Teaching from home

ANNEMARIE BURGESS – VVLN/ ACCOUNTING/BUSINESS MANAGEMENT TEACHER

What are the biggest challenges for you teaching from home?

I miss the classroom banter with students and the connection with other staff members. The days are flying by and it seems to be Friday before I know it… this makes iso challenging.

What do you like about teaching from home? What has surprised you?

I love being able to wear my slippers when I’m teaching 😊 I also like not having to travel into work each morning—the time saved is a definite plus.

Have you got a favourite place at home to work?

The living room is the best spot for the internet. I have a mudbrick home, so the walls are thick and the internet plays up in some of the rooms. I’m set up pretty well and my family are very supportive of my work requirements.

What’s your ISO exercise of choice?

Definitely walking up Mount Alexander. I do this four mornings a week at 7am which is a great start to my day and I’m loving the exercise. However, I’m missing doing laps at the pool.

Any funny, wonderful or unexpected things that have happened as a result of teaching from home?

There have been a couple of embarrassing times when my family didn’t know the camera was recording, but we’ve gotten better over the past couple of weeks with some extra boundaries in place.

What are you looking forward to about being back on campus?

Seeing the students, and staff and getting back to ‘normal’.

What’s something you do to completely switch off from teaching?

I pack up my desk at the end of each day to ‘switch off’ before cooking dinner and doing the family duties. I find this helps me separate work and home… most of the time.

Anything you’d like to say to the rest of the BSSC community during lockdown?

Stay motivated and keep the lines of communication going with your teachers, friends and family.  There will be a light at the end of the tunnel and now we have a date when classes are resuming we can start counting down.