How I taught through the pandemic

How has education been affected since the pandemic? How has education in your school, area , and country changed since? All educators around the globe are finding ways to teach through the 'new normal' and I would like to share what I learned as an educator and how it went in my class. 

What did I learn from 3 months of cyber teaching?

• Reflect, Modify, Repeat

After teaching cyber for a few months, I learned that cyber learning for young learners only works when teacher are constantly reflecting and modifying activities and learning according to the student's response. 

• Read student's mind

Well, not literally but there are some days where students are super responsive, and other days they would ran away or sit there and stare at the screen lifelessly. Some days I just have to cut my lesson short because why continue when the child is obvious not interested?

• Maybe, it is ok? How can I make it ok? 

I had to accept that fact that learning through a screen is not developmentally appropriate for young learners. I too thought this was just going to last for a month and everything will go back on track. Sadly, that was not the case. I had to come to terms that cyber learning is one of the few ways we can help students to continue to learn, despite the distance. I learned that it is us, early years educators that are responsible in making it work, and fun for our students. We are the guardian in advocating for our young learners, to put a stop when it is too much. There are also two sides, and it's up to us to use it effectively, or abuse it. 

• Self-care. Set and follow your 'office hours'

Office hours? To be honestly, in the first few years of teaching, I had a hard time getting off work. I would constantly be thinking about how I could have done better, what other materials should I lay out in the class? How I can provide a better play environment... and on and on. And I realised it had gotten worse when we were online. It is so easy to work pass the schedule and subconsciously adding more stress to myself. I learned that I need to start caring for myself and know when to stop. I also set up a little home office area so I can focus when I work, and not touch that space when I am done. 

How it all started?

At the start of cyber school, our school relied heavily on an online learning portal, Seesaw. Teachers would create activities that reflects our curriculum and standards.

Unfortunately, my class, Pre-K and Kinder students are not familiar with using tech independently, let alone Seesaw activities. I personally did not use much tech in my classroom because I believe young children should learn through play, experience and hands on activities.

So, how did it work if my students don't know how to use an ipad? Parents! Our school has been using Seesaw as a communication and learning journal portal since the beginning of the school year, which made it easier for when we go cyber, because parents are already familiar with the app. Since students are not trained to use the app, we asked the parents to assist and supervise when they are completing the activities. 

When I am planning my seesaw activities, I would remind myself, is there anyway students can complete this learning with objects and material they have at home? Does it have to be a on-screen activity? For example if it was showing numbers, then I would create an activity where I ask students to collect 7 pens/toys/shirts and record themselves counting them. 

How are parents taking part of their learning?

Again, since my students are not independent with tech, I asked parents to assist and supervise when students are completing their work. I would send announcements to parents sharing my expectation for parents and students while keeping in mind that some parents work full-time and are not able to assist during office hours. Which is another reason why Seesaw was very helpful when it comes to cyber learning. And even when we say supervise, you will still get student work that obviously the parent were holding their child's hand. However, I need to learn to appreciate that parents are spending time learning with the children and maybe sometime remind them gently. 

I am planning to write other posts focusing on literacy, math, and zoom sessions with young learners. Stay tuned! Feel free to share what you are doing, or planning to do in your classroom when school starts again! Suggestions are welcome too! 

Disclaimer: I am in no way an expert in this cyber learning and I am just sharing my side of teaching how I taught during cyber school. Please keep that in mind, thank you. 😄