UNION COLLEGE
Coronavirus Teaches Student Teachers to Be Adaptable
Photos Courtesy Union College
24 OUTLOOKMAG.ORG JUNE 2020
Thanks to her experiences student teaching at Union College's George Stone Elementary School, Savanna "Dani" Arthur was able to land her dream job teaching fifth and sixth grade at Spring Valley Academy in Ohio.
grades 1-4 for several days. “And little did I know that would really prepare me for what happened next.” At spring break, Arthur was scheduled to switch to Lincoln Public Schools to teach fifth grade. But as COVID-19 swept across the world, Union College and LPS were forced to move all instruction online. For Arthur, that meant staying with George Stone, Union College’s on-campus laboratory school, but exchanging the well-equipped multigrade classroom for her college dorm with just a laptop, a whiteboard and a light, “so students can see me.” Each day she taught Bible and language arts to 11 students in grades 5-8 and math to a smaller group of fifth and sixth graders. She believes she was blessed to work at George Stone because they continued to have regular classes via Zoom, while many schools either canceled classes or
offered limited teacher interaction. “I had to learn that this isn’t regular distance learning—it’s crisis learning,” Arthur said. “Students were suddenly forced out of the classroom, and they also are dealing with all these other stressors in their lives. I have to reach their hearts, not just teach the curriculum. That is always the goal in the classroom, but now I have to be even more intentional.” The first couple of weeks proved challenging as she helped students grapple with using the technology at home. “But now it’s all been falling together,” said Arthur as she recalled a discussion about metaphors in language arts class. She saw the “lightbulb” go on as students understood the connection between a metaphorical battered piñata and the girl in their story. “It has been great to see that even though their world has changed, they are still connecting with new ideas.”
Thanks to the coronavirus, Savanna “Dani” Arthur learned a whole new set of skills when she moved her student teaching online.
Steve Nazario/Union College
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s Savanna “Dani” Arthur looked out over the 15 young faces staring back expectantly across the classroom, she had to fight back just a little bit of panic. The senior education major had been student teaching at George Stone Elementary for a little more than a month when her supervising teacher went home sick halfway through the day and left Arthur in charge. “I learned to be flexible,” said Arthur, who had previously been teaching three classes and now had to adapt to teaching all the classes for
George Stone Elementary equals great multigrade teaching opportunities Even in a crazy semester like this, Arthur believes her Union experience has paid dividends. “I came to Union because of the education program,” Arthur explained. As she considered pursuing a career in teaching at Adventist schools, she talked to the Adventist education superintendents in her home state of Michigan. “They told me they look for Union graduates first because of their experience in multigrade classrooms.” Having George Stone Elementary right on campus provides great opportunities for education majors to teach in a multigrade classroom all four years of their program. Arthur said they chose to keep having regular classes online this spring in part to accommodate the student teachers who needed to complete their practicum requirements.
