Experience of a student teaching online

 Since I began to have approaches to teaching I realized that it would be somewhat difficult, and it's not that before I thought that teaching was easy, but one never really imagines what things are until you do it, and that's what happened to me. The first time I had to be in front of a group was when I was in my first semester of college, and even though it was only for an hour, it felt eternal, and I wondered if I wanted to do it again. It's been a while since then, and I'm still learning and I'm still nervous when I have to be in front of a group, but when I thought I was getting used to it, everything changed from being nervous in front of people to be nervous in front of a monitor, trying to explain and not getting answers most of the time.

I have to say that it is much more complicated for me to have to plan a class to explain a subject through a computer, because I never know if I am doing it right, and it is because I cannot see the faces, gestures, and actions of each student, because the activities of online classes are not made to show that, everything comes down to what you put on the computer, and there is nothing more frustrating than that. Another thing that shakes me and makes it hard for me to handle is the fact that there are things that are not in my hands, like connection problems or technical problems (whether they are the students' or mine), because I don't know when they are going to happen and most of the time they can't be fixed, so my plan B sometimes has to turn into C too, and plans don't always work.

Now I am more than ever concerned about the work of all the teachers who have to deal with it on a daily basis and still manage to get their classes done successfully because as I said before, it is not an easy task. 

I will continue to learn and I hope to master this teaching by zoom someday, but in the meantime, being half of the semester, I will keep trying.

How to cope with online teaching

 In the last few months, everything changed in a way we never would have imagined before, and everything we knew about teaching suddenly took a back seat, and we had to adapt and learn new things (because teachers also have to learn new things all the time). Planning to teach online can sometimes be difficult, stressful, and we may feel that we are not doing well and that students are not getting what they should during the course.

To avoid stress there is no magic formula, but there are some things that I think can help to keep the pressure on to plan everything correctly.

Tip #1: Learn new things

As I mentioned before, teachers continue to learn, and this is just a chance to learn about technological tools to use in class and teach in an interesting and fun way, so when we return to normal you can continue to use them to facilitate your classes.

Tip #2: Take your time

Try to plan your classes in advance, and look for material and tools that you can use several times in different ways to develop different themes. Look for interactive material and take an afternoon to collect material before you start planning, so you don't stress out at the time of each planning.

Tip #3: Ask for patience

Talk to your students about their topics and activities of interest. Explain that sometimes the materials used may not work as they should and that they should let you know if something you are doing is not working for them, so you can look for other options that work for both sides.

Tip #4: Use what you already know how to use

Teachers are already used to some simple technological tools, like the use of the internet, so you have to use what you already know to find new things (apps, platforms, activities, tips, etc.).

Tip #5: Don't despair

This situation looks long-lasting, but it will happen at some point (or so we hope), so do not despair and see it as an opportunity to learn and improve your teaching, your students will appreciate the change from a boring class to an interesting, different and interactive class.

Fun activities to use during online classes

 

There is no better way to keep your students engaged during online classes than by having fun activities a few times a week. It is difficult to create fun activities and it is even more difficult talking about virtual classes, but in my opinion, the best activities that can be done to activate them a between topics and make the classes a little more fun, are those in which the students can participate and express themselves in a creative way.

So thinking on that I did a little research on the internet to find some fun activities to use in your online classes, and that can be free topic or adapt them to a specific topic avoiding to much teacher talk and let them produce more language. 

Twenty Questions 

Players take turns asking only  “yes” or “no” questions about a character or scientific facts, and try to figure out the answer by asking as many as 20 questions. It is a fun way to close a specific topic or to take some minutes out of learning.

Movie and Netflix Reviews 

This would be a good way to let your students produce the language using something interesting for them. A day per week you could start the session with a movie review. You could relate a specific movie on the topic of the week or of the day and discuss the movie that day.

Virtual Talk Shows

Students take the place of characters, concepts, or even a time period in a virtual talk show. Each student takes the “hot-seat” to answer questions showing their comprehension of an idea from the viewpoint of a person or idea being studied in class. Fun and interactive.

These three activities will add an extra to the class, completely changing the routine and making it more interesting and fun. Don't let distance condition your classes to something that your students can't enjoy.

REFERENCES

Clark, H.  & Miller, M. (N.D.). 8 Fun Activities for Virtual Learning Meetings. Retrieved from: https://www.hollyclark.org/2020/04/21/virtual-learning-ideas/

StartupStockPhotos. (Jan. 8, 2015). Children [Online picture]. Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/photos/children-win-success-video-game-593313/

Why students struggle during online classes

 

At this point, we all have already clear that being a teacher could be complicated, hard, and sometimes harder than some think, but that is half of the problem during the pandemic. Change all the programs to online teaching was just the beginning of what seems to be a more difficult chapter, as it seems that students can multiply the difficulties of the teacher, and make it seem that they are not taking their classes and online work seriously.

Some of the reasons why students may not be working as hard as they should be diverse, but these may be the most prominent and general ones:

The inaccessibility for some: Some may have problems sharing computer equipment with more family members and find it difficult to fit in with class time. Some may have connectivity problems because of the number of connections, or may not have computer equipment or internet access at all.

Not having an adequate personal environment: The student may not have an adequate assigned place to carry out his/her homework or take his/her classes, which proves delays and absences from classes.

Lack of time for work: The pandemic may have caused financial problems for many students and their families, so they were forced to look for a job in order to make some money for their families.

Whatever the situation of the students, it is good to make it clear to them that their teachers should be aware if any of these situations arise so that they can see what options or alternatives they have for the student to be able to continue with the course. It is good for the students to know that the teacher is there to support them in difficult moments and that if he or she can do it, he or she will facilitate the course in one way or another, although we have to be careful, because there may be students who want to take advantage of the situation to avoid their school responsibilities.

REFERENCES:

Dewitt, P. (April 26, 2020). 6 Reasons Students Aren't Showing Up for Virtual Learning. Retrieved from: https://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/finding_common_ground/2020/04/6_reasons_students_arent_showing_up_for_virtual_learning.html

Kreaticar. (May 19, 2018). Online [Online image]. Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/illustrations/online-education-internet-3412498/

6 Apps for teachers and educators: Tools for teaching

 

Here you have 6 apps that will help you to organize and improve your classes with an extra touch:

Pocket: This app allows you to save articles or video content to use with your students during class. You can communicate with your students and the latest version provides an offline listening feature where you can hear saved articles without the internet.

Study Blue Flashcards & quizzes: With this app, you can create different materials for your classes, like flashcards and interactive sessions with images and audio contents.

DIKSHA: With this app, you can design materials based on the prescribed school curriculum, while the students can do some activities.

Slack: This allows you to make your students work in teams and exchange ideas for their team-work and projects, facilitating team communication.

ClassDojo: It makes easier the communication between teachers, students, and parents. It allows you to recreate an online classroom and let the students get an online-portfolio with activities.

Epic: This app will allow your students to access books of any type and format (audio, video, read along, e-books, and read to me books) totally free.

Making use of the different tools that we can find on the Internet and with the materials provided by these kinds of apps, teaching can be easier and fun. Hope this is useful for you.

REFERENCES:

FirmBee. (May 29, 2015). Ux. [online image]. Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/photos/ux-prototyping-design-webdesign-788002/

Redbytes. (August 5, 2020). 20 Best Apps For Teachers and Educators. Retrieved from: https://www.redbytes.in/best-apps-for-teachers-and-educators/

ONLINE CLASSES: FROM A STUDENT'S PERSPECTIVE

 

Learning has never been so complicated. For teachers things got harder and challenging, but what is the situation of some students, and how this new way of learning affected them?

Certainly, all the students had different types of problems with the pandemic and the new modality in education, but as a student too, I can talk about the things I have been experiment with during this and what I see my classmates have been struggling with.

The first thing I realized was the necessity of the interaction between classmates and teachers, and honestly, I still not understand why that affects the way you learn and the motivation, but it does.

Another thing that I realized about, is that even we have probably the same amount of work to do as students, it is more frustrating to see everything through the screen because it gets harder to understand the things you have to do, and to solve doubts, so it feels harder than what it actually is.

Now, if we have to talk about other types of problems, we have to put technologically issues on the top of the list (and i know for teachers is frustrating too), because there is nothing worst that be in the middle of the class and lose the internet connection, or not understand what the teacher is saying because of the bad connection the screen freezes and the voice is cut off, or worse, not having a computer or internet to get through the semester. The last situation is the shocking one because I have seen it in some classmates who don't have money to buy a computer or to buy a better one, and their stress levels go through the roof because the simple fact of taking a class becomes a burden or something impossible for many. In the end, we just have to support each other and do the best we can to overcome the situation as much as possible.

REFERENCES:

Geralt. (Sept. 6, 2018). Learn [Online image]. Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/photos/learn-student-laptop-internet-3653430/

4 fast tips to keep students interested in class during the new normality

Having the students engaged to the class its hard. In regular situations (face-to-face classes) and depending on the class some students could not be very enthusiastic and could get lost in the way.

Being a teacher sometimes implies to look for different strategies to keep the students on the way, doing what they have to do, learning what they have to learn, but the most important, to make them see these process of learning as something they can enjoy.Chanching to online-classes made hard things harder, and there may be some students that see classes like something more "optional", and their efford and motivation may be at too low a level to show interest and enthusiasm for the new topics and activities, as well as for the modality in which things have to be done.

Making a little research in the web, i found some ideas for engaging the students to online clases in order to make them successful for both parth (Student and teacher). Those tips to my point of view (as a student and as a future teacher), it seemed to me the most appropriate thing to try to do during this situation and not to die trying while waiting for your students to connect to class.

TIP #1: LET THE STUDENTS CHOSE

People like to have control, so giving your students to make little options about the class, they will feel more motivated during the curse and withot the presure of doing things they do not like or they do not have interest in. Now, little choises means to let the chose SOMETIMES the type op activities to develop a topic, but do not let the whole class on their hands.

TIP #2: BE A STORYTELLER

It is easier to relate information to stories, because we all love a good storie, so could be helpfull during some topics or activities of low interest for the students, to use good stories in order to capt their atention and make the topic less boring.

TIP #3: RELEVANT COURSE CONTENT

If you can use the lates news about an artis, or about a new movie, or about somethingimpressive happening in the world, use it. The students will want to know what is happening and you can introduce them to the topic.

TIP #4: ENCOURAGE THEM

We all have bad moments where we feel froustrated and without motivation, so if you feel something like this is happening in your group, try to show them what they can do. Maybe just a funny game in Kahoot with a reward can make them feel motivated and give them sense of purpose.

REFERENCES

WBT Systems. (N.D.). 8 New Ideas for Engaging Online Students. Retrieved from: https://www.wbtsystems.com/learning-hub/blogs/8-new-ideas-engaging-online-students

Free-photos. (May 3, 2014). Notebook [Online image]. Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/photos/notebook-workplace-desk-iphone-336634/

Useful tools for teaching during this new normality.

Being going through a pandemic in a period of history where technology exists is a privilege. We are able to change the modality of teaching/learning with the help of some technological resources and without the necessity of stopping the education on 100%.

For us as teachers is important to know that we have different tools online that can help us to improve our students' learning remotely, and without more effort than clicking some links. In this post, I will share with you some digital tools (webpages and apps) which in my opinion are among the best for use in online classes, whether it is the teacher's use to create material for the students, or the students' use to create things for their own homework and learning. These tools are free and easy to use, and with some practice and exploration could be used in class.

Schoology: This platform is like social media, but to communicate with your students. It allows you to upload homework, feedback, documents, tests, and see your students' progress, It is easy to use for teachers and students as well.

Storybird: In this webpage, the students can develop their writing and reading, while doing fun stuff and developing their imagination. It allows you to create comics and art books. For more benefits, it does have a cost, but it has a free trial, so it works for homework.

Powtoon:  It is a platform where you can create short videos using different elements. If you want your students to explain a topic in a funny way, they could definitively use this platform.

Kahoot:  If you want to test your students' knowledge in a funny and different way, this could be for you. This educational platform you can create short quizzes for all the topics you could imagine, or if you prefer you can use a quiz already created. Your students can answer the quiz during class as if it were a competence. It is a very interactive way to grade or review a topic.

References: 

Mediamodifier. (2017). Laptop [online image]. Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/photos/laptop-prezi-3d-presentation-mockup-2411303/

Teaching in this new normality: A great challenge

Thinking to avoid going to school for some days without problems was a dream that seems to be just that, a dream. For teachers and students wasn't a bad idea to have a little "break" of our stressful student/teacher life, so when we where said to stop going to school for a few days, we just thought that for a few days we could do what we had to in the comfort of our home. 5 months later we still in the comfort of our home and it stopped being comfortable. 

The necessity of continuing with education during the pandemic is something we cannot ignore. The teachers have to adapt their programs, the schools have to adapt their teachers, and the students have to adapt too, but is not that easy for everyone. Not all the students have the equipment in their context to keep their education from home, and the teachers have to take into consideration all those different contexts to adapt their classes, which adds difficulty to something that is already difficult such as adapting a physical education program to online. 

Another problem for teachers is that they can do magic. According to Bryan Smith, a Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville's teacher said to St.Louis public radio, that it is hard to ensure the students are learning the skills properly. You as the teacher can make your best to provide your students with all the input and online materials, but in the end, is their responsibilities to get all of that and use it to build their knowledge, as it is significantly more difficult for the teacher to be physically there to mediate the students and the sharing of knowledge, as well as to provide them with more personalized attention.

It seems this "new normality" is going to stay with us for a long time, so teachers will have to keep figuring out how to work through the screen and keep being efficient with their students to give them all that desired knowledge.

References:

Schmid, E. (April 23, 2020). Teaching Online During A Pandemic Is Hard, And It’s Harder For These Kinds Of Classes. Retrieved from:  https://news.stlpublicradio.org/education/2020-04-23/teaching-online-during-a-pandemic-is-hard-and-its-harder-for-these-kinds-of-classes

Jeshoots-com. (2018). Laptop [online image]. Pixabay. .https://pixabay.com/photos/laptop-woman-education-study-young-3087585/