We know it’s an unusual environment for teachers these days, as classes can shift from face to face to hybrid to remote and back again. We have more College of Education faculty who want to offer you a few ideas to support you through these changing times. We think you’ll find their ideas helpful!Tips to be successful in this environment
Dean Debbie Mercer: Take care of yourself! Self-care is not selfish, it is necessary. I frequently say there is a reason we are told to put our own face mask on first when on an airplane. If we don’t have oxygen, we cannot help others. You must be rested, hydrated, and nourished to be your very best for your students. Take time to ensure this happens! Buy a great water bottle, plan healthy lunches, go on walks, take time to do things you enjoy. Each time you do, you replenish your reserves so you can provide what your students need.
Assistant Dean Todd Goodson: Students carry with them all of the stressors in our cultures and our communities. It might be a contentious political climate. It might be a public health emergency, or it might be something we haven’t imagined yet. Students absorb stress from their environments and it follows them into our classrooms. The same could be said for us. Just because we are teachers, we are not immune from toxic influences of the world. We have to attend to ourselves first. We have to have our own heads in a good place so we can assist our students as they deal with the baggage they bring to school.
Dr. Vicki Sherbert: Be flexible! Whether the shift you’re making is something small like shortening or extending a lesson or is a bigger pivot like moving from in-person to remote learning, it can be an opportunity to develop resiliency. Extend grace to yourselves, your students, and your colleagues. This resource is a Padlet compiling 30 conversations on teaching and learning with Kelly Gallagher and Penny Kittle. In each recording, they share honest insights on the struggles (and even a few) unanticipated positives experienced while teaching during the pandemic. https://padlet.com/pennykittle/conversationsWkellygallagher They invited guests to share their experiences and offer resources to teachers at all levels of experience.
Dr. Lori Levin: You know me, always thinking about phonemic awareness and phonics instruction that does not include any worksheets. Here is a fabulous resource to use for remote instruction of phonics and phonology (even math, spelling, science, etc.). It is called Whiteboard.fi and it allows you to instantly create a class and share a code with your students who will get a powerful whiteboard on their screen on any device. They can write, draw, type, do math, and add images, and you can see their screens and interact with them in real time. Imagine saying a word like “bed” and asking them to write the letter for the sound they hear in the middle, or asking them to add a picture of something that starts with the /b/ sound! The possibilities are endless and it is FREE.
Words of encouragement
Dean Debbie Mercer: You are an EdCat! You are Powered by Purpose! You are the best of the best. You are ready for your own classroom and you are ready for your students! Stay in touch with your professors and fellow EdCats. They are a network of support for you.
Assistant Dean Todd Goodson: We hope you will teach for many years, but you will only have one first year of teaching. In the years ahead, things that seem very serious today will be routine for you. You are building a foundation to last a career. Be deliberate. Be careful. Have fun.
Dr. Vicki Sherbert: You are doing good and important things for students. Especially now, you are building relationships with students that will make an impact on them throughout their journeys. You can communicate to them that you are the “lead learner” in the classroom and that you are learning alongside them. Your students are learning critical skills that extend far beyond traditional classroom learning.
Other thoughts
Dean Debbie Mercer: What an opportunity you have! YOU will change education. You have learned in an environment we could not have imagined a year ago. Yet, you did and you thrived. Take the methods and practices that were a positive impact on you during this time and implement those with your students. You are charting the pedagogy and learning opportunities of the future!
Dr. Vicki Sherbert: Extend grace to yourself and to others. No one has done this before!