Online Teaching in Alternative Provision

I am currently working for an Alternative Provision agency on a zero hour contract. I teach children and young people who are unable to manage the demands of mainstream schools.

Most of the sessions are online, some of the children and young people have received funding from their local authority for 5 hours of online teaching, Monday to Friday. My assignments have included supporting a teenage student with funding for online provision for 5 hours a day, 5 days a week. There are challenges, but I am determined to do what I can.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have found picturebooks groundbreaking in building relationships with disaffected children and young people.

The Legacy of ‘Owl Babies’

I continue to be encouraged as countenances relax, moods soften and conversations open through the pages of my picturebooks. Time and time again, the shared reading of Shaun Tan’s ‘The Red Tree’ has proved to be a gentle, yet effective, way to build bridges into these young lives.

A few weeks ago, as I waited… and waited… and waited for my student to join me in the online tutor room, I wrote a poem (as you do)…

Digging for Treasure

(An ode to teaching online in Alternative Provision)

Absent

Here I am

I show up

day

after

day

after

day

I sit alone

hour

after

hour

after

hour

I am not

giving

up.

Present

Sullen stony silence

Icy defiance

Shrugs, scowls and snarls

Scribbles and insults

Swears and curses

I am not

giving

up.

Potential

I know there is treasure

I have seen it

I have rolled up my sleeves

And I am

digging

digging

digging

I am not

giving

up.

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(I have just closed the tutor room for the day, after receiving permission from the office to do so. I have been here by myself for hours, sitting in front of my laptop, thoroughly prepared, visualiser all set up and ready to go, wonderful picturebooks at hand – but not a soul to share them with. The temptation to give up is real…)

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