Final Virtual Lesson

Sunday, April 12th, 2020
Rachel Sebastian

I taught my last virtual lesson on Thursday and it was bitter sweet. It was hard to teach over zoom and pretend like I was actually teaching to students. I personally feel like I did a pretty good job teaching virtually. I gave it my all and tried to make it realistic as possible. I feel like I still learned a lot from teaching over zoom and I received great feedback from my classmates and Dr.Kelly. I make sure to take this feedback and learn from it and think about what I would do different the next time I teach. Since the whole coronavirus, it has been really hard having classes online. I wish we could go back in the classroom but I have been trying to make the most of having classes online. I appreciate my professors doing their best so we can get through this semester.

Final Virtual Lesson

On Thursday I completed my final virtual lesson.  I actually really enjoyed teaching virtually.  I feel like this provided us all with the opportunity to think of our lessons from all angles, rather than focusing on the same thing we felt needed the most work, while actually teaching in a physical classroom.  For instance, I feel like I was continuously thinking about classroom management, while teaching in the classroom.  Virtual teaching allowed me to focus on improving other areas of my lesson.  While I did enjoy teaching virtually, I look forward to student teaching, where we will be able to teach in person again.  I also look forward to student teaching, because I feel like we will be able to establish more classroom management, due to our consistent presence, five days a week.  This has been a really great experience for me and I look forward to using what I learned in labs three and four throughout student teaching and my future career.

Virtual Teaching

Virtual Teaching


My last blog was about the new change we are all facing. My semester is almost to close the end and we been doing online. For our field experience (labs) we are still teaching lessons. I have taught two whole lessons. My first one was based on literacy and my topic was on poetry. I had to teach my lesson virtually through zoom and my professor and two of my colleagues were observing me. If I can be honest, I did not perform my best when teaching my literacy lesson. It felt different not being able to teach in front of a classroom full of second graders. I wasn’t able to use higher-order thinking questions and spoke with less confidence. My second lesson was on science and the topic was simple machines. I felt more confident in this second lesson and I used my imagination to its fullest. I decided to pretend that my kitchen was a classroom and I was going to teach my lesson to my plushies (my students). I appreciate my professor’s feedback and my peers as well. I am doing better with this whole crisis. I have decided to take it day-by-day and split my school work into chunks.

Second online lesson

Kiley Rolder

April 9th, 2020

This was my second week teaching online. It's getting easier to pretend like I have a whole class in front of me which makes teaching easier but it's not something i'm used too yet. This week I taught a math whole group on probability and think it went pretty well. I tried to make it fun and engaging for the students by using things such as sweet tarts and jellybeans. The students could be hands on with their learning counting and sorting the jellybeans on their desk. Having to go back and forth between sharing the screen is something that is challenging for me because the sound doesn't work for the videos I played so I had to just explain them which was different. I think that there are something I would change if I were to teach this lesson again but overall I think it was a fun lesson to teach. Having to ask a question, call on students, and then give the answer yourself as if they had just said it has been very interesting but weird to do but I think I am making it work the best that I can and am starting to enjoy it!

What now

The past couple of weeks have been really different and hard to get used to. My schedule went from working three jobs and going to school full time to working no jobs and having all online classes! The change has been so drastic and it feels like everything in the world is flipped upside down. It has been hard adjusting to not seeing my friends and my family members. Seeing the effects that this virus has had has been really challenging for me and for everyone else I'm sure. During these times I find myself thinking of all students that are realistically getting an entire semester of school taken away from them. I really enjoyed the time that I had in field experience learning from my CT and her amazing students. The class was a really great class and I enjoyed teaching and learning from them during the time I was there. Taking classes online is not the best way for any student to learn as we know. There are many students that learn best through hands-on experiences and learn content by having social interaction. It is unfortunate that this is the way college students and every student has to learn right now. Although these times are terribly rough on me I am extremely grateful to be healthy and to still have the opportunity to learn. Even though things seem to be negative everywhere we look at this time I am trying to remain positive and do little things that make me happy. I enjoy the time that I am spending with my family but it is also nice to take time and do things for myself that will help me not go insane. Focusing on my school work has helped me take my mind of things and focus on what I love which is teaching and learning how to be a great teacher for my future students. The lesson I taught online was extremely awkward and the flow of the lesson was off but I still did my best given the circumstances. While I was writing my lesson plan I thought about how much I would have loved to teach this lesson in the field to the first grade class. It was a really fun lesson that offered them a new way to learn rather than working with worksheets a majority of the time. But, I can always keep this lesson for future reference. I miss my peers and I miss sitting in three hour classes which I never thought could be possible! I am wishing everyone and their families the best and I am sending love and positivity! I am looking forward to the day I get to be in a classroom learning from students again.

My First Virtual Lesson

This week I had the opportunity to teach my first virtual lesson and it went really well.  Honestly, I just acted as if I were in the classroom.  I called on each of my students as if they were actually sitting on my living room carpet, I rephrased student answers so that those observing me could better understand the progression of the lesson and I even had a few students answer incorrectly, so that I could address real-world scenarios.  Would I rather be teaching to real students?  Absolutely!  Do virtual classes seem like more work than if we were to just be taking these classes in a traditional sense? 100%.  However, I am so incredibly thankful that we have the opportunity to be so flexible, resulting in our graduation date staying the same.  I also find the field experience videos to be extremely beneficial.  I even incorporated one of the strategies that I had learned through the videos, in my lesson.  I received positive feedback regarding this strategy, so I believe it will be something I use within my future classroom. 

Into the Unknown

Honestly, these past few weeks have been some of the most surreal that I have ever experienced in my life. It's not something I'm happy to say, either. Amidst all this crap and chaos from the COVID-19 virus, rightfully renamed as CoronaPocalypse, I've found myself in a daze. There is a lot for me to have to compute right now, a lot to have to figure out inside of my head, and honestly, I really just wish life were back to normal.

There is a lot that I miss about 'normal' life. I miss school, which is something I never thought I'd say. I miss my job, which is something else I thought I'd never miss. I miss my friends. My family. My ability to walk outside of the house without having to worry about a virus that could kill the people that I love.

As I said before, this is just so surreal. It hasn't been easy, and honestly I feel a lot of stress and pressure from this all. I'm not the kind of person that likes change. I have a routine that I follow. I usually stick to my routine like it's the Bible. These days, I can't do that. I have to transition and adjust. But I feel like such a robot right now...

I feel like I'm so swamped on my school work, and I think that that is because the depression is sinking in. I feel like I'm drowning, that there's no time for me to get anything done. I sit here for hours and hours just working endlessly until my back hurts and my fingers are cramped from typing. But I still don't feel productive. I tell myself that this is just the shut-in order getting to me. But I'll get through it. Life always has its ups and downs, and this is just one of the downs.

Teaching my lesson was also super strange. I talked to my dolls of Elsa, Rapunzel, Sven and Pascal. It was strange, but I think that I did okay. I really don't ever want to have to teach online long term because it would make me sad. I'm a people person. I thrive off of my student's responses. I can't do this very long, I don't think.

I also miss my special ed kids... I really miss them. My heart hurts thinking about them and how dangerous this time is to them. I hope all of this gets better because right now we're in such unknown territory...