Teaching in the Lockdown: Keeping Art and History Alive During Lockdown – on Zoom, of all places

When lockdown hit, like everyone else, I stared at my screen and wondered: Now what?

Schools were shut. Museums were closed. And yet, all I could think was—we can’t just let art and history go quiet. Not now. Not when kids needed connection, stimulation, and a sense of something bigger than the four walls they were suddenly trapped in.

So, I opened up Zoom. I didn’t know what it would become, but I knew I wanted to keep local schools engaged. To bring the past alive. To get kids drawing, asking questions, and discovering that history isn’t just a list of dates—it’s stuff you can hold in your hands, ideas you can argue about, and stories you can retell in your own way.

What started as a handful of online sessions quickly snowballed. Schools from across Mildenhall got involved. We ran virtual museum tours, object-based history workshops, and creative art sessions where kids proudly held up drawings, sculptures, and the odd papier-mâché helmet to the camera.

I loved it. It was chaotic, a bit glitchy at times—but it was alive. One moment we’d be talking about Roman coins, the next we were debating what it felt like to live through the Blitz, or sketching Anglo-Saxon artefacts from grainy screen-shares.

Screen Shot Milden Hall

I didn’t realise just how hungry the students were for something real. For something tactile—even through a screen. And the teachers? Honestly, they were incredible. Supportive, patient, and willing to adapt on the fly with me. We were all figuring it out together.

Lockdown made everything harder—but it also made things possible. It created space to rethink what engagement actually looks like. I wasn’t in a museum gallery anymore. I was in a hundred living rooms, classrooms, and kitchens—talking to pupils directly, making a mess with art materials, and watching sparks of curiosity fly through WiFi.

Looking back now, those Zoom sessions were some of the most rewarding work I’ve done. And the best part? Many of the relationships we built during that time have carried on. Schools I connected with virtually are now visiting the museum in person—and those early Zoom days laid the groundwork for deeper, long-term engagement.

Art and history didn’t stop. We just changed the way we shared them.