People are feeling a sense of anxiety now. We are worried about family and friends, about the whole of society. You have to adapt to being cooped up. And on top of this you are trying to continue to deliver in new ways.
Maybe you are saved your daily commute, but instead you have to swiftly adapt to strange new systems:  zoom, seesaw, hangouts, google classroom, Edmodo, Microsoft teams, Padlet, Moodle, Blackboard, Skype, Whatsapp, YouTube, Slack, Canvas and more. We have switched to online engagement and it has been a tough two weeks getting up and running. It is a new and different way of working with new types of stress so it is important to look after ourselves to avoid burnout and fraying tempers.
 
Ease up. Don’t try too much and don’t try too hard; let good enough be good enough. You also have to ease up on expectations from pupils and parents. Be patient with yourself and others.
Organising your house(hold). Make a work area in your house, where you have good light and can maintain good working posture.  Keep regular hours. 
If you’re sharing your house, you’re lucky to have the company, but that brings challenges especially if you have kids. There could be competition for the only computer in the house. If you and your partner are working you may have to share the supervision and tech.
Take regular breaks. Get up and walk around. Do something else for a while. Go out for a walk once a day to get fresh air. Enjoy the signs of spring in your environment.
Stay connected with others. Whether you are isolated alone or with others it is nice to keep in touch with colleagues and friends. Use a video link as seeing faces connects us so much more. Try to set up regular meetings with colleagues so that you can share about successes and challenges. .Arrange a virtual coffee break online.
Parents are feeling a lot of pressure to home school. They are not trained teachers. There is a limit to what most of them can achieve. If they can keep their children occupied without a total demand on their time then that is an achievement.
Our activities are designed with this in mind. We provide hands-on activities and recreational maths activities that offer great problem solving skill development. We are also putting material out on a regular schedule; please share with parents and pupils.
Parenting NI has advice about talking to children about Covid-19. Read it here

As long as we are putting in all this effort, we want to make sure we are being useful to you. Let us know how we are doing and feel free to share your own ideas and resources. mathsweek@wit.ie   
Have a good laugh. If you haven't see the video below from Foil, Arms and Hog watch it now. 

Looking for great free learning resources?
The National Adult Literacy Agency (NALA) has great resources to keep your kids learning or improve your own skills.
 
For Pupils
It’s not easy to keep kids learning when they’re not in school. Check out our website helpmykidlearn.ie for hundreds of fun activities that can be done in the home or outside. And best of all, the activities will help children to learn without them even realising it.
 
For Parents
Our free over-the-phone tuition can help you with:

Call NALA on Freephone 1800 20 20 65 or Text LEARN to 50050 and we will ring you back with more information or set you up with one of our friendly distance learning tutors.
For more information about all of the free resources that NALA is providing please visit www.nala.ie/covid-19-supports

The PDST post primary maths team are sending out a daily newsletter to let teachers know about resources being added to scoilnet.ie to help them with remote teaching at this time. These resources are developed for the Republic of Ireland curriculum, but many will be useful to colleagues in Northern Ireland.

https://www.scoilnet.ie/go-to-post-primary/maths/PDSTdaily/
To be included on the mailing list for these (and other) updates, teachers should sign up here: https://tinyurl.com/pdstppmathsnewsletter

The  materials on the “Daily Maths” page have been chosen from projectmaths.ie along with some videos and materials from other sites which may help teachers when planning for supporting students in their learning.

PDST has also curated content to support schools and teachers engaged in distance learning in order to provide continuity to pupils/students: https://pdst.ie/DistanceLearning 

 

8am Targetboards open
9am Activity of the Day
12pm Maths Challenge
1pm & 1:30pm Daily Maths Puzzle
5pm Maths at Home info

See details for programmes here