Monday, November 16, 2020

Silver Linings

Recently during our Sunday School online meeting, we talked about focusing on some of the positive things that have happened due to Covid-19.

I love attending Sunday School on Zoom and Church services are available through Facebook Live. In the past, when we have traveled, I would just miss Sunday School and Church service but now I’m able to attend both.

One doctor talked about how he thought telehealth was here to stay and how it made life easier for many people who had difficulty leaving work and could confer with the doctor online.

I have been able to connect more with my knitting friends than I ever have. I attend weekly Zoom meetings with knitters from 2 different yarn shops. My knitting guild meets once a month on Zoom which means I don’t have to worry about driving somewhere at night and getting home late. I also attend a knitting retreat in Minnesota in June and the participants are able to meet online once or twice a week. Participants may come from all over the US and other countries.

I am able to attend many educational webinars to improve my teaching strategies. I’m impressed with how more and more webinars are becoming available and how comfortable I am with attending online webinars.

I have also attended environmental webinars through the SC Wildlife Federation. These webinars are recorded and offered free on YouTube. They are educational and informative for me personally and great to use in the classroom.

I love using the internet to stay connected, but many colleagues, friends and family were uncomfortable using technology, so this has really pushed many of them into learning how to incorporate it in their lives.

I believe students are more comfortable learning online now because they have had to learn this way. Teachers are learning how to teach online which can change the way that they teach. This is good because teachers can get stagnant teaching the same lessons in the same way over and over. Even after students attend school in person full time, I believe a lot of lessons learned by students and teachers will impact how and what is learned in the future.

I think it is important to teach students to look for positive outcomes during difficult times. Sometimes if we can change our perceptions, it helps us have better attitudes for coping with the current situation.

What silver linings have you found during this pandemic? Please share.

Photo by Billy Huynh on Unsplash

1 comment:

Sdame8500 said...

As a high school teacher, I've learned the importance of building relationships with my students. When times call for remote learning, I have to trust that my students know I value their participation and the value they have for learning. I've also learned the importance of flexibility and adaptability. Technology now controls and dictates whether my lesson is accessible, so having options is always a priority. I am thankful for Zoom and Google Meets, as being able to see my students daily gives me the motivation to keep doing what I have to do :)