GATEways to Teacher Education

A journal of the Georgia Association of Teacher Educators successful, they quickly learned that they needed to be creative. As stated in a pre-service teacher’s reflection, “It's been beneficial to see the creative ways educators have turned an awful situation into something good. I was able to watch my teacher do a Zoom meeting with online students incorporating games, music, and fun learning activities.” Watching their cooperating teachers find creative ways to motivate their students resulted in pre-service teachers upping their creative game as well. In viewing block 2 lesson plans, students integrated more technology and in more creative ways with brain breaks, dancing sessions, social-emotional learning opportunities, music, children’s literature, and theatrical play.

Another advantage that can be credited to the pandemic was students’increased comfort level with integrating technology. From Padlets and Go React to online blogs and Zoom sessions, pre-service teachers integrated technology into all aspects of their instruction–which was a departure from what I as a professor noticed from past semesters when technology integration was typically thought of as an add-on or an isolated activity. Within pre-service teachers’ placements, every elementary student now had a Chromebook–whether at home learning virtually or in a face-to-face classroom setting. Elementary students could no longer share supplies and were expected to complete assignments using their Chromebook and then submit them virtually, which was a change from the pencil/paper assignments of the past. As a result, pre-service teachers became adept at finding online resources to help students work as a group virtually or to be interactive without moving around the room because of the need to remain socially distant. As one pre-service teacher wrote in his lesson reflection, “One of the advantages of being a teacher during Covid is that I’m learning how to use the technology needed to teach virtually. Now I can lead a Zoom meeting, design a virtual lesson, and I'm comfortable infusing technology.”

As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, preservice teachers faced a unique set of circumstances. In our program, the block 2 students had a variety of experiences: a) classrooms that were 100% face-to-face, b) classrooms that were 100% online, and c) hybrid models of face-to-face and online learners. Classrooms with any type of face-to-face interaction required social distancing and facemasks. Covid-19 exposures meant quarantining for a minimum of 10 days. Overall, becoming a teacher during a global pandemic led the pre-service teachers to truly witness how flexible and adaptable a classroom teacher must be. While we hope we will not always be living through ever-changing Covid-19 protocols, teachers being asked to make changes and quickly adapt to new requirements is a constant in the profession–made more visible by a global pandemic (Wu, Pierce, & Price, 2020). In addition to increased flexibility and adaptability, block-2 pre-service teachers noted an increase in their knowledge of integrating technology into instruction in meaningful ways. Though meaningful integration of technology was a huge success for our pre-service teachers (and our program), one disadvantage all students noted was the lack of connection they felt with their elementary students and college professors. Students, whether at the college or elementary level, need to feel that their teachers care. This was hard to convey through Zoom or while socially distancing with face masks on. The human interaction of a smile, a pat on the back, or even a smirk was needed and greatly missed during this time.

Teacher education programs need to capitalize on gains made in technology integration and pre-service teachers’willingness to be flexible and adaptable to change, while also problem solve alternate ways to form meaningful relationships between teachers and students. Perhaps within our teacher education programs, there could be more of a focus on Social Emotional Learning (SEL) to connect with students–both at the college level and in k12 classrooms (Murphy, Cook, & Fallon, 2021). SEL could easily be integrated into online learning situations and can be as simple as letting students select an emoji, describing how they feel, and then allowing them to briefly go into breakout rooms to discuss their feelings. It could also be more involved and include selecting multicultural children’s literature and students creating lessons they feel meet the

Volume 33, Issue 1