Educating in times of Covid-19
Covid-19: Reflections of a Secondary Chemistry Teacher Ana Teresa Risi de Carrillo
I
am learning many lessons during this unique year: a very important year for me, as I celebrate my 30th anniversary as a teacher. As the year started I printed, and placed in a corner of my class, a 30 year anniversary banner, which I decorated and planned to refer to throughout the year. I knew my students would celebrate along with me. In Perú, our first day of teaching was on 2 March. My lesson plans for the first week of classes were ready before the pandemic began. I wanted to deliver the most engaging lessons, and to have students work independently or in groups. I wanted to differentiate and facilitate their learning. Not knowing what the situation would be 10 days later, I continued to develop lessons as I had initially planned, which took me to unforeseen horizons. I am a middle school/ high school Chemistry teacher and I’ve taught Math as well. Since the year 2000, I’ve had wonderful teaching positions in three countries in Africa and spent my last five years in Guatemala, before returning to my home country Perú in 2015. This pandemic has hit us all and, as a teacher, I can say that we are all learning from each other throughout this process.
Planning innovative lessons Our passion as teachers is what holds us together and what makes us work beyond expectations. We are learning to use new tools that are helping to deliver interesting and engaging lessons; tools that we would have never imagined to be so successful
in impacting learning. Now both students and teachers are behind a screen, and even though I am not in a classroom with my students, I still feel a positive learning connection with them. From the teacher’s point of view, we are growing immensely as professionals. As a Chemistry teacher, I am using videos, Google slides and Google Docs that accompany my slides. Moreover, we connect by Zoom and, in most lessons, students work in breakout rooms where they can support each other’s learning. I visit
where I can immediately assess if students are understanding the content and can provide instant feedback if necessary. PhET simulations are great for visualizing concepts. I also assess participation as students ask and answer questions in class. In addition, Google Forms and Quizizz are great tools to assess students’ learning; both are immediately graded, and in Google Forms an explanation can be included when an answer is wrong. In order to encourage learning, flash cards, Quizizz and mind maps are also great for closing
My medicine is my students’ faces, their rapport with me, and their comments that they are learning in my lessons because of how these are structured and delivered them virtually and see how they interact and discuss their work. An advantage of using online platforms is the ability to record lessons, which students can then refer to later. I have become more innovative, sometimes using my own kitchen for experiments: for example, burning nuts to see how they give out thermal energy. I have also made my own videos to explain the motion of ions in electrolysis, to explain structures of atoms, or other videos that explain other parts of the syllabus. When making my own slides, I sometimes include audios that connect and guide my students to a Google Doc. I have also learned to use Pear Deck and Nearpod online platforms,
10 | International School | Winter 2020
chapters and review. In this case, through Zoom, students can be split into rooms, and can be guided by the teacher. Above all, the magic of learning lies in respect, motivation, engagement and enjoyment on both sides: teacher and student.
Teacher/tutor perspective Most students in my experience are really responding well to this challenging and stressful situation. As teachers we have ‘tutor meets’, where students can contact me if necessary at least once a week using Google Hangout or Zoom. From a tutor point of view, we take attendance every morning; students then go to lessons, and follow a timetable with their
specific courses each day. Single periods were turned from 40 to 30 minutes long, and a double period was therefore turned into a maximum one hour. If issues arise before the day begins or throughout the day, I communicate this to students’ teachers and year coordinator. Teachers communicate with me if needed. Then tutors can follow up on students’ work or involve the parents if necessary. I have also had meetings with parents, to help them understand the timetable, or with parents and the student to help them create a schedule for their days. Communication between teachers who work with my tutor group is great, as well as with parents.
Lessons learned from my students My medicine these days is my students’ faces, their rapport with me, and their comments that they are learning in my lessons because of how these are structured and delivered. From my students I have learned the following: 1. Students who are organized and are strong academically have always been connected to their lessons and followed up their classes successfully. Most set alarms in their cellphones; others have no problem in following their daily schedule through a Google calendar, or write their appointments in an agenda. One student shared with me that she is using ‘Trello’ to organize her day. Trello allows her to fill up her work and classify it as: done, to do, in progress. Students explained that they prefer teachers
