Friday, April 1, 2022

I wake up at 8am - an hour later than I would normally need to - because we're doing VC@T! I can roll out of bed, have some breakfast and log on for TIDE.

After TIDE, I switch calls to FSA for Math. This is probably one of the easiest classes for me to do virtually because it's work that I would just be doing independently on my laptop anyway, even if I was in school. I think Social Studies also works well virtually because we often go into groups to work together and when we're in the classroom, there's just all of this noise bouncing off the walls and I can't always hear what my teammates are saying. In VC@T, we're in breakout rooms where it's quieter.

I get a break after FSA to have a snack and do whatever I want at home! Sometimes I play the piano to relax, and sometimes I play video games!

Next up I have PE, which is probably the hardest class to do online. This is because PE is very physical and involves props and ideally a lot of space. Sometimes I don't have the space to move around as much as I would like to. But Mr Gibbs does a good job of making it fun, so I still enjoy it.

Literacy is next. We're doing persuasive writing, which is really fun and interesting. When you're researching a topic for your argument, you can learn something new. I finish my work early, so Ms. Emma says I can read or work on my LEAP story. This is one of the best things about online learning, because if I finish early I have the chance to get other work done for my extension classes, or just read a good book!

After lunch, it's time for Social Studies, where we are learning about the Fertile Crescent. We're nomads, but will soon upgrade to tribes!

Overall I enjoy VC@T because even though it's online, I still find that I'm learning a lot and get to see my teachers and classmates and interact with them. I don't get to interact with them as much as in person, but that's ok. Plus, being online keeps us safe from COVID!

April 13, 2022

Having been dealing with the pandemic in Hong Kong on and off for the best part of almost 2.5 years, it would be redundant (and perhaps even tone deaf) at this point to continue to try and find the silver linings. Let's be frank and tell it like it is…it’s hard. Really hard. Being separated from our family and loved ones, living on a tiny island with very few options to be able to venture out and afar, draconic restrictions in place keeping us from being able to dine with friends, work out in gyms, swim in pools, visit museums, go to the beach, hey...even being in groups of more than two people isn't allowed....so yeah, the silver linings have been difficult to find.

As the eternal-optimist that I am (annoyingly so at times, believe me!)...there could be a zombie apocalypse and I would respond with "it is all going to be fine. Come with me. We’ve got this, I've got you" - it has been The Harbour School's response to the pandemic and our early introduction of VC@T that has kept my head above water. Sometimes, when everything else around us is in a complete state of disarray and confusion, it is the simple practice of having a routine and being able to follow a schedule that keeps a sense of purpose for us.

A typical VC@T day for me varies considerably from day to day but always, always, begins with 2 cups of very strong coffee! Mostly, my day is filled to the brim with meetings - with parents, students, teachers and then there are senior management team meetings, Covid-response team meetings (which can be rather confusing at times), and meetings as a whole-school with updates from the HK government as well as the EDB and CHP. My favourite days, however, are when I do lesson pop-ins of our teachers, and see students' faces and I get to be a part of class. I also co-teach JG1 on Monday afternoons, and when it all seems a bit much, I thoroughly enjoy hanging out with our youngest students in virtual Black Dolphin Cove where we do arts and crafts, GoNoodle, various spatial awareness games, virtual zoo visits and share our news, just to name a few. I also love being a LEAP mentor too!

But, then there is the forever changing and evolving ‘beast’ that is part of being a Vice-Principal in the time of Covid-19 in HK, which centres around the design of many schedules, detailed logistics, timely letters, and flexible timetables that are constantly having to be updated and amended. Half days? Full days? Staggered resumption? Lunch? No lunch? Partial grades on-site? Hybrid days?...I would say that is something that monopolises a lot of my VC@T days. In the end, you might wonder why I do it so committedly and stoically to the cause? Well, it is the teachers and the students at THS who reap the benefits of a well oiled machine and I want to be a major wheel that helps to keep the engines running on time, no matter what is thrown my way. For if I don’t, those schedules and logistics, which also provide us with our sense of purpose and planning requirements, would be disastrously compromised and NO, that is not good enough for me, because it isn’t good enough for the people at our school who I care about most - our students and faculty.

With that being said, I am proud, extremely proud, of the way our school community has responded to the pandemic. In fact, in our recent WASC virtual visit in 2022, said "some schools do online schooling well, and some have responded to Covid-19 well. THS does both well" and I think that is something all of us should be extremely proud of. When it all seems ‘a bit much’, we refuse to rest on our laurels. In fact, we continue to provide opportunities to ‘glow up’ as a school, such as the whole school dance video which I know brought a smile to many, our Meatless Monday videos exhibiting guest chefs for a bit of fun, turning PoP! into the virtual excellence that it was and the recent April Fools Day competition, just to name a few. All these little things make our response to the pandemic one that also celebrates where we can, not just ‘deal with’ what we are being handed and accept the monotony of the situation which it could have become.

VC@T isn't easy. We can all agree that long screen-time hours are challenging. Keeping our concentration levels up as well as sitting for extended periods of time are all difficult to navigate and manage. We are leading more sedentary lives because of it which can have a knock-on effect with our mental health too. Ironically, my health has been better on VC@T. I think it is because I make a very concerted effort to exercise more, and be outdoors as much as I can. For example, during my lunchtime mini-breaks, I venture out even if just for a short walk to have the sun hit my face, and I never would do that when I am onsite, outside of my recess duties. I have also committed to doing home HIIT workouts 3 times per week too, and so I suppose being online hasn't affected my health in any way, other than for the better. But I also know that isn't true for everyone and the struggle is real no matter how you look at it. My eyes sting more, my brain feels increasingly strained and it can feel isolating too.

I wrote this about a year ago for SCMP - Lessons From A Year of School, Interrupted - and it astounds me that not only does this still ring true but we have even extended ourselves beyond it. THS teachers are impeccable at making VC@T as enjoyable as it can be. To be fair, some students have actually said to me that they prefer online learning over being at school, which makes me think we are doing the very best that we can be doing during this time. Our teachers do a superb job planning and teaching VC@T as I wrote about here - In Praise of Our Teachers. So, you ask, is VC@T enjoyable? I would say there are shining moments for sure, but of course, we would all (mostly) much rather be onsite, in-person, and spending time with each other in a physical sense.

On that note, it is VERY exciting to be going back to school after Spring break! It has been a long time coming and something that I think we are all really ready for. As the Covid numbers come down, and we are so fortunate to have readily available access to vaccines in Hong Kong to keep us healthy and protected from the long-term and potentially damaging effects of Covid-19, it is beginning to show a light (and perhaps even a glimmer of hope too) at the end of this long, dark tunnel that we have all been in for some time. In checking-in with many teachers and students recently, it is clear how excited people are to finally be getting back to face-to-face classes and hopefully celebrating all the wonderful events that happen towards the end of any school year.

So, while the silver linings are small and sometimes hard to find during these times, I suppose there really are some when you think about it. This is in part to the incredible community we have here at THS. I know other communities, workplaces and schools are struggling. We are fortunate, we really are. I also know that the silver linings will be greater in number as we move through this, and that they will be easier to grab hold of through the clouds. But in the meantime, while we wait for HK to get well again, let's hold onto the small things. The little glimmers of hope, the sundrops you find along the way, and the hope of something brighter for us all around the corner. I know I will.