Covid-19 Reflection Statement
Being both an educator and a learner during the time of a pandemic, has impacted me in several different ways. First off, it has impacted me as a learner. Looking back to a year ago, I still remember suddenly being forced to take all my classes remotely. I quickly discovered my brain DOES NOT work like that. I struggled to find and create the structure I needed, and quite frankly, the motivation. With such a sudden uncertain world around me, it was difficult to do all the mundane tasks. I thought I would want to create more, but sadly I wanted to create less. When it came to my practicum, we went from online, to hybrid, back to online. It felt like I was juggling and teaching at the same time. I quickly learned how to be adaptable. Then came my student teaching. This is where I was impacted as a teacher. Thankfully, both of my placements were in-person. I don't know if that's better or worse per-say, however it did make teaching a lot easier than it would have been online. I still had a few students who remained remote at my high-school placement. This was difficult, because it felt as if I was putting in three times the amount of effort to get my remote students to do any work. However, because of my experience as a learner in a pandemic, I had an immense amount of patience and empathy towards them. I learned how to work better with parents and counselors in order to insure the success of these students. At my elementary placement, not only did I get quarantined for a week, I also had entire classes get quarantined throughout the two months I was there. This only made me more adaptable as an educator. I learned how to be creative on my feet and make lessons that my students could do at home. Although we all wish things could be different, I am thankful for the strength, empathy, and adaptability I gained during these times.