Virtual teaching

 Teaching virtually this semester was something that was very odd to say the least but I think we all managed to make the best out of the circumstances. I taught 3 lessons virtually and did my final lesson last week; my small group literacy lesson. I would have loved to teach these lessons in the field and had that interaction with my students but I can say that I did learn a lot through the experience. I feel like I thought more about how I could improve my lesson as I was teaching because I was unable to have that interaction with the kids and with it being silent, I noticed what I was saying on a deeper level.  I really enjoyed watching the discussion videos for labs because we were able to view other seasoned teachers and some of our fellow GSU educators. I picked up on a lot of unique strategies to make my lesson more engaging and hands on. I find it very fun to have students interact and answer in different ways for example in my small group literacy lesson we did "synonym rolls" and if they agreed with their peers answer, I had them roll their arms up "full of dough" if they agreed or roll their arms down "full of dough" if they disagreed. I think its going to be one of my favorite things to come up with unique things for my students to keep engaged and on task. Learning is meant to be fun and will provide a greater benefit for students when they are engaged. A lot of my lessons were so concrete and boring but through this experience; the feedback from peers, CT, and my professors really helped guide my lessons to be more interactive. I had more fun planning my lessons and teaching them which resulted in a better grade with teaching my lesson. I still have some work to do with my confidence but overall I can say I am a better teacher from the beginning of the semester until now. I am looking forward to the final step; student teaching! We did it guys, hang in there :) a couple more weeks!

Virtual Teaching

I have completed all of my virtual lessons. Let me start by saying, it was an experience to learn from.
My second lesson that I have completed virtually was my Math lesson, and I think it went great. My materials and organization of the lesson played a big role in my success. I used authentic materials within the lesson teaching and thought it really went well and made the lesson come to life. The lesson was about Adding with one and two digit numbers, and I feel that the overall objectives were met. While teaching it on zoom, I acted as the students were actually there and asked and answered thought provoking questions. My tone and expression was also very good as I was able to engage my classmates and professor into the lesson as well. All in all, this was just a stupendous experience. Going from in person classes to online was difficult but something to learn from. It was just an experience to remember and I will truly reflect back on it because it has taught me so much.

virtual teaching

Teaching this week to an audience of stuffed animals set up in my bedroom was not too bad, to be honest. Last week I taught a whole group math lesson, which was rough because of the manipulatives I used and the need for a projector. This week, I taught a literacy lesson which involved a lot of whole group discussion time and a read-aloud - so it wasn't too bad. 

I found myself giggling at myself a lot more as a I called on bunny rabbit and waited for a response, but I guess that just proves that I was a little more comfortable. I was able to get my "classroom" setup how I needed it, with my easel made on a huge cutting board propped up on an umbrella stroller with a chunk of brown paper taped to it... it served it purpose.

I really rather enjoy "making" my own classroom and materials. In reality, I am not going to be a teacher like the rest of you. I do not plan to have teacher materials like unit cubes and an easel and a smart board and all of that "teacher stuff" that we are missing out on using with this virtual teaching thing. What I take care of kids, a lot of times it is in my own house. I have the basic things that my babies need (pack n plays, strollers, bouncy seat, height char, toys, bibs, etc), but when it comes to different more engaging activities that a daycare center might pull out a "teacher material" for, I have to pull those supplies out of my kitchen cabinet or craft bin. My point is, I am way more comfortable making my own materials and teaching from my own house than I am using fancy teaching materials and teaching in a classroom - which makes sense. This is what I do. Read-aloud in my bedroom? Happens all the time!

In terms of lesson writing and instructional delivery, being at my house doesn't help for that of course. But in terms of comfort, I am content teaching like this.

Virtual Lesson, Again

Okay. This week wasn't as weird as last week for sure, but I still miss the kids and much prefer them to my computer screen. Not that I got to use my computer. I actually had to use my phone because I couldn't get my computer to work. Which stunk. Ugh. Terrible.

I really am not a fan of this virus. Coronapocalypse is awful. I actually had to use my second whole group literacy lesson that I had written because I was unable to get the materials that I needed in order to teach that lesson adequately.

Overall, my teaching went really well though. I was able to find the perfect children's book within my personal library to teach a whole group lesson on drawing conclusions. I was super happy about that. For anyone who is interested, the book was called Astronaut Annie. I'll put a picture of the book below.

Anyhow, I think teaching to my dolls/stuffed animals was way less nerve wracking the second time around because I was getting used to it. I would have loved to have the experience in teaching in the classroom though. I'm not very confident with my teaching skills just yet, and I would love to improve upon them. I'm worried that had I taught this lesson in the field, the students wouldn't have responded to it very well.

There's nothing I can do about that though. At the end of the day, we get through it. Hopefully, when I get to student teaching, I can make it through.

Virtual Teaching

This week I taught my math whole group. I was very proud with my work with this lesson. I made it very engaging for my students and felt that my students would have really enjoyed my lesson in the classroom. I am getting used to teaching over zoom and felt like this whole thing has been a great learning experience. I have received such great feedback from Dr. Kelly and classmates and have taken the feedback and made improvements to make the next week lesson even better. I have one more virtual lesson to teach but we are done with our bloggers. I have really enjoyed blogger to see how my classmates are doing in their classrooms.

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.