Zooming Through the Semester

Its hard to believe that we are already in our last week of this semester and in less than one week I will be giving my final presentation. These past two weeks being solely remote have seemed to just fly by as well!

For the last lab of the semester we had to do a Life Knowledge lesson, as taken from the National FFA website. This was using premade lessons, which was something that was really interesting to work with. One of the biggest challenges I found was making sure that I was able to take a 50 minute lesson and reasonably condense it to 20 minutes. Loving conversations about leadership, I thought picking a 50 minute lesson on "The Need for Leaders" was a great choice. 

My next biggest task was authentically engaging an audience over Zoom. My job this summer really prepared me for this, as we had to develop a virtual orientation program for Penn State for the entire commonwealth. For example, I lead a two week long completely virtual training for the orientation leaders, in which variability was the name of the game over Zoom. In my lesson I incorporated things such as using the chat, writing something and holding it up to the camera, and using breakout rooms.

Another thing I tried hard to do was toggle between screen sharing and gallery view. I have found that its easier to zone out when its just in screen-sharing mode the entire time, but by moving between that and gallery view it feels slightly more natural and like you're having a conversation with your peers because you can see their faces. 

One big take away from this lesson was all the different methods of teaching that my peers used for Zoom. I found this incredibly beneficial, especially with the uncertainty that next semester holds as far as teaching modes go, I now feel like I have a few more tools in my tool belt for keeping students engaged over Zoom.

Through these teaching labs this semester I really have felt myself grow as an educator. From being more practical with the content and timing of my lessons, to adapting when something (inevitably) goes wrong, I have learned a lot of skills that help me feel a little bit better as I head into the classroom in a few short weeks. 

I also feel incredibly blessed to be working with my professors in Ag Ed, who have been incredible coaches and mentors, and always manage to make me laugh, even when I don't really want to. I also am so grateful for a cohort of ladies who are strong, compassionate, and never fail to be a shoulder to (literally) cry on. I know I have a great network of people there for me if I ever need help, encouragement, or to just celebrate the good times with.

This journey has only just begun, and student teaching is coming up and while I'm terrified and nervous, I am also so excited to get into the classroom and start impacting lives and navigating through this profession. 

I'll finish this post off with my favorite quote from Jon Seaman about 2021 Student Teaching, 

"You are about to enter the jungle while the jungle is on fire." 

A comical and down to earth statement that really captures life at this moment in education in the midst of a pandemic. Student teaching next semester may seem a little scary, but I have never been one to backdown to a challenge, so bring it on.