I’ve seen amazing teachers in my career and the main common characteristic they share, is that they know their students and that they care about them. We can be so creative and find ways to even teach through zoom!… and definitely recognize the importance of being present, building relationships, and as you clearly point out: zoom in to see more, to see the person or the moment, and zoom out to reflect and take responsibility of our actions and our role in the group we belong to (family, class, school, community, the world.) Zoom to me, as many other realities of COVID, have put in evidence what is worth doing and what is worth learning. Thank you for sharing such a relevant reflection nowadays. Have you found learning through Zoom to be engaging or has it produced fatigue? Perhaps, if we think about Zooms before Zoom, we will realize that there was a life before the pandemic and that there will be one after! When numbers allow, I love hearing from, and seeing the participants with cameras and microphones on! At the end of a session, I will stop sharing my screen, so I can see faces and hear words. During webinars I work hard at providing opportunities for engagement and dialogue through the use of polls, breakout rooms and chats. I would engage others during workshops, hoping to activate that knowledge, by providing hands-on experiences and offering time for group dialogue. I recognized that I had valuable experience, as do children and their teachers. I vowed not to be the “ sage on the stage” and I was committed to demonstrating respect and validation for those who work with children on a day-to-day basis.
IZOOM REGGIO EMILIA FULL
When I retired from full time teaching in 2014, it was my intention to continue working focusing on engaging with professionals in the delivery of workshops.
IZOOM REGGIO EMILIA PROFESSIONAL
What experiences have you had with professional learning through Zoom? What do you think could be improved? Your thoughts will help me in my present musings as I ponder the future and think back to the past.
How has professional learning changed because of Zoom? What will the future bring? Will we return to face-to-face workshops or will there be a continuation of learning through online webinars? How about a combination? What do you think? It has been a challenge to present webinars on topics like play, exploration and inquiry as I did recently! I have tried to make time for playful engagement during the session, but it is not ideal. It doesn’t appear that 2021 will be much different as I have webinars scheduled right into the fall. At that time, it was hard to imagine that almost a year later we would still be faced with the challenges of COVID, and I would have subsequently delivered over 100 professional learning webinars.
It was almost a year ago, May 2020, when I facilitated my first webinar for early childhood educators on Zoom.
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