We were hoping to open our school doors on 1 September.

Devastatingly, though, we received news on the afternoon of 31 August that our well-laid plans were to be postponed for at least two weeks due to a rise in coronavirus cases.

This meant only one thing: a return to virtual learning for our 650 students. However, rather than doing this from home, this time things would be a little different...

Blended learning: Webcams in classrooms

Over the summer, all classrooms were fitted with webcams hanging from the ceiling, smartboards and headsets (closely resembling the ones famously adorned by Britney Spears at her many concerts) to enable blended learning, for students on-site in different classrooms or at home.

Students also all now have to have their own device so we are fortunate in that we do not have to worry about students being unable to engage when working remotely.

In that sense, the quick change back to virtual learning has been smooth.

However, what is still taking some getting used to is that we are now teaching remotely not from our homes but from empty classrooms.

Although this may sound strange, there have been some immediate benefits from remaining in school:

• 1. Teachers get to have some social interaction, and departmental collaboration is far easier to facilitate.
• 2. Students seem to enjoy seeing us in the school, remembering what it looks like and imagining the day when they will be back.

Plus, we had the kit installed - so it made sense to use it!

Lessons live on Zoom

It works like this: every lesson is facilitated live on Zoom.

We’re no longer recording lessons, and limited details of each session are posted on Google Classroom so students are more compelled to attend.

For most, cameras are facing the traditional whiteboards, which is where the main action takes place and where we look while teaching.

We also share our screen using the smartboards and, luckily for students, they can keep the camera with their teacher pinned to the corner of their screens.

The little boxes containing our students are displayed on our computer monitors. Some teachers have also requested the camera be moved to their monitor so that they can keep a close eye on what the students are doing.

So far, this is working well.

Attendance has been excellent with students starting each day with registration and then following their timetables throughout the day.

We have also received lots of lovely emails from parents, praising the school on the quick transition and how we have managed to make the school day feel as real as possible.

Not lecturing

Teachers are also learning, adapting and improving.

Many of us realised that we attempted to turn into university lecturers when teaching online previously, thinking we had to fill every silence and bore our students silly in the process.

We are now planning lessons where there are clear learning sequences.

My Year 10s today wrote in silence for 20 minutes and that was OK - if they were with me in the classroom, that’s what they would have done.

I feel more like me again. Throughout lockdown, I realised how much of my identity is formed from me being a teacher and so, throughout lockdown, I felt like a rubbish teacher! I was zapped of energy and lessons felt forced and flat.

Now, I’m back in the building, in front of my board, using gestures galore and feeling more like a real teacher.

As a result, my lessons are better. Students are certainly getting a better deal this time around.

Issues remain

But we’re still teaching to an empty room - which is not, of course, a substitute for the real thing.

In fact, it can be exhausting. It is so much harder to read the room when you are scanning through 26 mini screens.

So much is based on assumption and hoping that everyone really is ready to move on.

Just like in lockdown, ensuring that students are fully on task is hard - I hear the ping of WhatsApp from many of my students’ laptops, which is hard to stamp out in the way you could in class.

Class dynamics are a bit odd, too. Students have been mixed up, some have left, some have joined. Not having real time together in a real classroom has meant some exchanges are a little awkward.

I particularly feel for our new students as they are missing out on those vital social interactions to form new friendships and find their place in the school community. They are noticeably quieter in lessons.

Gesturing into the void

Meetings are that much more of a drag as it means logging on to Zoom yet again. At least now we get to be in department teams, albeit dotted around the room for social distancing and masked up.

Screen time concerns have gone out of the window, too.

But for now, this is what we have to do. And we will continue to teach to our empty rooms in hope that someday soon they will be full again.

In the meantime, a fun PPA activity is to wander the school, watching teachers gesture into the void.

Charlotte Brunton is a secondary English department head at the British School of Gran Canaria. She has taught internationally for three years