The Würzburg schools have been closed for a few weeks and the children have to study at home. How does it work, or does it end in chaos? We asked around.
The schools have been closed for a few weeks because of Corona. Lessons in the school buildings will only start again gradually next Monday. You are currently learning from home. Most schools send learning material and tasks to students via e-mail, and some teachers also design lessons via video.
For example, seven-year-old Mia attends the second class of a primary school in the Frauenland. She misses her friends and also the teachers. “It is really difficult for the elementary school students. Especially after the Easter holidays, getting back into everyday school life without attending school took time,” says Mia’s mother. The family receives the tasks every day via email, “that works well, but of course we need our support,” said the 38-year-old. Some parents, she says, also took care of the tasks for the children who have no computer or printer at home. She thinks it’s a shame that there is no online instruction in her daughter’s class, “because then teachers and school would be much more tangible for elementary school students”. The 38-year-old thinks it is important to have an exchange with the teachers: “I am not afraid to give the teachers feedback – whether positive or negative – after all, we have never been in such a situation.”
Weekly curriculum for elementary school students
With a weekly learning package, the elementary school in Würzburg Stadtmitte tries to convey the learning material to its relatively young pupils as well as possible. With the little ones, of course, self-discipline – as it often exists with students of higher grades – is not a requirement. “The parents are required to provide support here,” explains head teacher Carola Günther. And: “Of course we want to and must reach all children, even if the technical equipment in the families is very different.”
Photo: Daniel Peter
–
In addition to e-mailing teaching materials or using online platforms, “we threw the learning pack into the mailbox for some children or – of course by far – arranged a pick-up date at school”. It will only be possible to say what effects the crisis will have on equal opportunities for children between the ages of six and eleven “if everything goes back to normal,” says the headmistress. Günther also had good experiences with “explanatory videos” created by teachers at the primary school. Online learning programs such as Antolin to promote reading or numerical zoom are also very popular.
Structure and personal responsibility are required
Photo: Zenker
–
For 14-year-old Lisa, who is in the eighth grade of the Matthias Grünewald High School, learning at home is not a major hurdle. “I can structure myself well, that helps, of course,” she says. The learning tasks were sent to them by email, and power point presentations on the respective topic were often attached. Video conferences in particular – for example in English classes – she thinks are cool. “Questions can then be asked and topics deepened.” According to Lisa, pupils who do not have a computer at home were given an I-Pad by the school for the corona period. What the 14-year-old would still want “to be able to better assess my own performance” would be one or two oral exams. That could also be done easily, she says: “A friend from Italy told me that oral queries are made there via video chat.”
15-year-old Julia, who is attending a Würzburg secondary school, would also be happy to receive online lessons. There is some of it at her school, “but it depends a lot on the teacher, how classes are currently organized,” she says. She misses on-site classes, “because at home I am often distracted and it is difficult to create a structure for myself”. She is given her tasks on the Realschule homepage, “we can also call it up on a smartphone,” says Julia. At the moment she is at least enjoying the job of the sports teacher who has applied exercises for outdoors. “Other teachers could be a little more creative,” she says.
Rented their own server
Winfried Gintschel, headmaster of the Heuchelhof middle school, is generally “very satisfied” with the current commitment to his school. “Not every teacher is a digital nerd, but everyone pulled together,” he says. He even rented his own server for his school. In team sessions, teachers and students were made fit for online learning and communication via video switching. “At least once a week they now come together in the class association via video to exchange ideas,” explains Gintschel.
“Not every teacher is a digital nerd, but everyone pulled together.”
Winfried Gintschel, headmaster of the Heuchelhof middle school –
The teachers could be contacted at any time with questions. Nevertheless, it is unfortunately the case that some students unleash themselves and are not available, “as happens more often in normal lessons”. Now the teachers are asked to call the students again. Gintschel also addresses the issue of child welfare: “We want to keep that in mind as much as possible.” Another problem: In contrast to high schools, for example, the middle school visited more children from disadvantaged backgrounds and the technical equipment at home was often very limited. If necessary, the task package can also be called up on a smartphone, but he still fears “that the scissors will widen”.
Photo: Stadtmitte school
–
As decided by the Ministry of Culture, the final exams take place despite Corona – albeit later than planned. For Gintschel, this means that his students will have to be prepared for both the qualification and the Realschule qualification (in the M branch) in the next few weeks. He sees a problem in the project subjects – for example, technology or social issues – because a practical test is planned for them. “So far, I don’t know what that might look like, while maintaining the minimum distance and possibly still existing contact restrictions.”
Targeted preparation for graduation
The Abitur has also been postponed and will begin on May 20. The ministerial commissioner for Lower Franconia, Monika Zeyer-Müller, sees a fair starting point. Exams that are still pending in the current six months would no longer have to be written, so that targeted preparation will be offered in the Abi examination subjects from next Monday. For missing proof of achievement, there should be fair “favorable rules” so that no pupil is disadvantaged.
Zeyer-Müller does not necessarily see the criticism of high school graduates that there are different starting points among the pupils because of the different commitments and knowledge transfer of the teachers via email and online: “You also have to leave the church in the village.” A total of four weeks of face-to-face classes were lost, but a lot was offered online. In addition – and this is no different in normal lessons – every student must act independently and motivate himself to learn.
For the other grades, initial difficulties – for example with the learning platform mebis, which is available to all Bavarian schools – had been solved and “the schools and teachers have set up well in the new form of teaching and creating learning material”. Here, too, she sees criticism that “learning at home” is designed very differently, depending on the online affinity of the teacher, differentiated: “Even in normal lessons, each teacher designs the given learning material individually.”
–
