As a teacher, I believe I always have to be on my toes since anything unexpected could happen: perhaps a student I was expecting to be in class is absent; perhaps an impromptu fire drill occurs in the middle of class; perhaps I fall sick and cannot teach class. However, because of our current situation with the Coronavirus, it seems as though unexpected and unplanned events pop up more consistently than before (I can imagine). Because of this experience, I have learned to become more flexible as a person and as a teacher who needs to be there for her students especially during times like these.

            I have experienced students switching back and forth from virtual to in-person several times in all six of my classes, along with dealing with technological issues almost every single day. For example, my water bottle that was in my bag ended up leaking and ruining my personal laptop. Because of this unfortunate incident, I had to improvise and think in the moment about these things:

 

1. Will the old Chromebook my mentor teacher has on her desk suffice for the day’s activities for all six of my classes?

2. If the Chromebook doesn’t work, will the school-issued iPad suffice?

3. In the worst case scenario, I will have to have virtual students broadcasted on the iPad and not share my screen to them but instead guide them through what I am showing the in-person students on the Smart Board by speaking loudly, clearly, and slowly.

 

            What I ended up doing was the worst case scenario option which turned out to not be too bad. The students understood my situation, empathized with me, and helped me out by cooperating as the well-functioning team we are. I was proud of them for going along with what I had to do as their teacher in order to teach them in a way that was still beneficial and efficient. Throughout my student teaching experience, I have learned that building a good rapport with my students eases some of the stress on me when it comes to different or difficult situations outside of the everyday norm. 

            Additionally, if I found that my students did not do well on an assignment or test that I thought they were prepared for, I went over the questions with them and asked if they had any questions regarding the assignment. This way, we were able to understand as a whole what the purpose of the assignment or test was while absorbing more information.