Preparing for the Unknown

So, here goes my first blog, ever. This blog is in response to a blog challenge from my friend, that continually pushes me to be a better teacher! 

Short reflection

As I look forward to the beginning of a new school year, I am forced to reflect on my journey over the past five months. Let's be honest and get this out in the open. THIS HAS BEEN CRAZY!! But here is what I choose to remember about the last five months. I saw us, as teachers, scramble during the two weeks after spring break to find the best practices and tools that we could use to reach our students during distance learning. I felt the encouragement from my colleagues at Bartlesville Schools as we met to share what was working in our virtual classrooms. I felt the support from our administration to put the tools in the hands of educators, students and families so that we could be successful during this time. The instantaneous feeling of *cue High School Musical* we're all in this together created a bond between teachers in other cities and states over social media as we shared our new trainings, activities, ideas and my all time favorite-desmos activities ❤. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't all sunshine and roses, but honestly, i felt a lot of positive vibes. 

Summer School on the FLIP

With the promise of our athletic programs getting minimal time to workout and compete this summer, I volunteered to teach summer school online for BHS. I have 10 years of online teaching experience from The Potter's School in Virginia. I loved my time and gained great experience. This experience has offered a foundation to build upon during this time. Using this knowledge and my experience with the flipped model at my previous school (Pryor, OK) I decided to marry the two and see what happened with my second semester summer classes. It was AWESOME! I was only allowed to meet synchronously with my students twice a week for 30 minutes. So, on Monday, students watched my 5-6 minute videos, took notes, and then uploaded them to Canvas for me to eyeball. I used loom to record. Students enjoyed being able to pause the videos to write down notes or examples, back it up and rewatch, or pause to try practice problems and then continue the video to check their work and answer. I asked students to write down questions for our class meeting. The feedback indicated that students loved the freedom to watch and learn on their own time. One student said, "I appreciate knowing what we will be talking about during our class time. I know what's coming.". During our class meeting, students worked through a desmos activity. I love desmos y'all. I was able to use the teacher dashboard to see what students answered on each question or how they were working problems in real time. I was able to direct students individually to a specific slide to discuss errors or misconceptions or just to say, hey-nice job! [Side note: I love the new feedback feature that desmos implemented during our DL time. If you haven't experienced the awesomeness of desmos, tune in tomorrow.] We repeated this set up on Wednesday and Thursday with a quiz on Friday. This felt more like a classroom experience than what I put my kids through during April, May and first semester summer school. I will be tweaking it for the school year, but the bones are good!

Moving Forward

I am looking forward to preparing for my students' return. It is going to look so much different than it ever has. Challenges are exciting to me. Being in a situation where I have to problem solve and adapt--yes, sign me up. Do I have all of the answers...no way! Will it work hard to figure this out, absolutely! Currently, my husband and I are driving back from an AAU basketball tournament that my 8th grader played in. This is her 5th tournament of the summer. I am so thankful that sports did not come to a complete standstill this summer. Kids need it, parents need it! You know what: People wore masks and somewhat practiced social distancing. And so far so good. I am praying for a good start and a few days (weeks or months would be better) with my kiddos. How will I create a virtual learning environment that looks similar to what I love and believe in now? I am not really sure of the answer, but I know that I will research, read, use my trusted teacher friends, and adapt. I will be resilient during this time. Positive attitudes only. Being a great role model for my students and building solid relationships with them has been my #1 goal. That will not change!  I am looking forward to learning and growing and shaping the minds of the future!!

#MTB0SBlaugust