The Worst Class
Oct 27 & 28/20
This was the worst week for me. We were supposed teach on Oct 26th & 27th, but we had technical difficulties. Our MS Teams membership in the class we teach was lost and it couldn’t be restored right away, so we had to move our teaching days. The next day we were able to get into the class, but only as guests. This meant we had no access to the chat, and we were passing links to our sponsor teacher in Whatsapp so that she could post them in the class chat. Also, I was still sick. I had laryngitis and a fever, so my voice was not very useful.
On top of that, it was a day for the students to give us a halfway point evaluation. The students responded that they wanted more dynamic lessons from me, and more animation and energy in my voice. Fair enough. What made it difficult was that although the written form was anonymous, a couple of the students turned on their microphone and gave me this feedback directly, which I am absolutely ok with, but it is hard to be called out in front of a group. I thanked them for their information and made some notes. On the plus side, I got some wonderful feedback about my interactions with the students, so it was an up and down evaluation.
I have thought a lot about what the students had to say and considered how to give them what they need from me. I emailed my practicum advisor for advice on any other programs I can use for interaction. She let me know another student is using Nearpod. I am checking it out.
Next week I will do better … provided I have my voice back.