Wednesday’s story is from Niall Murphy.  Niall is a long term volunteer who teaches Leaving Certificate English ordinary level at Citywise Education. Niall tells us how lockdown,  and the move to online learning, presented not only a challenge but a rewarding opportunity as well.

“I’ve been volunteering on the Fast Track Academy Programme for about 4 years, the last year of it (like everything else in all of our lives) through the pandemic.

Fast Track Academy is about getting students over the line in their exams, so that they can go on into third level education. Sometimes it’s working on a topic within a subject that they’re struggling with in class; sometimes it’s about revising, or taking a step back to look at the curriculum structure, and breaking it down so it doesn’t seem so overwhelming; but it’s always about encouraging students, making them feel like they’re going in the right direction, that they’re doing a good job, and that ‘doing well’ isn’t something that’s beyond their ability.

Like every other aspect of our day-to-day, the pandemic has brought with it challenges to the classes in Fast Track Academy. I’m not a teacher, but I can only imagine how difficult it is for those with classes of 20-plus students on a video call. Not being in the same physical room, where everyone feels involved in the same task, means it’s harder to maintain focus. Often students can’t find a quiet space at home to sit and talk and listen on a laptop. Often they don’t even have a good laptop or a stable internet connection to take the call.

There are advantages though. Many centuries ago when I did my leaving cert, the teacher wrote notes on the board, sometimes legibly, and we all took them down by hand. Now, it seems as though educators are embracing technology, and can share notes online, so that students can spend more time actually reading, discussing, thinking about and ultimately learning the content. In my subject, English, students can watch a Youtube video of a Shakespeare play, or listen to an audiobook of their comparative texts.

For me, volunteering during the various lockdowns has really been something I look forward to each week. Even though classes have been online, it’s a chance to chat to the students, see how they’re getting on, and chat to them about how I’ve been finding it. In a time where all of our social contact has diminished, even those short conversations about the everyday are rewarding. And I think the students have found them a boost as well.

We’ve returned to the Citywise campus in Jobstown since the end of March, for classes in person. While it’s not ‘back to normal’, with masks and social distancing still the obvious things at play, it’s nice to see the students. Generally, they’re enjoying classes more, enthusiastic and engaging with the topics. Like the rest of us, I think they’re just delighted to be back out in the world a bit more.”