A6. The teacher selects, adapts, and/or creates appropriate instructional resources and materials, including instructional technologies.
My pre-service teaching experience was one unlike any other since it was completely virtual, and I still haven’t met my mentor teacher in person. However, the challenges a global pandemic brought only demanded myself to really test my limits and abilities as a student teacher. Some of the different technological programs I had to acquaint myself with were Zoom, Google Classroom, Google Jamboard, Quizizz, and Kahoot!. Although these were not easy adjustments, with the help of my mentor teacher and fellow cohort members, I figured out the best ways to utilize these tools for the students.
For example, I made sure students experienced what Zoom Breakout Rooms were like by separating everyone into individual groups of four or five (including an instructor in each group) to discuss different topics about the unit at hand. Some students enjoyed these Breakout Rooms since they were more personal and less intimidating to participate in compared to a whole-class Zoom call. Others liked the whole-class setting more since Breakout Rooms were closer to one-on-one conversations with the instructor, which could also be intimidating. Overall, students got to experience the Zoom Breakout Rooms along with whole-class discussions.
Below are examples of Quizizz quizzes I arranged for students to help them absorb the information we discussed in class, along with Kahoot! quizzes I created for the same reason:
Included in this Quizizz quiz were questions regarding the Medusa movie on YouTube my mentor teacher assigned the students to watch and analyze asynchronously (by themselves outside of the classroom).
Included in this Kahoot! quiz game were questions regarding the story of Pandora I presented to the students in Greek Mythology through YouTube videos and a summary of the story I found online.
Quiz games are an all-time favorite among students since they get to practice remembering the information they learned in class through an interactive quiz with pictures and music rather than the traditional Google Form or pen-and-paper quiz still sometimes utilized in traditional classroom settings.